Since 1978, the City has required that property owners remove and replace any portion of defective sidewalk adjacent to their property. In 2010, the City Council approved a change in the City ordinance to allow a less expensive method of repairing a defective section or sections under certain circumstances as a one-time fix. A temporary repair by grinding is typically 30 percent less expensive than removing and replacing concrete.
The City Council as of July 1, 2010, is allowing grinding as an option in special cases where the concrete slab is more than 3.5 inches thick and the vertical displacement is less than 1.25 inches deep. Another important proposed criterion is to allow a temporary repair if all the defective sidewalk sections qualify for the temporary repair method. In other words, the City would not approve a combination of both temporary repair and sidewalk replacement because the two are aesthetically incompatible. The City is proposing ten criteria that must be met before a temporary repair option is approved by a City inspector. See a list of the approved temporary concrete repair specifications for details.
With the proposed ordinance change, the determination of whether a defective sidewalk qualifies for a temporary repair method is at the sole discretion of the City's Street Services inspector.
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