§8-201   Falls City Code   §8-203

Article 2. Sidewalks
§8-201 SIDEWALK SPACE. The term “sidewalk space,” as used
herein, shall mean that portion of a street between curb lines and
adjacent property lines.
§8-202 SIDEWALKS; BENEATH. No person shall be allowed to keep
or use the space beneath the sidewalk lying between lot line and
curb line unless a permit therefor shall have been obtained from
the Governing Body. Before any permit shall be granted, the
applicant for said permit shall submit plans and specifications of
any present or proposed construction to the Governing Body. Should
such plans or specifications be disapproved, no permit shall be
granted therefor. All permits hereafter granted shall continue
only upon the condition that the party receiving the same shall
build, maintain, and keep in repair a sidewalk over such space used
or constructed to be used and pay all damages that may be sustained
by any person by reason of such use or by reason of said sidewalk
being defective or in a dangerous condition. As a condition
precedent to the issuance or continuance of any permit for the use
of any space underneath the Municipal sidewalks as herein
contemplated, the Governing Body may require applicant to furnish
a bond to the Municipality as obligee for the benefit of any person
or persons who may suffer any damage or damages by reason of such
use. The bond shall be in such sum as the Governing Body, in its
discretion, may designate.
§8-203 SIDEWALKS; OVERHANGING BRANCHES. It shall be the duty,
responsibility and obligation of every owner, lessee, or occupant
of any lot, piece, or parcel of ground abutting, or adjacent to,
any sidewalk space over which extends the branches of trees shall
at all times keep the branches, or limbs, thereof trimmed to the
height of at least eight feet (8′) above the surface of said
sidewalk space. Upon the failure of the owner, lessee, or occupant
having control of any such real estate to trim and clear said
branches or limbs as set forth herein, the City Attorney shall mail
or serve notice to the said owner, lessee or occupant to do so.
Failure to trim and clear all such branches and limbs within five
(5) days of notice shall be deemed an offense as provided in this
section and/or the City Administrator may cause the same to be
trimmed and cleared and the costs thereof shall be chargeable to
the property owner. If the owner shall refuse to reimburse the
Municipality after being properly billed; the cost may be assessed
against the real estate and the Governing Body shall have the
assessment certified to the County Treasurer and the same shall be
collected in the manner provided by law. In the event the property
owner is a nonresident of the County in which the property lies,
the Municipality shall, before levying any special assessment
against the property, send a copy of any notice required by law to
be published by means of certified mail, return receipt requested,
to the last known address of the nonresident property owner. The
last known address shall be that address listed on the current tax
rolls at the time such required notice was first published.
Any person failing to trim and clear said branches or limbs
as provided heretofore shall be guilty of an offense as provided by
this Chapter in addition to any special assessment for cost of
removal of said branches or limbs.
Whenever, in any action, it is established that a nuisance
exists, the Court may together with the fine or penalty imposed,
enter an order of abatement as part of the judgment.
§8-204 SIDEWALKS; KEPT CLEAN. It shall be unlawful for the
occupant of any lot or lots or the owner of any vacant lot or lots
within the corporate limits to allow snow, sleet, mud, ice, or
other substance to accumulate on the sidewalks or to permit any
snow, sleet, ice, mud, or other substance to remain upon said
sidewalk. All sidewalks shall be cleaned within five (5) hours
after the cessation of a storm, unless the storm or fall of snow
shall have taken place during the night, in which case the sidewalk
shall be cleaned before eight-thirty o’clock (8:30) A.M. the
following day. Notice to remove ice, snow, sleet, mud or other
objectionable substances from a sidewalk shall be served upon the
owner or occupant of the premise, or his agent, requiring the
removal of the objectionable substance forthwith. If the person
owning or occupying such premise is unknown or cannot be found, or
if any reasonable service cannot be had upon any such owner, agent,
or occupant within the Municipality, service of the notice shall be
made by posting a typewritten copy thereof in some conspicuous
place on the premise. In case the owner, agent, or occupant fails
to remove the ice, snow, sleet, mud, or other substance within five
(5) hours after said notice is given or posted, it shall be the
duty of the Street Commissioner or other agent of the Municipality
to remove such substance, and the expense thereof shall be charged
against the property and the owner thereof, and may be recovered by
proper action in the name of the Municipality or be chargeable
against the property as a special assessment for improvements. Any
person failing, neglecting, or refusing to remove the objectionable
substance from a sidewalk after due notice as herein provided to do
so, shall upon conviction be deemed to be guilty of an offense.
(Ref. 17-557 RS Neb.)
§8-205 SIDEWALKS; MAINTENANCE. Every owner of any lot, lots, or
piece of land within the corporate limits shall at all times keep
and maintain the sidewalk along and contiguous to said lot, lots,
or pieces of land, as the case may be, in good and proper repair,
and in a condition reasonably safe for travel for all travelers
thereon. It shall be unlawful for the owner or owners of any lot,
lots, or lands, abutting on any street, avenue or part thereof to
fail to maintain or repair any sidewalk in front of his, her, or
their property within thirty (30) days after having received notice
to do so. Notice shall be mailed by first class mail, postage
prepaid to the last known address of the property owner.
In the event that the owner or owners of any lot, lots, or
lands, abutting on any street, avenue, or part thereof shall fail
to construct or repair any sidewalk in front of his, her, or their
lot, lots, or lands, within the time and in the manner as directed
and required herein, after having received notice to do so, they
shall be liable for all damages or injury occasioned by reason of
the defective or dangerous condition of any sidewalk, and the
Governing Body shall have power to cause any such sidewalks to be
constructed or repaired and assess the costs thereof against such
property. Upon a three-fourths (3/4) vote of the Council in favor
thereof, the Governing Body shall have the power to cause such
sidewalks or areaways available for the public use to be repaired
and to access the cost as a special assessment against the property
(ref. 17-557.01 RS Neb.) (Amended: Ord. #93-109)
§8-206 SIDEWALKS; CONSTRUCTION BY OWNER OR OCCUPANT. Any person
desiring to construct, or cause to be constructed, any sidewalk
shall do so in the manner prescribed by the Municipal Engineer as
approved by resolution of the Governing Body. It shall be unlawful
to construct any sidewalk at a location, grade, or elevation other
than at the established location, grade, or elevation without
written permission from the Governing Body. Any sidewalk
constructed in any width, thickness, or at any location, grade, or
elevation other than that prescribed by the Municipal Engineer
shall be subject to removal upon written notice by the
Governing Body. (Ref. 17-567 RS Neb.)
§8-207 SIDEWALKS; MUNICIPAL CONSTRUCTION. Whenever threefourths
(3/4) of all the members of the Council shall deem it
necessary that a sidewalk should be constructed or reconstructed
along any lot or piece of ground in the Municipality, they shall so
order by resolution and the Utilities Superintendent or other
official designated by the Governing Body shall thereupon serve on
the owner of such lot or piece of ground a copy of the resolution
which shall be substantially in the form prescribed by the
Municipal Attorney. If the owner of such lot or piece of ground or
his agent is a resident of the Municipality, personal service of
said resolution on the owner or his agent shall be deemed
sufficient notice. If the owner or his agent is a nonresident of
the Municipality, the notice may be served by certified mail, or if
a resident or nonresident thereof and cannot be found, or if the
Governing Body shall elect to serve notice on said owner or his
agent by publication, the Municipal Clerk shall cause a copy of the
resolution to be published in a legal newspaper of general
circulation in the Municipality, one (1) time. The publisher of
such legal newspaper or his agent shall file with the Municipal
Clerk an affidavit of the publication of the resolution as soon as
the publication herein required is completed. Such publication
shall be deemed good and sufficient notice to the owners of
property, resident or nonresident, adjacent to which the sidewalk
is to be constructed. The affidavit of the printer or his agent
shall be prima facie evidence of the publication herein required
and shall be preserved and made a part of the records of the
Municipality. If any such owner or agent whose duty it is to
construct such sidewalk shall neglect, refuse, or shall have failed
after service of notice to construct such improvement within thirty
(30) days, the Municipality shall proceed at once without further
notice against such owner or person to have such improvement made
and the expense of such work and materials shall be assessed as
other special assessments to such lot or parcel of land and
collected as provided by law. The Municipality may perform such
work with Municipal employees and furnish necessary materials, or
may employ such persons as the Governing Body may authorize to
accomplish such work and furnish such materials. (Ref. 17-522,
17-523 RS Neb.)
§8-208 SIDEWALKS; CONSTRUCTION BY PETITION. If the record
resident abutting owners in fee simply of property subject to
assessment for sidewalk improvements, petition the Governing Body
to make the same, the Governing Body shall proceed in all things as
though such construction had been ordered by it. Upon the petition
of any freeholder who is an abutting owner in fee simple of
property subject to assessment for sidewalk improvements, the Mayor
and Council may order permanent sidewalks built in accordance with
this Article upon the freeholder making, executing, and delivering
to the Municipality an agreement to the effect that the petitioning
freeholder will pay the engineering service fee and the cost of the
construction of the sidewalk, and that the cost of such
construction including the engineering service fee and all other
incidental construction costs until paid shall be a perpetual lien
upon the real estate along which the freeholder desires such
sidewalk to be constructed and that the petitioner gives and grants
to the Municipality the right to assess and levy the costs of such
construction against the freeholder’s real estate abutting the
sidewalk improvement and promises to pay such costs with interest.
The total cost of such improvement shall be levied, allocated,
financed, and specially assessed as provided by law. (Ref. 17-
524, 18-1751 RS Neb.)
§8-209 SIDEWALKS; CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS. All sidewalks
shall be constructed in conformity with such specifications as are
adopted by the Municipal Engineer and approved by the Governing
Body. The Municipal Engineer may reject the use of any materials
that do not comply with such requirements and specifications or any
material that is lacking in quality, and it shall be unlawful to
construct any sidewalk from any material so rejected. Such
specifications shall provide for the width, slope, surface,
expansion joints, and other general conditions. All sidewalks
along blocks 58, 70, 71, 90 and 91 on Stone Street and also those
sidewalks along property used for business purposes shall be built
not less than twelve feet (12′) wide and plumb with the lot line.
The width of sidewalks on said Stone Street, outside of the limits
mentioned above and north of Twelfth (12th) Street shall not be
less than five feet (5′), four inches (4″). When permanent
sidewalks are constructed along business property on Eighteenth
(18th), Seventeenth (17th), Sixteenth (16th) and Fifteenth (15th)
Streets between Chase Street and Harlan Street the same shall be
ten feet (10′) wide. All sidewalks built, laid, or constructed
elsewhere along any side or part of a side of any block along which
side no sidewalk has been constructed prior to the effective date
of this section shall be built not less than four feet (4′) wide,
with the outer or street edge thereof laid plumb with and abutting
the curb line of the street abutted by such block side. In case
any lot owner of a piece of land within the Municipality, under
notice given or otherwise, shall construct a sidewalk in violation
of this Chapter, the officer in charge of streets and highways may
stop the work of such construction and order the same to be
constructed in accordance with this Chapter and order the work
already done to be changed, and on the failure of such owner to
change any such work, the Utilities Superintendent of other officer
shall forthwith change said work, and the expense of the same shall
be assessed and taxed to said lot. (Ref. 17-141 RS Neb.)
§8-210 SIDEWALKS; CERTIFICATION. The Municipal Engineer shall
certify to the Governing Body a detailed schedule of all sidewalks
laid, widened, or rebuilt and the cost of same, from which the
Governing Body may be aided in determining the amount to be
assessed as a special assessment against each lot or piece of
ground. The Municipal Engineer shall certify such other facts as
may be necessary to enable the Governing Body to make the proper
special assessment. He shall also certify to the Governing Body
the acceptance of any sidewalk so improved or what other action he
has taken with reference to the sidewalk. The Municipal Engineer
shall allocate the cost of sidewalk improvements to the adjoining
lots or parcels of land and prepare all necessary data for
assessment sheets; Provided, if there is no duly qualified and
acting Municipal Engineer, the Utilities Superintendent shall
perform all the duties required of the engineer with relation to
any sidewalks improvements. The cost of improvements provided for
in this Chapter shall be assessed by the Mayor and Council meeting
as a Board of Equalization, following notice of such sitting at
least ten (10) days prior thereto by publication in a newspaper
having general circulation in the City, and the assessments shall
be equalized and levy made in the manner provided by law. (Ref.
17-141 RS Neb.)