|
GENOA TOWNSHIP
Sidewalk and Pathway Ordinance
#010319
An Ordinance to protect the public health,
safety and general welfare by the adoption of regulations concerning the
maintenance, repair, and safety of public sidewalks and pathways within the
Township; imposing a duty on adjoining or abutting land owners to_repair,
maintain, or keep safe said sidewalks; to provide standards of proper
sidewalk maintenance, construction and repair; to require indemnification of
the Township by adjoining or abutting land owners for failure to repair,
maintain, or keep safe said sidewalks; and to impose liability on said
adjoining or abutting land owners for injuries or damages caused by their
failure to perform such maintenance or repair duties.
Section I - Name
This Ordinance shall be known and cited as
the Genoa Township Sidewalk and Pathways Ordinance.
Section II - Purpose
The purpose of this Ordinance is to regulate
the repair, construction and maintenance of public sidewalks and pathways
on/or along a public road to keep them in proper and safe condition for
public use; to provide for the imposition of liability upon abutting land
owners for injuries or damages caused by a defective sidewalk; to provide
for the establishment of sidewalk maintenance districts by the Township
Board for the Assessment of the cost of repairs to sidewalks in said
districts; to provide standards of proper sidewalk maintenance, repair and
construction; and to provide indemnification of the Township for costs of
required maintenance and repair not accomplished by abutting or adjacent
land owners.
Section III - Definitions
A. Sidewalk. A walkway along the margin of a
street designated and prepared for the use of pedestrians to the exclusion
of vehicles.
B. Pathway. A pathway is an off road facility
shared use path separate from the public road (though sometimes in the
public road right-of-way) that has been constructed by the Township of Genoa
as part of the Southeast Livingston Greenways Project Plan dated October
2000.
C. Township. Township is the Township of
Genoa, a general law township.
Section IV - Regulations
A. The owner or owners of all lots, parcels
and premises within the Township are required to maintain, repair and keep
safe sidewalks adjacent to or upon their property and premises in or along
the public street in the Township.
B. It shall be the duty of all owners of
premises within the limits of the Township to keep all sidewalks which have
been heretofore or hereafter laid in front of, upon, or adjacent to such
premises, in or along any of the street right of way, in good repair and
free from dangerous ice, snow, or other dangerous obstructions and
conditions. Any owner of any such premises who shall allow any such sidewalk
to remain in disrepair or in a dangerous condition shall be responsible and
liable for injuries and damages arising out of the disrepair or unsafe
condition of said sidewalks. Such owner shall further indemnify and
reimburse the Township for any and all liability, costs and expenses which
the Township might incur as a result of any such defective or dangerous
sidewalks.
C. Whenever any snow shall fall or drift on
or across and sidewalk, the owner or occupant of the lot, building or other
premises adjacent to or abutting upon the sidewalk or bike path, shall
remove such snow or cause the same to be removed within periods of time
herein limited:
1. Snow that has accumulated in or during
the nighttime shall be removed by 6:00 p.m. of the following day;
2. Snow falling or drifting during the
day shall be removed before 12:00 noon of the following day.
D. No person shall permit or cause any
building material, dirt, sand, excavated material, wood, rubbish, any
article or other substance or merchandise to be dropped, delivered, piled or
placed in any way above or upon any sidewalk or pathway so as to obstruct
the sidewalk or pathway except by special permission of the Township.
Merchandise necessarily delivered on the sidewalks or pathways shall be
immediately removed to the interior of the address to which it was destined.
E. Whenever any building material, dirt,
sand, excavated materials, wood, rubbish or any other thing, article or
substance is left in such condition or quality as to obstruct or be
dangerous to public travel, and shall be permitted to remain on any sidewalk
or pathway during the whole or any part of the night, the property owner and
the person who is responsible for such obstruction shall place a suitable
number of caution lights and barricades on or about the same to indicate the
location and extent of such obstruction to prevent injury to persons and
property.
Section V - Standards
A. All sidewalks or portions thereof
hereafter constructed or repaired shall comply with the following
specifications:
1. All sidewalks shall be constructed to
grade established by existing adjoining walks or, in the absence of the
foregoing, by the Township Engineer, and shall be paved with a single
course of concrete using limestone aggregate, which shall have a
compressive strength of not less than 3,500 pounds per square inch
within 28 days of paving. Paving bricks may be substituted for concrete
when authorized by the Township.
2. All sidewalks shall be at least four
feet in width. Wider walks to a maximum of eight feet may be required by
the Township in commercial or industrial areas or multiple family areas,
due to anticipated traffic and the development of the area.
3. Paving shall be constructed on at
least a two inch thick sand cushion and shall be at least four inches in
depth except where across driveways, where it shall be at least six
inches in depth. Paving joints shall be perpendicular to sidelines at
intervals consistent with adjoining or abutting sidewalks and not
greater than the sidewalk width. One-inch expansion joints shall be
placed through the walk at least every 50 feet, and between walks and
other rigid structures.
4. The surface shall be roughened with a
brush or other equipment to prevent smooth and slippery surfaces.
B. Pursuant to the Power Authorized by
Michigan P.A. 80 of 1989, as amended, (MCL 41.288a) a township board may
construct, repair or maintain; or may order the construction, repair and
maintenance of sidewalks for the health, safety and general welfare of the
residents of the township after notifying the involved property owners of
the time and place of a hearing of such order before the Township Board.
Following the hearing it may either construct, repair or maintain the
sidewalks and assess the costs to the property involved over a five year
period or permit the owners within a specified time to have the sidewalks
constructed, repaired or maintained according to township specifications at
their expense. No work shall be commenced until approved by either the
Country Road Commission or State Department of Transportation having
jurisdiction over the right-of-way within which the sidewalk is located.
C. The cost of replacement or repair of a
sidewalk to be charged against a property owner shall be based upon actual
cost or engineer's estimates, less such public contribution, if any, as the
Township Board may authorize.
D. The Township Board, in its direction, may
also, after replacing a sidewalk, authorize collection of the costs of such
replacement or repair by civil action and process or such other means as may
be proper for the collection of debts by legal process.
Section VI - Owner Caused
Defects
Where sidewalk or pathway defects creating
pedestrian hazards are caused by conditions existing upon an abutting
property, such as, but not limited to, a) trees or other growth; b) surface
drainage; c) on-site construction or vehicular traffic; or d) other on-site
activities, the abutting property owner shall be responsible for its repair,
maintenance and safe condition, and liable for all consequential injuries,
damages, expenses or costs resulting from the condition and lack of repair
or maintenance and unsafe condition. Such liability shall include full
indemnification of the Township for any damages, costs or expenses resulting
from such owner defaults as well as liability to others. The foregoing
liability and responsibility shall apply without notice or hearing on the
same.
Section VII - Partial
Exemption from Ordinance
The owners of property in Genoa Township over
which a pathway has been constructed are exempt from the requirements of
Section IV subsections A, B, and C, and Section V of this ordinance.
Section VIII - Saving Clause
Should any section or provision of this
Ordinance be declared unconstitutional, unauthorized or invalid, or in
conflict with any other section or provision of any ordinance of the
Township, by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not be
held to invalidate or impair the validity, force or effect of any other
section or provision of this Ordinance.
Section IX - Repeal of
Conflicting Ordinances and Effective Date
All ordinances or parts of ordinances in
conflict herewith are hereby repealed. This ordinance shall take effect
immediately upon publication following its adoption. Made and passed by the
Township Board of Genoa Township, Livingston County, Michigan, on the 19th
day of March, 2001.
RECORD OF VOTES: YEAS 5 NAYS 0
I hereby certify that the foregoing ordinance
is a true copy of the ordinance enacted by the Township Board on the 19th
day of March, 2001 and that the necessary legal provisions have been
observed.
____________________________________
Paulette A. Skolarus, Township Clerk
I, Paulette A. Skolarus, Clerk of the
Township of Genoa, hereby certify that the foregoing ordinance was published
within ten days after adoption by printing the same in the Press Argus on
the 25th day of March, 2001.
____________________________________
Paulette A. Skolarus, Township Clerk
|
