Tonawanda council hears detailed review of sidewalk backlog, liability and funding options

City staff reported a multi-year backlog of sidewalks and laid out options to address repairs and liability, telling the Common Council that the amount of work on the city’s sidewalk list is roughly $1.7 million while the annual capital allotment is about $130,000.

The discussion, led by public works staff and reviewed during the council’s general business session, focused on how the city currently prioritizes repairs, how federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and CHIPS funds are used, and whether the city should eventually transfer responsibility for sidewalks to homeowners after an initial city-paid replacement.

Public works staff said resident requests are rated from 1 to 10 to prioritize repairs and that the current program generally addresses items rated seven and above. The city budgets about $130,000 annually for sidewalks and has supplemented that with CDBG grants (staff said past CDBG awards were about $200,000) and CHIPS reimbursements, which require Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramps on projects tied to paving work.

Staff estimated that repairs where tree roots appear to be involved could total roughly $1,000,000 just for those segments, but cautioned that number is a high-end estimate because a site visit is required to confirm whether roots or other causes produced the defect.

Council members raised questions about exemptions for elderly or low-income homeowners, whether replacing a driveway should oblige a property owner to fix adjacent sidewalk segments, and whether the city’s practice of prioritizing high-severity defects over single written complaints remains appropriate. Staff said the policy changed after they had repeatedly elevated single written requests that produced uneven spending and created liability concerns when high-cost repairs followed.

On liability, staff explained that a written notice from a resident puts the city on formal notice; after a court-defined “reasonable time” to repair, the city can face claims if it does not act. That policy change — from automatically elevating written requests to prioritizing severe trip hazards citywide — was developed after cases in which timely response did not prevent injuries or costly aftermath.

Council members asked about options that other municipalities use, including turning sidewalks over to property owners once the city brings them to a defined standard. Staff said past discussions (dating back as far as 2007) considered a compromise in which the city would transfer ownership only after every sidewalk in front of a house had been repaired to eliminate trip hazards; staff said that approach was never implemented.

Council members also discussed operational steps: sharing the sidewalk prioritization list with department supervisors so in-house crews can take on small repairs; leveraging lower bid prices to add incremental sidewalk work via contract change orders; and the practical limits set by fluctuating unit costs. Staff noted that per-square-foot costs have varied widely in recent years — examples provided ranged from roughly $70 per sq. ft. in earlier years to as low as $16 per sq. ft. in the most recent contracting cycle — and said volatility makes multi-year planning harder.

The council did not vote on a policy change during the meeting but directed staff to (1) provide the sidewalk priority list to relevant department supervisors for review, (2) gather information on how peer municipalities treat tree-caused damage and cost-sharing approaches for elderly or low-income homeowners, and (3) return with an analysis of turnover options (city-funded initial repair followed by homeowner responsibility) and the expected legal exposure under each approach.

Staff also said they will continue to pursue CDBG and other grant programs for eligible neighborhoods and to coordinate sidewalk work with paving, sewer lining and ADA ramp projects to maximize reimbursements from CHIPS and similar programs.