Palm Springs homeowner surprised at sidewalk repair bill
A local woman was looking to make the sidewalk safer in front of her home in Palm Springs and called the city but to her surprise, she had no idea she would have to foot the bill to do so.
“I had absolutely no idea. It came as a shock to my pocketbook.”
Phyllis Burgess is referring to the sidewalk repairs she’s made in front of her home. She was forced to take out a loan spending about $1000 dollars to fix that section.
“We’ve been having the very hot weather and my sidewalk one day, buckled up. Like the arch of a roof.”
A significant investment for someone on a fixed income.
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“You’re on the sidewalk now. And charge a toll fee to help reimburse on this, but I don’t think I can do that,” Burgess said in jest as KESQ’s and CBS Local 2’s Jeremy Chen inspected the sidewalk.
Burgess through discussions with the city learned that she would have to foot the bill as the property owner. She thought the city would pay as it was a public sidewalk. That’s not the case according to state law and city ordinances. According to the city’s municipal code, all property owners are required to maintain everything up to the curb in front of their property.
Assistant city manager Marcus Fuller says this includes the sidewalk whether or not it was installed by the city. It all stems from city codes put into place during the 1980s and 1941 state law allowing cities to requiring property owners to maintain sidewalk. In burgess’s case, he says a notice was given to her to address public safety.
“So these uplifted sidewalks can in this case from the photo I saw, it is a hazard to the public and so it’s important,” Fuller said.
Burgess says the cracks in the street were caused by water main repairs and thinks the Desert Water Agency should pay, but Fuller says in her case specifically, she is responsible, therefore Burgess has to foot the bill. Fuller says however, homeowners in her financial situation can get help.
“It seems fair and reasonable and I’ll have a conversation with the city manager about perhaps some exceptions or some programs that we can implement to waive certain fees or otherwise reduce the cost to the homeowner,” he said.
“I would like to just see some experimental scale that’s more favorable to the property owners,” Burgess said.
Burgess says she eventually would like to address the city council at a future meeting to discuss the issue of financing sidewalk maintenance.
