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Haslet council approves ordinance amendments clarifying sidewalk responsibilities
Summary
The Haslet City Council unanimously approved amendments to the subdivision and zoning ordinances to consolidate sidewalk rules, specify maintenance responsibilities and set a 5-foot new-sidewalk standard. The changes clarify when property owners, HOAs or the city are responsible and require permits and inspections for repairs in the right-of-way.
Haslet City Council on Jan. 13 unanimously approved amendments to the city’s subdivision and zoning ordinances that consolidate sidewalk requirements, clarify who is responsible for maintenance and set standards for new sidewalks.
The measure, drafted to remove inconsistencies across ordinances, assigns maintenance responsibility to property owners for the sidewalks adjacent to their homes. “Most of this is the property owner who is responsible for their sidewalks just because since they're put in with their house, with their building, that's where they are,” said Mr. Rogers, who presented the ordinance revisions to the council.
The amendments make several specific points: the city will continue to maintain sidewalks and trails it constructed (for example, downtown sidewalks, the Schoolhouse Road trail and sidewalks within parks); homeowners associations are responsible for HOA-owned sidewalks; developers and home builders are responsible for constructing subdivision sidewalks and responsibility transfers to individual homeowners as houses are built; and new sidewalks will have a defined width standard moving forward (the ordinance sets 5 feet as the standard for new construction).
The Planning and Zoning Commission considered the draft and requested a single change: when replacing defective sidewalk panels, the replacement should match the width of the existing sidewalk so repairs do not create mismatched segments. The ordinance also requires a right-of-way permit for repairs and establishes inspection standards.
Councilmember Halsey moved to approve the amendments as presented; the motion passed unanimously.
Why it matters: The change centralizes sidewalk rules so residents, developers and city staff can find requirements in one place and clarifies limits of city responsibility versus private responsibility. Staff said the city does not proactively inspect all sidewalks but will respond to complaints via code enforcement and require permits for repairs.
Next steps: Staff will publish the ordinance amendments and update permit and inspection procedures to reflect the new standard.
