Canton Township opens public hearing on 2025 sidewalk repair program after residents raise cost, notification and county-responsibility concerns

Canton Township Board of Trustees on March 25 opened a public hearing on the 2025 sidewalk repair program, heard about a half-dozen residents' concerns over cost, inconsistent markings and whether Wayne County should pay, and then adopted a resolution requiring replacement of sidewalks in the listed subdivisions and miscellaneous locations.

The hearing matters because the program uses a special assessment approach that can require homeowners to pay for sidewalk replacement in front of their property; board members said the program exists to reduce township liability from trip-and-fall claims while giving homeowners options for payment or to hire their own contractors.

Erica Hidalgo, staff engineer with the township's engineering services division, described the program's background, schedule and procedures. Hidalgo said the program started after a trip-and-fall liability ruling in 1999 and that the township's sidewalk program is a multi-year, zone-based cycle currently entering its tenth year. She said Zone 9 is scheduled for 2025 and named subdivisions on the list including Carriage Hills, Pickwick Village, Willowbrook Village, Willow Creek (Zones 4 and 13), Willow Veil and other miscellaneous locations. "If you decide to hire an independent contractor, you need to pull a permit with Wayne County to do that work," Hidalgo said, and added that the township allows homeowners 60 days after notice to elect to do the work privately.

Hidalgo explained the marking system: red spray…