KINGWOOD — Kingwood Council gave its take on sidewalk ownership and liabilities last week.
The clarification of city code came after residents Robert Jr. and Robin Goodwin asked who is liable, if someone falls and is injured on the sidewalk abutting their property?
After meeting in closed session to hear the legal advice of city attorney Sheila Williams, council issued a statement: Sidewalks are a public right-of-way, and the public way is supervised by the city. Residents are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of sidewalks adjacent to their property.
A motion passed to notify citizens in the future if the sidewalks by their property need repairs and specifying that sidewalks must remain open to the general public as a public right-of-way.
Robert Goodwin said he has no problem with doing repairs, but he has not received any notification that his sidewalk needs work.
“My property stakes are clearly on the inside of the sidewalk,” Goodwin said. “I don’t think my insurance company should have to pay for somebody falling on that sidewalk. Lord knows how many people we’ve had there during festival time and it could happen.”
Councilman Joe Seese asked if city ordinance makes clear who is liable?
Williams said case law varies and, “it’s not black and white.” She predicted that, “if someone falls on that sidewalk abutting Bobby’s property, the city will be sued and Bobby will be sued. And possibly the county since it’s abutting a county road. It becomes a legal issue that will be battled out in court.”
That’s unless the city decides to take on all liability for the sidewalk, but she said Kingwood’s insurance company would probably oppose that.
City Clerk Mary Howell noted that the state legislature recently passed a law that eliminated it from “slip and fall” liability. A bill that would have done the same for towns and counties is out there, she said.
Robin Goodwin asked if they could block off the sidewalk, to avoid liability, during the Buckwheat Festival. “I don’t want that liability,” she said.
“I don’t know if we can determine your liability or not. The courts may have to determine that,” Councilman Josh Fields said.
However, the motion passed specifies that sidewalks must remain open as public ways.
At an earlier meeting council mentioned some sidewalks that needed repairs and decided to wait until spring to do a look at all sidewalks and notify all those who need repairs.
