Why Are They Putting a Sidewalk In My Yard?

City Sidewalks – Let’s talk about them.

You might look outside of your front door and not see a sidewalk there. But one day the city might decide to put in some sidewalks.

I had a client called me a couple of weeks ago saying, ‘Hey, the city is putting in some sidewalks. What’s up with that? I don’t want them tearing up my yard…’ And my comment to them was, “Hey, I remember when I helped you buy this place. We got a new survey, and on that survey was an easement for the city to be able to put a sidewalk if they ever wanted to…’

Even though it hadn’t been there for 60 years, it doesn’t mean that they don’t ever plan on putting one there. Especially make sure you pay attention if you live anywhere near a school!

‘What can I do about it?’
‘I don’t wanna sidewalk in my front yard.’
Yeah — you don’t have a choice. When then the city wants to put the sidewalk there, they’re going to put the sidewalk there.

Whenever you get a new survey of a property, it’s going to show you the property boundaries. It’s going to show you where the house is or any improvements that are on that property that are permanently fixed, along with any sort of electrical easements, any sort of right away easements of any kind, they’re all going to show up on there.

So pay attention to them because they could pop up later, such as an unwanted sidewalk.