Ridgewood is not the only municipali
N.J. town to residents: Replace your sidewalk, or meet us in court
By Seth Augenstein | The Star-Ledger
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on August 13, 2014 at 7:43 AM, updated August 13, 2014 at 2:06 PM
HIGHLAND PARK — Two years ago, a local ordinance was passed allowing the borough to compel homeowners to fix the sidewalks in front of their houses.
Hundreds of residents complied with the borough’s request, but dozens more resisted. And it’s taken two years to reach a climax: this month the borough began taking dozens of homeowners to municipal court, following up on summonses.
Some of the homeowners have decided they can fight borough hall. In a lawsuit filed Monday, they charge the venture is a town-wide system of “intimidation” to do needless repairs.
“In the past two years, Highland Park has intimidated many residents into inappropriately spending their own money for inappropriate sidewalk replacements,” said Mark Oshinskie, an attorney leading the legal opposition. “But causing even more people to unnecessarily spend considerable sums for more such dubious, damaging work is unfair and destructive.”
Experts said responsibility and liability for sidewalks is a legal gray area in New Jersey. While the town says it’s acting in the interest of public safety, opponents have steadfastly refused to repair what they see as a needless financial burden.
https://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/08/nj_town_to_residents_replace_your_sidewalk_or_meet_us_in_court.html#incart_m-rpt-1
After Sandy I replaced three panels that were moved by the town tree that fell.
I have another that has been coming up because a town tree. I like the trees but maybe we could split the cost.
It is the home owners responsibility to keep there sidewalks in good condition, i do not see a problem with this.
The best solution to the problem is something that actually has been done in the past. In the past, the homeowner received a notice that their sidewalk required repair. They were given the option of doing it themselves, or having the Village do it. If the Village did it, the cost would be tacked on to the homeowners property tax.
Now the problem with allowing the homeowner to do it themself is that it results in degress of acceptability. Some homeowners do a wonderful job, replacing the large pavers with complete replacements. Other homeowners don’t do such a nice job and end up with crappy results from applying a patch-work of of filler. It looks ugly and within a matter of months, the patch-work has come apart.
My solution is to simply have the Village do it all and have the individual costs tacked on to the home’s property tax. This way, we get consistent results. My only concern with this, however, and I suspect it has frequently happened, is that some homeowners who have a connection to Village Hall don’t get the cost tacked on to their tax bill.
#3 I totally trust the village not to gouge me. Except not.
I wonder if homeowners could insure this? I tried to get Ridgewood water to insure my water main, but the denial letter they sent had a half dozen boilerplate reasons for denying coverage (Trees in yard, landscaping, etc and in my case checked “Other – large hill”. What the fuck? They will only insure water mains that run 18″ below flat grass? I can self insure that, dipshits.
When is United Water taking that corrupt outfit over? It’s past due.
Just factor it into to the many added costs of living in such a visually appealing community,
#3 over the course of 30 years I have had the Village do work on sidewalks and I have done it myself. Village sends a contractor out who will flag every tiny crack because he also does repairs. Gouging isnt the word for it. Let homeowner have the option to get it done. If unsatisfactory Village has the option of issuing a citation.