Title
Staff Report for Presentation on the City’s Sidewalk Repair Program
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff from the Engineering and Transportation Department will provide the City Council with an overview of the Sidewalk Repair Program. The presentation is for information only; no action is required.
BACKGROUND
The network of public sidewalks in San Leandro allows convenient access for pedestrians to navigate the community. These sidewalks can also pose hazards to the walking public if a damaged or lifted sidewalk is encountered. Damaged or lifted sidewalk sections are characterized by vertical offsets that pedestrians can trip over. To mitigate sidewalk hazards, the City operates a Sidewalk Repair Program that assists property owners in reporting and/or repairing sidewalk damage at a reasonable cost. An owner can join the Program or report damaged sidewalk in one of three ways:
• Using the MySL software application available for download on the City’s website;
• Visiting City Hall to report damage; or
• Leaving a phone message on the City’s dedicated voice-mail number.
Once a property is added to the Program, a Work Order is prepared by Engineering and Transportation Department staff. Then, the City’s Public Works Department will respond with a temporary repair, usually within two weeks. A City-hired contractor will later perform a permanent repair, generally within one year depending on Program funding. Owners are invoiced for their share of the cost once the work is complete. Any costs beyond the owner’s share are funded by Measure B and Measure BB, sales tax measures approved by the voters in 2000 and 2014 respectively. Owners also have the right to perform the work themselves by hiring a contractor and obtaining a City-issued Encroachment Permit.
Analysis
Once an issue is reported and added to the Sidewalk Repair Program, the criteria below are used to implement the repair and assign the cost. The criteria distinguishes between damage caused by City-maintained street trees and damage from other causes. If a street tree caused the damage, then the cost of the permanent repair is divided evenly between the City and the property owner. In the absence of a street tree, the owner pays the total permanent repair cost.
Street Tree Related Damage:
Measured Vertical City Public Works City-Hired Cost:
Offset: Department: Contractor:
¼ to 1-½ inch (1) Root prune tree N/A (1) 100% City
(2) Grind lifted (2) 100% City
concrete and/or fill
depression with
asphalt
1-½ or greater (1) Root prune tree; (3) Remove & (1) 100% City
(2) Grind lifted replace concrete (2) 100% City
concrete and/or fill permanent repair (3) 50% City;
depression with 50% Owner
asphalt
Curb & Gutter N/A (1) Root prune (1) 100% City
Tree (2) 100% City
(2) Remove &
replace concrete
and asphalt road
as permanent
repair
Parkway Strip N/A (1) Remove (1) 100% Owner
concrete and (2) 100% Owner
fill with dirt; OR
replace concrete
Non-Street Tree Related Damage:
Measured Vertical City Public Works City-Hired Cost:
Offset: Department: Contractor:
¼ to 1-½ inch (1) Grind lifted concrete N/A (1) 100% City
and/or fill depression
with asphalt
1-½ or greater (1) Grind lifted concrete (2) Remove & (1) 100% City
and/or fill depression replace concrete (2) 100% Owner
with asphalt as permanent
repair
Curb & Gutter N/A (1) Remove & (1) 100% City
replace concrete
and asphalt road
as permanent
repair
Park Strip N/A (1) Remove (1) 100% Owner
concrete and (2) 100% Owner
fill with dirt; OR
(2) Remove &
Replace concrete
Although many of the repair categories listed above require a payment by the property owner, the Program is significantly subsidized by the City. Owners are not obligated to pay for any work performed by the Public Works Department. Similarly, the administrative cost of managing the City-hired contractor by the Engineering and Transportation Department is not paid by the owner. Owners pay only the City’s direct cost to the contractor with no mark-up. Owners are also allowed to arrange for a payment plan with the Finance Department to spread the payments over several months or years. Finally, property owners benefit from economies-of-scale because the prices paid by the City for large quantities of repair work are substantially lower than prices paid by an owner hiring a contractor for an isolated repair.
A contractor is currently implementing permanent repairs as part of Capital Improvement Project 2017.0060 “Annual Sidewalk Repair Program 2017-18”. The contract includes 207 repair locations at a total cost of $569,311. This equates to an average cost of approximately $3,000 per location. The Program also funds one full-time Engineering Inspector staff position at an approximate cost of $120,000, with periodic support from an Associate Engineer. Because the MySL software application has made access to the Program easy for residents, the number of requests has increased significantly in the past year. At present, there are close to 400 locations to be completed in an upcoming construction contract with an estimated cost of $1.2M. With approximately 5 new requests arriving per week, it will require a substantial funding allocation to keep pace with the demand. Year to year funding for the program varies depending on City Council priorities.
With respect to cost sharing, different communities address sidewalk repair costs according to different policies. A summary of policies from neighboring cities is included below for comparison.
Property Owner Pays: City Pays:
City of San Leandro 50% of permanent repair All costs for temporary
cost if damage caused by work performed by the
City street tree or 100% of Public Works Department;
permanent repair if damage all administrative costs
caused by other factors associated with managing
The Sidewalk Repair
Program, 50% of the
permanent repair if
damage caused by street
tree.
City of Hayward Fixed fee of $550 Repair cost minus
the fixed fee
City of Oakland 100% of repair cost. $50 Permit fee is waived if
Permit Fee is waived if damage was caused by
damage was caused by City street tree
City street tree
City of Union City 100% of repair cost. Owner Nothing. If requested by
can elect to have the side- the owner, the work can
walk repaired as part of be included in the City’s
the City’s roadway resur- roadway resurfacing
facing program, but must program, but the costs
reimburse the City for the must be reimbursed by
the cost the owner
The City’s Program mitigates hazards posed by damaged sidewalks, but does not eliminate all claims. For perspective, the City settled 25 claims associated with infrastructure or construction-related issues from fiscal years 2010/11 to 2018/19. Of those 25 settled claims, 15 were due to sidewalk injuries amounting to 24% of all funds paid to claimants for this risk category. Although trip-and-fall claims are generally less expensive than other types of claims, the number of claims is nonetheless a consideration.
From a State-wide perspective, advocacy groups representing the disabled have successfully claimed that damaged sidewalks create access barriers in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (implemented as Title 24 in California). The Cities of Los Angeles and Sacramento, as examples, settled costly litigation by agreeing to dedicate significant discretionary funding towards sidewalk repairs. These cities asserted that California State law transferred liability for trip-and-fall claims to property owners, yet elected to settle costly litigation rather than having the court render a decision on this issue. Unlike most cities, San Leandro subsidizes repairs through maintenance efforts and cost-sharing with owners.
Current Agency Policies
San Leandro Administrative Code §8.1.100 through 8.1.125 describes the criteria used by the City to classify a sidewalk issue as a hazard, and describes a procedure to follow when implementing a repair according to the Sidewalk Repair Program.
2018 City Council Goal: Maintain and enhance San Leandro’s Infrastructure.
Applicable General Plan Policies
Policy T-3.6 - Pedestrian Environment. Improve the walkability of all streets in San Leandro through the planning, implementing, and maintaining of pedestrian supportive infrastructure.
Environmental Review
This Program is categorically exempt under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to California Public Resources Code Section 15301(c).
Summary of Public Outreach Efforts
Information about the Sidewalk Repair Program is available on the City’s website:
<https://www.sanleandro.org/depts/transit/landuse/sidewalkrepair.asp>
Legal Analysis
The State of California Streets and Highways Code §5600 through 5630 obligates property owners to maintain the sidewalks that front on their properties. The law reads, in part,
“The owners of lots… fronting on any portion of a public street… shall maintain any sidewalk in such condition that the sidewalk will not endanger persons or property and maintain it in a condition which will not interfere with the public convenience…”
San Leandro Municipal Code §5-1-415 through 5-1-420, reiterates this regulation.
Fiscal Impacts
None. This report is for information only.
ATTACHMENT(S)
PowerPoint presentation slides.
PREPARED BY: Michael Stella, P.E., Principal Engineer, Engineering and Transportation Department