Sidewalk repairs rile Pacific residents

Published 4:54 pm Wednesday, July 28, 2010

When Sarah Thompson received a letter from the City of Pacific informing her – and her husband Jeremy – that they were on the hook financially to repair the “unfit or unsafe” sidewalk in front of their house, her reaction was predictable.

“I was very angry,” she said. “It caused a fear also.”

In early July, about 70 Pacific property owners received a letter from Roger Smith, the City’s building official and code enforcement officer, stating that the stretch of sidewalks in front of their houses had been inspected and determined to be unsafe.

The letter, which refers to a section of the Pacific Municipal Code that places the financial burden of repairs on homeowners, requires that they submit a letter with a “proposed time schedule for repair of the sidewalk” within 15 days of the receipt of the letter. The letter also informs homeowners that they will be required to obtain a residential right-of-way permit for the work.

“The first letter sent my neighbors and my wife, everybody, into a panic,” Jeremy, a truck driver, said. “It was real intimidating. I felt like we were being strong armed.”

The Thompsons have owned their rambler on Milwaukee Avenue in the heart of Pacific for about eight years. In front of their house, a three-foot wide sidewalk – separated from the road by a strip of grass with no curb – is in various stages of decay, including a panel of the concrete reduced to rubble that Jeremy said the City ripped up to replace a leaky water valve.

“I understand being responsible for maintaining what’s in front of your house,” Jeremy said. “I’ve been here eight years and mowed the city property. But the thing is, that spot right there, the City ripped it up to get to the water main and never replaced it.”

In addition to the destroyed panel, Jeremy said much of the problem with his stretch of his sidewalk is caused by the high peak of Milwaukee Avenue’s blacktop, which causes the runoff to pool on the sidewalk and the yard where there is no storm drainage.

“We had to put in the gravel on the driveway just so people can get into our house,” Sarah said. “Otherwise, you can’t get into our house.”

“When it rains here, there are no storm drains. That’s from the City repaving it,” Jeremy added, pointing to the crest of the road. “What is going to happen is the water will get underneath and create sink holes, then it will freeze and create cracks.”

Jeremy isn’t opposed to fixing the sidewalk, but added that he was concerned about throwing money at a problem that would reoccur.

Due diligence

Pacific Mayor Richard Hildreth regrets the impersonal tone of the initial letter and how it was “misinterpreted.”

“I personally can see how, looking from their standpoint, how people might have concern with it,” he said.

Hildreth sent out a second letter to calm the fears of city residents and explain the reason for the City’s need to have the sidewalks repaired.

“We don’t have an interest in threatening,” he said. “Our main intent by sending the letter out was notifying property owners that they have a liability there and there was a deficiency that needed to be repaired. We don’t care how they repair. We want to make it as painless as possible.

“We had a situation right on the edge of town where we had a lady fall, and I guess she busted her knee. There has been an ongoing claim on that,” Hildreth said. “The point came up that the City did not exercise its due diligence by not notifying the property owner.”

Hildreth continued:

“The language in the letter is directly from the code,” Hildreth said. “If you were to get that letter, you might take it as a threat because you’re not used to reading code.”

Regardless of the wording of the initial letter and the response, Hildreth said, the City is committed to working with homeowners to come up with solutions that will minimize their burden and reduce the City’s liability.

“We’re interested in working with anybody,” Hildreth said. “The sidewalks on Milwaukee were code when they were built, but we don’t expect anybody to have to bring them up to modern code. As long as it meets the appropriate code, the City is not concerned with how it gets done.”

Although some of the sidewalks require extensive work, Hildreth said some fixes will not be as drastic.

Additionally, Hildreth said the City wants to help by acting as a broker, allowing interested homeowners to opt in and get one contractor to do the work.

“We would accept the regular bids, like you would for any project, and award the bid to the most appropriate contractor,” he said.” Then they would do the work for all those who opted in.”

Then, pending Council approval, the amount owed per person could be paid off in monthly installments.

For the Thompsons, however, the issue of having to pay to fix a problem that they perceive to be of the City’s making is the crux of the issue.

“I had an estimate from a guy who does concrete,” Jeremy said. “With me grading everything, taking out the sidewalk, getting rid of the concrete and just having the pour done would be $1,500.”

“We’ve never worked with the City before, then this happened,” Sarah said. “We always have had a broken sidewalk, but I thought, ‘No problem.’ Now they want us to replace it, and I have a problem.”