[Ord. No. 2018-12]
(a)
It shall be the responsibility of any property owner, lessee, tenant,
occupant or person in charge of said property, building, or structure
abutting a sidewalk to maintain the area on both sides of said sidewalk,
so as to prevent a hazard or nuisance to pedestrians using said sidewalk.
This maintenance responsibility shall include, but not be limited
to, the removal of weeds, brush, obnoxious growth, as well as routine
cutting of grass up to the edge of the sidewalk pavement and to the
edge of the roadway pavement.
(b)
Said owner, lessee, tenant, occupant or person in charge of said
property shall keep vegetation (i.e., hedges, trees, branches, shrubbery)
trimmed to a distance of one foot laterally from the sidewalk and
height of eight feet vertical from the sidewalk.
(c)
No person shall sweep or deposit into any gutter, street, storm sewer
inlet or other public place any accumulation of litter removed from
any public or private sidewalk, path or driveway.
Failure of any person to maintain said areas described above
shall permit the municipality to undertake said maintenance and assess
the cost of same to the property owner as permitted by Section 19-9.4
of this article.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
(a)
Generally. Unless otherwise specifically directed by the Mayor and
Council for a specific municipal project, or as otherwise specifically
provided in (b) below, any sidewalk that is in need of repair or reconstruction
shall be repaired or reconstructed wholly at the cost of the owner
of the real estate abutting such sidewalk in accordance with this
article. If a specific repair or reconstruction is undertaken by the
municipality for a given project, then the owner of the real estate
abutting such sidewalk shall nonetheless be responsible thereafter
for its maintenance, and any subsequent required repairs or reconstruction,
as required in this article.
(b)
Repairs necessitated by municipal trees.
(1)
Notice. If any sidewalk is found to have been raised and/or
damaged by municipally-owned trees, the owner of the property in front
of which the sidewalk is located shall have the primary responsibility
for notifying the municipal engineer in writing of the condition.
(2)
Inspection. The municipal engineer shall perform an inspection
of the sidewalk after receiving such notice and shall consult with
the municipal arborist and/or the director of infrastructure and operations
as to any remedial measures available to resolve the condition. The
available remedies to be considered shall include but shall not be
limited to removal of the tree and/or rerouting, replacing or grinding
of the sidewalk.
(3)
Remediation. Once the appropriate remedy is approved by the
municipal engineer, he or she shall cause to be performed, all work
necessary to implement the remedial measures as soon thereafter as
is reasonably possible, subject to available funding.
(4)
Cost of repair. The cost of any work done to remove, repair
and/or replace the tree and/or sidewalk shall be borne by the municipality.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
Repair or reconstruction under this article shall be as directed
by the municipal engineer and according to the applicable specifications
and standards set forth in the Princeton Engineering Design Standards.
Location, alignment and good grade of repair or construction work
shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Section 19-9.9
below that are applicable to new sidewalks. Repair and reconstruction
work shall be subject to the permitting, inspection and approval by
the municipal engineer.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
Whenever the municipality requires any improvement in accordance
with this article where the cost is to be borne wholly by the abutting
owner, the Mayor and Council shall cause a notice thereof to be given
to the owners of all real estate affected thereby. Such notice shall
contain a description of the property affected sufficient to identify
it, a description of the improvement and notice that, unless such
owner completes the improvement within 60 days after service of such
notice, the municipality will make the improvement at the expense
of the owner. Such notice shall be served and proof of service shall
be filed in the manner provided by law. If the owner of any real estate
affected by such improvement shall fail to make such improvement within
the time and in the manner directed by such notice, the council may
cause the improvement to be made under the supervision of the municipal
engineer.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
Whenever the council shall make such repair or reconstruction
or cause it to be made in cases where the cost is to be borne wholly
by the abutting owner, the municipal engineer shall keep an accurate
account of the cost thereof, shall assess such cost upon the several
properties abutting the improvement in proportion to the respective
frontages thereon and shall file a report thereof under oath with
the municipal clerk. The council shall examine such report and, if
properly made, shall confirm and file it with the officer charged
with the collection of assessments. Before confirming the report,
the council shall give notice to the owners named therein of the time
and place fixed for examination of the report, which notice shall
be serviced in the manner provided for by law. Such assessments shall
bear interest from the time of confirmation at the same rate and with
the same penalties for nonpayment as assessments for local improvements
in the municipality, and from the confirmation thereof shall be a
first and paramount lien upon the real estate assessed to the same
extent, and be collected and enforced in the same manner as assessments
for local improvements. The council may provide for the payment and
collection of such assessments in installments, if necessary, in the
same manner and at the same rate of interest as assessments for local
improvements are payable in installments in the municipality.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
Except as may otherwise be provided in Section 19-9.7(a), the
owner or occupant of premises abutting or bordering on sidewalks and
shared use paths along public streets in the municipality shall remove
or cause to be removed from the sidewalks in front of or bordering
upon their premises all snow and ice within 24 hours after such snow
shall have ceased falling thereon or after such ice shall have formed
thereon. In the case of ice that may be so frozen as to make removal
impracticable, the owner or occupant shall cause the same to be thoroughly
covered with sand or other suitable material, within 24 hours after
such ice shall have formed thereon.
In all residential land use zones, the owner or occupant, as
appropriate, shall remove snow and ice from their sidewalk at a minimum
width of four feet.
In all other land use zones, including but not limited to the
Central Business District (CBD), the owner or occupant shall remove
snow and ice from the building to the curb, or snow pile or bank at
the curb created by municipal snow removal operations. The owner or
occupant in the CBD shall pile the snow in the area(s) designated
for same by the municipality.
In all zones, the owner or occupant must remove snow and ice
from the entire width of any handicap ramps abutting street corner
locations.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
(a)
The municipality has the right to remove snow at its own cost from
certain sidewalks when it deems it to be in the public interest to
do so.
(b)
In case snow or ice shall not be removed or such ice shall not be
covered as provided in the preceding Section, the owner or occupant,
as the case may be, shall be in violation of said Section.
(c)
The police department shall be responsible for enforcing the provisions
of this article and said violator shall be subject to such penalties
provided for in Section 1-6 of this Code.
(d)
In addition to the right of the municipality to issue a summons and
complaint in municipal court, the director of public works shall have
the authority to direct the removal or covering. In such event, the
cost of such work shall be certified by the director of public works
to the council, which shall examine such certification and, if found
to be correct, shall cause such cost to be charged against the real
estate abutting or bordering upon the sidewalks. The amount so charged
shall become a lien and tax upon such real estate, and shall be added
to and be part of the taxes next to be levied and assessed on the
real estate and shall be enforced and collected with interest by the
same officers and in the same manner as other taxes in the municipality.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
No person shall throw, place or deposit any snow or ice which
has accumulated upon private property into or upon any public sidewalk
shared use path or the paved portion of any public street in the municipality
or into or upon any area within the right-of-way lines of any street
in such a way as to hinder the passage of persons, bicycles, vehicles
or obstruct vision.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
All new sidewalks, when installed, shall be constructed of concrete
and shall be five feet wide or as directed by the engineer, and constructed
according to specifications and standards set forth in the Princeton
Engineering Design Standards. Such walks are hereby classified according
to, and shall be constructed with, the minimum pavement widths and
the paving material specified above in this section.
[Ord. No. 2018-12]
The exact location, alignment and design of all new sidewalks
shall be determined by the municipal engineer with due regard to the
function of the walk, the nature of the terrain, the elimination or
minimization of the removal of trees and the avoidance of other natural
obstacles. The improvement shall conform as nearly as practicable
to such established grade.
