Contact Us:
Location:
City Hall
1525 Broadway
Longview, WA 98632
Telephone: 360.442.5200 Fax: 360.442.5953
The Longview City Council passed Ordinance No. 2379 in 1989 creating Longview Municipal Code (LMC) Chapter 12.28 . That chapter, entitled "Sidewalk Construction, Maintenance and Repair" spells out the property owner's liability for maintaining the public sidewalk abutting his/her property in safe condition. Engineering Division policy requires owners to repair the following defects in their abutting public sidewalk, including that portion that runs through their private driveway:
Horizontal surface disparities of at least 1/2 inch
Cracks or fissures of at least 1 inch
If a sidewalk deficiency meeting at least one of those two criteria is reported to the Engineering Division, that deficiency will be inspected as promptly as possible. The following will then generally happen:
The disparity will be marked in day-glo red or orange to point out the problem area to pedestrians.
If the defect is not City-tree-related, the area needing repair will be marked in green and the abutting property owners subsequently notified of their repair responsibilities and options.
If the defect is City-tree-related and if a sidewalk repair contract is in effect, the area needing repair will be marked in blue paint and scheduled for repair under that contract and at the City's full expense.
If there is no repair contract in effect at the time of inspection, the inspector will add the defect to a future-repairs list and may wait to mark with blue paint until a new contract is negotiated and the date of repair nears.
As described in LMC 12.28, in some instances the City will participate with abutting property owners in the costs of their public sidewalk repairs. The property owner alone is responsible for all costs associated with the repair of driveway approaches, private sidewalks on private land, and sidewalks located in the strip of land between the public sidewalk and the curb and which run perpendicular to the public sidewalk and the curb.
Before undertaking any repairs on abutting sidewalks, property owners should contact the
. The owners will need to purchase a permit to work in the Public Right of Way.
Sidewalk Construction Requirements:
Slope shall be 1/4" per foot to the top of the curb.
All sidewalks shall be 4" minimum depth except where crossing driveways.
Concrete shall be class 5 (5 sack mix).
V grooves on 4ft sidewalks shall be placed on 4 foot intervals, V grooves on 5ft sidewalks shall be placed on 5 foot intervals, V grooves shall be not less that 1/4" thick.
Expansion joints
All expansion joints shall be asphalt impregnated conforming to AASHTO specification "M-220". Insulation board and wood are not acceptable.
Dummy joints shall be 1/4" X 2" and shall be placed on 64 foot intervals on 4ft walks and 15 foot intervals on 5 ft walks.
Through joints shall be 3/8 X 4" and shall be placed on 64 foot intervals on 4 ft sidewalks and 60 foot intervals on 5- foot sidewalks. Through joints shall also be placed when joining to existing sidewalks and at any change in thickness such as 6" driveway sidewalk transitions.
As a general rule residential sidewalks shall be placed 2ft from the property line and commercial sidewalks shall be placed on the property line.
Edging shall be 2" wide smooth borders with 1/4" edge radius either following existing pattern or as shown. (Also used on all joints)
Finish shall be broomed transverse to the run of the sidewalk.
