[Adopted 1-13-1969 as Ch. 70, Art. I, of the 1969 Code]
All persons, firms and corporations being the
owner or owners of any lot, lots or pieces of ground abutting upon
or bounded by any street, avenue, alley or highway or any part thereof
within the limits of the Borough of Oakmont shall, after 10 days'
written or printed notice, served as hereinafter provided, lay and
construct sidewalks therein or thereon, in accordance with the regulations
as hereinafter provided.
The Council of the borough or its Street Committee,
in default by such owner or owners of property to lay said sidewalks
after notice as aforesaid, shall proceed to construct the same in
front of said property and the cost of the same, together with 10%
additional, together with all charges and expenses, shall be collected
from such owner or owners and said borough may file a municipal claim
therefor or proceed to collect the same by action in assumpsit, as
is now or may hereafter be provided by law, more particularly Section
1807, Article 18, of the Act of May 4, 1927, P.L. 519.
From and after the passage of this article,
no sidewalk shall be constructed within the limits of said borough
which does not comply with the sidewalk cross-section detail and plans
and specifications prepared therefor by the Borough Engineer, a copy
of which is hereto attached and made a part of this article. They shall at all times be constructed of a material to be approved by the Borough Council, with base to be of concrete, and shall be of the width and thickness provided in said specifications and shall be laid only in the manner and form provided thereby, unless otherwise specially provided by special ordinance of the Council, and then they may vary therefrom only as so specially provided. They shall be laid only under the supervision and with the approval of the Borough Engineer or Borough Street Commissioner, and said Borough Engineer and Borough Street Commissioner shall each have power to stop any work not being done in accordance herewith, until the provisions of this article and their reasonable directions are complied with, or if not complied with within 10 days after notice, the borough may complete the construction and collect the cost thereof, with 10% added, in the manner provided in §
173-2 hereof; provided, however, that paved sidewalks which at the time of repairing are in substantially good condition may be repaired with the same material of which they are then constructed, if such repairs will put them in a safe condition.
The grade of the paved portion of the sidewalk
must be such as to fall 1/4 inch per foot from the back edge to the
front or curbline edge, except at street intersections where necessary
variations may be made. All sidewalks shall be paved of a width of
five feet on a line parallel with, and the inside line thereof distant
two feet from, the property line, except in streets and alleys having
a width of less than 60 feet, where other regulations are now or may
be specially provided by ordinance as to width and location of sidewalks,
which special regulations must then be complied with, and all special
regulations now in force are hereby readopted, and at all street crossings
said sidewalks shall be produced to the curbline of the cross street.
Hereafter no sidewalk shall be constructed or
laid within the limits of said borough which does not comply with
the foregoing requirements or which is not laid at the grade established
therefor. Where no special sidewalk grade is established, the sidewalk
grade is hereby established, fixed and determined and may be ascertained
from the established curb grade of the nearest curb to such sidewalk
as follows: Beginning at the inside line of the nearest curb or the
line of such curb nearest the center of the paved cartway and at the
grade established therefor; thence by an even or uniform rising grade
of 1/2 inch per foot for each foot of the distance from said inside
curbline at grade to the nearest or inside line of the paved portion
of said sidewalk; thence from the inside line of the paved portion
of said sidewalk by a uniform rising grade of 1/4 inch per each foot
of the distance to the outside line of the paved portion of said sidewalk;
and thence by a uniform rising grade of 1/2 inch per foot of the distance
from the outside portion of the paved sidewalk to the property line
in said street. That is to say, from the inside curb grade of the
nearest curb to the inside line of the paved portion of the sidewalk,
there shall be a uniform rising grade of 1/2 inch per foot of the
entire distance. From the inside line of the paved portion of the
sidewalk to the outside line of the paved portion of such sidewalk,
there shall be a uniform rising grade of 1/4 inch per foot for the
entire distance of said paved portion. From the outside line of the
paved portion of said sidewalk to the property line, there shall be
a uniform rising grade of 1/2 inch per foot of each foot of the entire
distance. Where no curb grade is specially fixed or established, the
established street grade shall be considered as the required curb
grade. Where a special sidewalk grade is fixed, sidewalks shall only
be laid or paved in compliance with such special grade, but there
shall be maintained a uniform rising grade from the outer side of
the curb to the inner side of the paved sidewalk. And in all cases,
unless otherwise provided, the grade from the outer side of the paved
portion of the sidewalk to the property line shall be a uniform rising
grade of 1/2 inch per foot of the entire distance.
Every person owning any lot abutting upon any street or avenue of the borough shall, upon 10 days' notice so to do, served in the manner hereinafter provided in §
173-9 hereof, grade the space reserved for sidewalks, etc., in front of or along the side of such lot from the curb or curbline to the property line and also raise or lower the paved sidewalk on such reserved space to said established grade.
It shall be the duty of any owner or owners of any lots abutting on any street, avenue, lane, alley or highway in said borough to have a sidewalk and maintain and keep in good repair the sidewalk abutting on such street, lane, avenue, alley or highway, and if any sidewalk shall be or become out of repair, it shall be the duty of the Street Committee and Street Commissioner to give written or printed notice to the owner of the lot abutting thereon, as hereinafter provided, to cause the same to be repaired within 10 days thereafter, and if said owner shall fail or refuse to comply with said notice, the borough shall cause the same to be repaired and shall collect the cost and expense thereof from said owners, as provided in §
173-2 hereof.
If at any time, in the opinion of the Street
Committee or Street Commissioner, a dangerous condition may exist
in any sidewalk or sidewalks in said borough that can be repaired
by an expenditure of not more than $25, he or it shall serve or cause
to be served a written or printed notice on the owner of the property
or his agent or the party in possession or by posting the premises,
as hereinafter provided, to have said repairs made within 48 hours,
and on failure of the owner or someone on his behalf making said repairs
within the time specified in said notice, then the borough or its
authorized agents shall make such emergency repairs to such sidewalk
or sidewalks and upon the completion of the work, the cost thereof
shall be charged against the owner of the property and shall be a
lien until paid, as is now or may hereafter be provided by law, more
particularly Sections 1815, 1816 and 1817 of the Act of May 4, 1927,
P. L. 519.
All notices which are required under any of
the provisions of this article shall be written or printed and shall
be served upon the owner of the premises affected thereby, if such
owner is a resident of said borough, but if he is not a resident of
said borough, then upon the agent or tenant of the owner or upon the
occupant of such premises, and if the owner has no agent or tenant
and there is no occupier of such premises, then such service may be
had by posting a printed or written copy of such notice upon the premises,
as is now more particularly provided by Sections 1808 and 1815 of
said Act of May 4, 1927, P.L. 519, or as the same may hereafter be amended or supplemented
or according to law.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances conflicting
herewith be and the same are hereby repealed insofar as they conflict
with this article. The provisions of this article shall not be so
construed as to hinder or in any way prevent any action or remedy
as provided for by any ordinance relative to public or private nuisances,
either now in force or which may hereafter be passed, and where a
violation of this article and of any such ordinance may exist at one
and the same time, either action or remedy may be taken or pursued
at the option of the informant, the borough, its agent or agents or
the enforcing or arresting officer; neither shall it relieve any owner
or owners from liability under prior ordinances to the borough for
sidewalks repaired or laid, work done or notices given to repair or
lay sidewalks, whether liens for such work have or have not been filed.
Any person violating any of the provisions of
this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable by a fine
of not more than $600, plus costs of prosecution, and in default of
payment of such fine and costs by imprisonment for not more than 30
days.