San Diego may require sidewalk repairs before homeowner sells

SAN DIEGO — Crumbling sidewalks and millions of dollars in injury lawsuit payouts are prompting San Diego to explore drastic action, potentially including a requirement that property owners fix nearby damaged sidewalks before they can sell.

Other proposals include property liens, waiving permit fees to encourage sidewalk repairs and educating property owners about their responsibilities and that the city is willing to split the cost of most repairs with them.

City officials may also create a master plan for tackling an estimated $39 million in needed sidewalk repairs so they can track their own progress and establish a maintenance program to limit additional payouts in coming years.

The proposals, which the City Council’s Infrastructure Committee endorsed during a recent public hearing, come after more than $11 million in injury payouts during the last five years in lawsuits over damaged sidewalks.

The city is facing greater liability as more people ride bicycles and electric scooters on sidewalks, where even the smallest lip can cause a relatively high-speed crash with significant injuries.

“This is a massive problem all over the city,” Councilwoman Lorie Zapf of Bay Ho said during the committee hearing. “The cost of having them not repaired often far exceeds the cost of repairing them upfront.”

Zapf said a key part of the problem is that most homeowners don’t know that the sidewalk adjacent to their property is their responsibility under state law.

The new proposals, which city officials said they hope to enact this winter, come after a plan created last fall by Councilman David Alvarez of Barrio Logan was rejected based on concerns it would sharply increase the cost to the city and taxpayers.

Alvarez wanted to accelerate repairs with a 90-day deadline to fix reported sidewalk damage and to eliminate homeowners’ responsibility to share the cost of fixing damaged sidewalks next to their property.

Supporters said shifting all costs to the city would simplify a confusing policy and avoid the inaction that often comes when homeowners can’t afford their portion of the repair bill.

But City Atty. Mara Elliott said a specific requirement such as the 90-day deadline would make the city vulnerable to lawsuits when it’s not met.

She also criticized the proposal to relieve property owners of repair costs, saying it would be a windfall for their insurance companies at taxpayers’ expense, she wrote in a memo.

So the city’s Independent Budget Analyst studied how other California cities handle sidewalks and issued a report written by analyst Jillian Kissee.

The report’s most significant proposal was requiring property owners to fix any damaged sidewalk adjacent to their property before they can sell, which would be modeled on a similar policy in Pasadena.

Real estate agents and some property owners may aggressively fight the policy, Alvarez said, but it seems like an effective solution.

“If it gets us to a point of protecting the city’s longterm liability but also making sure our sidewalks get fixed, I think we should look at that,” he said.

San Francisco and San Jose have similar policies, Kissee’s report said. They put a lien on a property with damaged sidewalks and allow cash-strapped homeowners to incrementally pay back the city for repairs.

In addition, San Francisco allows individual homeowners to participate in competitive bids the city issues for larger sidewalk projects, typically reducing the cost of repairs.

Another proposal would waive San Diego’s $1,600 permit fee when a homeowner repairs damaged sidewalk near the person’s property without the city’s help.

Councilman Mark Kersey of Black Mountain Ranch, chairman of the council’s Infrastructure Committee, suggested the city could establish a “permit holiday” for a limited time to encourage accelerated sidewalk repairs.

Kissee’s report also recommended San Diego aggressively publicize its 50-50 cost-sharing program for sidewalk repairs.

The city devotes about $300,000 a year to the program but could allocate more if there was higher participation. City officials said 48 property owners took advantage of the program last year.

Another problem is the lack of staff devoted to sidewalk repair projects, which prevented the city from spending a significant chunk of the $12 million included in the city’s capital improvement budget last year.

Kissee also proposed the city set clear goals for tackling the $39-million repair backlog so progress can be tracked, budget allocations can be tailored to the plan and a maintenance schedule can be created.