Landmark Sidewalk Renovation
We received a sidewalk violation. We live in a landmark house and our sidewalk does need improvement. It is my understanding that Landmarks says we must keep the bluestone. Is this true? Some previous owners have made put in cement patches in some parts of the sidewalk. I am sorely tempted just to replace the…
We received a sidewalk violation. We live in a landmark house and our sidewalk does need improvement. It is my understanding that Landmarks says we must keep the bluestone. Is this true? Some previous owners have made put in cement patches in some parts of the sidewalk. I am sorely tempted just to replace the bluestone with cement entirely, as I have heard that repairing bluestone sidewalks costs a fortune and, frankly, it would be beyond our means at the present time. I would need to get a grant. Does anyone here have experience, or know of anyone with experience in dealing with Landmarks regarding sidewalks, or with just ignoring Landmarks and putting in cement?
Thank you,
Summerfield
I tried to fix my landmark sidewalk and tried to get a permit. I spent a whole day hanging around the DOT office to get a permit and then they finally told me I had to go to landmarks. My neighbor got a different person and got the permit from DOT. I didn’t have the time any more and I decided if I did the work, I would get a swat crew to do the work on a weekend with no permit. I would replace the bluestone, but on my landmark block, there are so many different sidewalks (should all be bluestone), the whole thing is a joke. Now it is a mess, pushed up by tree roots and someday when I win the lottery I will do something about it. Doing nothing is an option. Another violation in 5 years is something you could live with.
FWIW, the City came through our block about 10 years ago to to conduct an unannounced inspection. They threw flags at everything they saw, resulting in lots of violations issued for really minor sidewalk cracks. For the most part, the homeowners have done nothing to remove these violations and the City has yet to send in anyone to do repairs. In the meantime, however, National Grid came in to lay new pipes a few years ago. In the process, they tore up sections of the sidewalk and, in replacing it, they ended up curing many existing violations (but not ours) :-(! From what we can tell, btw, the City’s contractors would be cheaper than privately hired firms. But, as I’ve said, no City contractor has shown up to do the work in 10 years!
One word of advice: if you hire your own contractor, do not agree to pull your own permit for the work! Not only is that a time-consuming affair, but also, if you do so then you — not the contractor — suffer the consequences if the repair work fails to pass the City’s inspection. However, if the contractor pulls the permit and the work doesn’t pass, then the redo is at his/her expense — not yours. We found several contractors who tried to casually suggest we could save money on the bid if we pulled the permit ourselves. Now we know why. Beware!
Arkady – If the city comes and fixes the sidewalk there is no insurance issue. And, as far as the cost, licenced contractors who are listed with the city and who will remove the violation cost almost as much as the city charges.
I’m confident that any contractor who is coming in at 1/2 the city cost is not approved by the city and will not be able to have the violation removed.
BTW, my block is in the PLG HD and we heard nothing from LPC. I presume tghat the City’s contractor got the necessary permits, which must have required LPC clearance. Of course my block and most PLG blocks (except, I think, Fenimore Street) have concrete, rather than bluestone sidewalks.
When most of the homeowners on my block of Midwood Street received sidewalk violations about 12 years ago, we determined that it was cheaper to have the City do the work. The City’s contractor did a good job and we weren’t billed for over a year.
Of course things might have changed since then.
We were sued for a slip and fall on our sidewalk. The city was also named in the suit and sent us a violation about 6 weeks after the suit was filed. The lawsuit took about 3 years to resolve and has been a pain in the a$$. Because of the suit, our homeowners insurance was not renewed and we had a hard time finding new coverage.
Since you have a violation, I would deal with fixing the problem. Can’t advise you on the LPC issues.
I’ve heard that letting it sit is a bad idea. If the City does the work it costs nearly double what you can get it done for.
Someone also told me that if it’s a safety issue, you may not be able to get household insurance renewed.
Yikes, a violation? Where are you located?
DEP damaged a portion of the sidewalk around our building when they repaired a leaky fire hydrant. We started the process to replace the sidewalk. Landmarks was pretty straightforward. They followed the guidelines that are on their website and wanted us to retain the remaining bluestone squares and provide blue-stone tinted concrete elsewhere. We had to submit a basic plan of the extent of the sidewalk and mark which squares were bluestone.
We had trouble with the DoT filing: they termed the exsiting sidewalk with it’s patchwork of miscellaneous concrete and bluestone a “distinctive sidewalk” and wanted us to provide proof of liability insurance covering the sidewalk in perpetuity. We ended up just having a contractor throw down cement on the portions of the sidewalk that were damaged by DEP. Our sidewalk still looks pretty bad, but so do those of all our neighbors.
Subsequently, the building across from us, the Vermeil, finally replaced their sidewalk. Curiously the color a typical white, not a tinted blue-stone color. Vermeil is in the landmarks district, too.
If this is a LPC violation and you ignore the violation it will likely have no effect as LPC typicaly doesn’t enforce penalties until you want to do work that requires a permit, then you will have to resolve it.
What, specifically, is the violation for? If it is for an unsafe sidewalk that is very different.
Doing any work without LPC approval will not resolve anything and may get you a second LPC violation.