Title
Recommendation to Approve Administration of a New Voluntary Sidewalk Repair and Enforcement Program and Direct Staff to Return to the City Council with Related Revision of the Alameda Municipal Code. (Public Works 310)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Alameda (City) has over 220 miles of public sidewalk. Safe, accessible, and well-maintained sidewalks are fundamental to mobility, accessibility and healthy communities. The California Streets and Highway Code, and the related implementing provisions of the Alameda Municipal Code (AMC), place primary responsibility for sidewalk condition and repair with the adjacent property owners. The City is required to notify the owner of their responsibility to make the necessary repairs and if those repairs are not made, the City is to execute the repairs and collect the cost of the repairs, which could include a lien on the property. Although the adjacent property owner bears primary responsibility for sidewalk conditions and repair, the City's long-standing practice is to repair sidewalk damaged by street trees. The City also makes all sidewalk repairs adjacent to City-owned property regardless of cause.
To improve sidewalk safety and accessibility, staff recommends implementing a new voluntary repair program for property owners to have the City execute the repairs and invoice them for the cost. The new program will be coupled with active enforcement for non-compliance or payment. Meaning, if a property owner is either non-responsive to City notifications for sidewalk repair or does not pay for the cost of the repairs, property lien proceedings will commence to reimburse the City for executing the repairs. Staff also recommends that the program have a financial hardship policy for those unable to pay all or a portion of the repair costs and that the City continue its practice of making repairs for sidewalk damage caused b...
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