We Have to Put In Sidewalks

The woman from the city got back to me. We have to have a sidewalk to move into the house.

We have to put in sidewalks. And not just in front of the house. The sidewalk has to wrap around both sides of  the property that touch the road. The few sidewalks there are in our neighborhood are 4’ wide, but any new sidewalks have to be 5’ wide.

They sent two documents and an email with more details. Here are the highlights.

Construction of Sidewalks

All concrete must be 3000 P.S.I. or greater.

Sidewalk minimum width                            5 ft.

Sidewalk minimum depth                            4 inches

Curb and Gutter minimum                          18 inches

Wheel chair ramps for the physically handicapped MUST be provided at all intersections and at all other major points of pedestrians flow.

The minimum thickness of a sidewalk shall be four full ( not nominal ) inches except where it is crossed by a driveway entrance, then it shall be a minimum thickness of six full ( not nominal ) inches.  Sidewalks that are contiguous to a curb or a curb and gutter section at corner radii shall have a minimum thickness of eight inches.

When construction of a new sidewalk takes place, (a location where no sidewalk was present before) the minimum width of the sidewalk shall be five (5) feet.  At no time shall the width be less than the minimum requirements because of unmovable objects. (i.e., poles, trees, shrubbery, walls, etc.)  This can be accomplished by the use of a radius or angles sidewalk, to ensure a continuous minimum width of sidewalk for pedestrian traffic.

Curbs shall have a minimum finished height of six inches.

This is a new sidewalk in our neighborhood. They only had to put in one ramp at each corner.

Curb Ramps and Curb Cuts for Handicapped Persons

Curbs constructed on each side of any street or road, where curbs and sidewalks are provided and at other major points of pedestrian flow, shall meet the following minimum requirements:

(1) No less than two curb ramps or curb cuts shall be provided per lineal block, located at intersections.

(2) In no case, shall the width of a curb ramp or curb cut be less than 40 inches.

(3) The maximum gradient of such curb ramps or curb cuts shall be eighty and thirty-three one-hundredths percent (8.33%) ( 12 inches slope for every one-inch rise ) in relationship to the grade of the street or road.

(4) One curb ramp or curb cut may be provided under special conditions between each radius point of street turnout of an intersection, if adequate provisions are made to prevent vehicular traffic from encroaching on the ramp.

PROCEDURES AND METHODS FOR THE CUTTING, RESTORATION, AND NEW CONSTRUCTION OF CITY OF HENDERSONVILLE SYSTEM STREETS AND SIDEWALKS

There is more about Filing Plans, Subgrade Preparation, Forms, Joints, Contraction, Expansion, Curing, Protection, and Finishing. They also sent us STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS AND DETAILS FOR INCIDENTAL CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION with even more details.

We have to pull permits and pay for testing.

Permits & Fees

Fees for permits shall be according to the following schedule and shall be paid to the City of Hendersonville at the time of the issuance of permits:

1. Sidewalks:  Thirty-five dollars ($35.00) or ten cents ($.10) per lineal foot, whichever is greater.
2. Driveway entrances:  Thirty-five dollars ($35.00) each.
3. Re-inspections:  Thirty-five dollars ($35.00) each re-inspection.

The permit holder shall pay the actual cost of any compaction test or material test required by the Director of Public Works.

And Whoa!

Removal of Defective Work

The Director of Public Works shall have the authority to and shall require the removal of any sidewalk, curb, curb and gutter or driveway entrance or portion thereof installed under these Specifications which do not conform to the requirements as set forth herein.  Upon notification in writing by the Director of Public Works the contractor shall take immediate action to correct the faulty work at his own expense.

If it’s not done to the City specifications, we do it over. By contractor’s own expense… Does that mean the contractor can’t charge us to do it over? Let’s just get it right the first time.

Curbs & Gutters

Do we also have to put in curbs and gutters? It says a lot and it’s pretty confusing.

Whenever sidewalk is replaced and/or new sidewalk installed and street curb is less than four (4) inches in height, new curbing shall be installed to match height of sidewalk.  Minimum height of curbing shall be no less than four (4) inches and no greater than six (6) inches of street pavement.  Replacement of deteriorated curbing will be at the discretion of  the Director of Public Works.

All concrete for load bearing applications such as driveway entrances, sidewalks crossing driveway entrances, and sidewalks contiguous to street curb corner radii shall contain monofilament polyester or polypropylene reinforcing fiber material added at the rate of 1.5 pounds per cubic yard of concrete.

It says “Replacement of deteriorated curbing will be at the discretion of  the Director of Public Works.” The city pretty recently put in all new curbs around our property. Does this mean we can just leave them? I hope so!

Payment to City Sidewalk Fund in Lieu of Construction of Sidewalks

I had heard that it’s cheaper to just make a donation to the city fund for sidewalks. Instead of putting in a sidewalk, you can just make a donation, your choice. That is not true.

City Zoning Ordinance Section 6-12-3

Section 6-12-3 Payment of Fee in Lieu of Construction of Sidewalks

The City Manager may allow the applicant to pay the cost of constructing sidewalks into the City Sidewalk Fund in lieu of requiring construction of the sidewalks when one or more of the following conditions exist:

a) Construction of sidewalks will result in a hardship.

b) Construction of sidewalks will not result in useful pedestrian walkways due to one or more of the following: City of Hendersonville Zoning Ordinance Page 123 Amended through 07-02-15 1) Topographical features will result in impractical design. 2) The lack of adjacent right-of-way for future sidewalk construction.

c) The sidewalk location is not identified as a short-term recommendation, long-term recommendation or included as part of the comprehensive recommended pedestrian network in the City of Hendersonville Pedestrian Plan.

As an alternative to a payment in lieu of the installation and construction of sidewalks or a portion thereof, the City Manager may approve the applicant constructing an equivalent linear footage of sidewalk off site. The specific location for the sidewalk construction shall be at the City Manager’s discretion. The offsite sidewalk construction shall be completed, inspected and approved prior to a certificate of occupancy being issued. (added 12.4.08, amended 11-04-10)

So, the choice is:

Put in a sidewalk around our own property.

Prove why we can’t and pay into the City Sidewalk Fund if we have a hardship or the sidewalk would be useless.

Put in just as much sidewalk somewhere else.

“As an alternative to a payment in lieu of the installation and construction of sidewalks or a portion thereof, the City Manager may approve the applicant constructing an equivalent linear footage of sidewalk off site. The specific location for the sidewalk construction shall be at the City Manager’s discretion. The offsite sidewalk construction shall be completed, inspected and approved prior to a certificate of occupancy being issued.”

None of the why-we-can’ts actually apply. So we will have a sidewalk wrapping around the side of our property.

They told me over the phone that we don’t have to cross the gully. We don’t have to put in a bridge. I don’t know what this means. We just stop and the sidewalk dumps into the gully? More likely we have turn-out ramps onto the road, then back to the sidewalk at the other side of the gully.

Also, the county has informed us that they are doing work on our property. They are moving a pipe and adjusting the brook. The woman I talked to at the city says to just put in the sidewalk and they will fix it after they tear it up.

I sure hope that whoever Schumacher uses has done this before and knows what they are doing.

Examples of New Sidewalks Nearby

I drove around to see what new sidewalks look like. They are all different. None of them really seem to follow all the rules they sent us.
What do we really have to do?

This new sidewalk has no curbs or gutters. It has some kind of joint thing.

This length of sidewalk is also through the grass. The curb is the original curb on the road.

Another length of sidewalk through grass with an asphalt curb on the road.

Sidewalk with no curb

Truss Permanent Lateral and Diagonal Bracing and other progress >

When we were nearly finished building the house, the city sent someone down to tell us specifically where the sidewalk was to be constructed. At the last minute they got back to us with a bill for what they thought our sidewalk would cost us instead. We paid the bill and someone else got a sidewalk.

The concrete contractors just framed the driveway, carport and the sidewalk to our front door.