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City of Detroit Sidewalk Marking Code

City of Detroit, you rock. I decided to finish my presentation of the stamps I saw in the Fox Theatre by checking on Detroit’s sidewalk stamp rules. I could tell that they must require them, since they were thick on the ground there, even compared with Lansing. Lansing may have earned my respect by codifying sidewalk stamps, but Detroit’s sidewalk stamp ordinance is on another level:

The Contractor’s name and the year in which the walk or drive was laid shall be carefully and clearly impressed in the concrete surface of each isolated flag, each flag at the property line, and in each end flag or slab of two or more adjoining flags or slabs. Each individual flag adjacent to a tree, whether arced or not, shall be also marked, as directed by the Engineer.

The stamp or plate used for marking shall have an approximate maximum dimension 100 mm x 150mm (4 x 6 inches), outside dimension. The Contractor’s name and the current year’s date shall be in such characters and arrangement that legible and indelible impression may be made in the concrete.

The work will be considered incidental to the cost of construction.

Sec. 12.III.12: “Contractor’s Stamp,” Standard Specifications for Paving and Related Construction, City of Detroit Department of Public Works, March 2009

The very detailed and strict set of rules mostly speaks for itself, but two points stand out. One is that it requires stamping not just at the start and end of a run of sidewalk but at the property line and, curiously, adjacent to each tree. The other is the last line, “The work will be considered incidental to the cost of construction.” I assume that means “Don’t try to charge extra for installing stamps” and it makes me wonder if there were incidents that resulted in adding that clause.

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Politics, city services, and sidewalk clearing

Here’s another interesting item I found while scrounging around in old [Lansing] State Journals, this one from January 26, 1947. It’s a front page, leftmost column titled “By the Way.” (The main headlines that day were “Liquor Board Shakeup Seen” and, just under it, “‘Scarface’ Al Capone Dead,” and much as it is tempting to put the two together, they are unrelated events.)

Here is the column in its entirety:

Lansing city officials and aldermen who nave had long experience in municipal government affairs have about come to the conclusion that citizens are willing to pay more taxes if they receive a fair return in services they demand. The old logic of municipal authorities, which largely holds true today, is that the budget should be pared to the bone, so to speak, to keep taxes down and the taxpayers happy. However, with fast changing times this thought is rapidly giving way to a reversal of the old logic. Officials are finding that citizens demand only the best with cost a secondary matter. Prime example of the new thought trend is a demand for quick service by the public works department in clearing the streets of snow and caring for icy streets In winter months. The average citizen wants his street and sidewalk plowed out within a couple of hours after a snowfall. With present equipment this job takes from 24 to 36 or more hours. It is a physical impossibility to complete the work in less time. Budget-minded officials, seeking to save the taxpayer added costs, takes a “beating” in complaints from citizens. These questions therefore present themselves to the aldermen and department heads: Should several thousand dollars more be Invested in additional snow removal equipment which is used relatively few times during the year in this work? Would the taxpayer be willing to pay a little more to get this “deluxe super-service?” Officials think the citizens would pay more, but harbor the fear of scathing criticism which comes after Mr. Citizen gets his new tax bill. Such services cannot be added or enlarged without additional expense. Aldermen know this and hesitate to take any action until they know just “how much” each project will cost. Additional employes, maintenance and numerous other items must be considered, because these must be paid through future years. Small pressure groups have little success in “bulling” their pet projects through the city council, but city-wide sentiment favoring some particular service or project is sure to receive serious attention and most likely, favorable action by the aldermen. 

I didn’t realize I was reading the news organ of Bizarro Lansing. “Citizens demand only the best with cost a secondary matter,” you say? That must be nice. More to the point of this blog, though, is this: “The average citizen wants his street and sidewalk plowed out within a couple of hours after a snowfall.” That evidently means that the city used to clear sidewalks instead of having a useless and nearly unenforced ordinance requiring residents to do it themselves (eventually). I now really want to know when that changed.

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Albion Municipal Code on Sidewalks

I haven’t had time to get any sidewalk stamps recently so I’m going to do my usual stopgap post checking municipal ordinances for rules about sidewalk markings. I thought I would check out the municipality outside metro Lansing that I have done the most stamps from, because family lives there: Albion.

Although there are some stamped sidewalks in Albion, they are very infrequent. Accordingly, I predicted that I would find nothing in the city code about marking new sidewalk construction. I was right. The Albion code on sidewalk construction is mostly the usual stuff about how far it needs to be set back from the street, how thick the slab should be, who pays for repairs (as usual, the adjacent property owner), and so on. I did note a couple of unique elements. One is that it specifies the PSI that the sidewalk has to be capable of withstanding: “All concrete used in sidewalk construction shall, 28 days after placement, be capable of resisting a pressure of 3,500 pounds per square inch without failure.” The other is that there is a whole section devoted to doors and gratings in the sidewalk: “No door shall be placed in any sidewalk unless the design and specifications therefor shall be approved by the director of public works. No open iron grating or other open devices or any device containing glass shall be placed in or used as the surface of any sidewalk.” Albion is hardly a city I would expect to be riddled with sidewalk grates, yet the penalties for violating this suggest it was a big problem at one time: you get 30 days to remove the door, grate, or window after being notified of the violation, after which it is a separate violation for each day it remains.

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City of Grand Ledge Sidewalk Code

Yes, it’s another exciting installment of my occasional series, “What municipalities in greater Lansing have sidewalk marking requirements?” Today I visited Grand Ledge’s municipal code and for a sidewalk fan like me, at least, it was a good read. That’s because it’s extremely detailed, perhaps the most of any that I’ve read so far, about issues like the proper width, grading, distance from the road, etc., of sidewalks, as well as assigning responsibility for the cost. It also has a section stipulating the conditions under which a sidewalk will be “presumed to be defective,” as follows:

  1. There is a vertical displacement of three-fourths of an inch or greater;
  2. There is a crack greater than one-half inch wide;
  3. If any section is spalled, chipped or gouged over 25 percent or more of its surface area; or
  4. If the sidewalk or non-motorized pathway slopes exceed those contained in the standards enumerated in section 34-3(c)(1) through (4);
  5. If improper or insufficient drainage causes water to collect on the surface of the sidewalk or non-motorized pathway;
  6. If any obstructions encroach within one foot of either side or within eight feet above the surface of the sidewalk or non-motorized pathway; or
  7. If there are more than two cracks in any five-foot section of any sidewalk or non-motorized pathway.

I’m not sure why some of those provisions get an “or” on the end and others don’t. It looks like an oversight. Anyway, I think by the standards above, something like 25% of the sidewalk in my neighborhood would be presumed defective!

Ultimately, though, the sidewalk code of Grand Ledge is disappointing. The detailed, strict rules in it got me thinking that they would also be the kind of town that would want sidewalks to be stamped. Alas, it is not so. I can’t find anything in the code that requires sidewalk markings.

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City of Williamston Sidewalk Code

It’s been a terribly busy week for me – this is my crunch time at work – so you’ll forgive me, I hope, as I bring you a rather uneventful update. As part of my recent series exploring metro Lansing sidewalk ordinances, I tried checking out Williamston’s. The city has been showing up in TV ads a lot as I’ve been watching Christmas special broadcasts. There are a lot of little boutiques in its small downtown, so it advertises a lot during the holiday shopping season.

Sadly, Williamston’s code contains nothing about sidewalk stamps, though it does say that sidewalks shall be constructed “in accordance with the specifications stated in the city’s municipal standards, and shall guarantee such construction against defective workmanship, material or construction for three years from the time such sidewalk is constructed.” A specific warranty period hasn’t been mentioned in any other code I’ve looked at. Of course, it would be easier to track down the contractor responsible for a bum walk if they had to leave their name on it. (If there’s anything relevant in the city’s municipal standards, I don’t know, as those don’t appear to be online.)

I also notice that Williamston’s ordinance on sidewalk maintenance specifies that not only the sidewalk itself must be clear of obstructions, but a window of one foot on either side of it (provided there isn’t a building there) and eight feet above it must remain clear. As someone who has repeatedly been bonked on the head by low tree limbs while walking at night, I approve. There are also quite a lot of places in my neighborhood where property owners have allowed weed trees and shrubs to encroach from the sides, which has to be even more bothersome to people in wheelchairs.

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Bath Township Sidewalk Code

Today’s entry in my series surveying local municipalities’ sidewalk ordinances is Bath Township. Yes, for non-local readers, it is that Bath Township, which lies just northeast of Lansing. You will not (or at least should not) be surprised to learn it is a charter township, like almost all of the townships surrounding Lansing and East Lansing. I found their sidewalk construction code, and I’m sorry to say that it says nothing about stamping the sidewalk with a contractor’s name. It also appeared extremely similar to other local sidewalk construction codes that I have covered recently, leading me to believe they have been adapted from a standard building code.

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DeWitt Township Sidewalk Code

I was surprised, but probably shouldn’t have been, to learn that DeWitt Township is actually a Charter Township. I knew that Delta and Meridian were charter townships, but didn’t know about DeWitt or, for that matter, Delhi. In Michigan, incorporating as a charter township gives a township some protection against being annexed. It’s almost always motivated by not wanting to pay city taxes. There is also a city of DeWitt, which is surrounded by the charter township but is independent of it. I’ll probably dig up the city of DeWitt’s sidewalk code in a later post.

Anyway, this is the latest in my series of posts on metro Lansing municipalities’ sidewalk stamp ordinances (or lack thereof). I don’t have much to say this time, but I found the DeWitt Township sidewalk construction code and I’m sorry to report that it does not contain anything about stamping the sidewalk with the contractor’s name.

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Delhi Township Sidewalk Code

Next up on my survey of metro Lansing sidewalk marking codes is Delhi Charter Township, best known as the home of the unincorporated community of Holt. Delhi has a pretty good chunk of code devoted to sidewalk maintenance standards, despite the fact that, according to the Township’s building information brochure, no permit is required to construct a sidewalk. Delhi also has a Complete Streets ordinance that requires sidewalks to be installed, when feasible (however that is determined), whenever there is a road construction project. Alas, Delhi Township’s sidewalk construction ordinances do not require any contractor stamps.

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East Lansing Sidewalk Code

Let’s continue looking at area sidewalk marking requirements. Today I found East Lansing’s requirements for sidewalk construction, and I am happy to report that it contains this:

The contractor must stamp the concrete with the contractor name and current year at the limits of the pour, using a professionally manufactured/fabricated stamp ONLY. No other methods will be allowed.

This is the first one I’ve found that is particular about the nature of the stamp. Apparently East Lansing didn’t want any of these kinds of shenanigans.

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Delta Township Sidewalk Code

Since I have no sidewalk markings to show today, I thought I would start looking around at the various municipalities around Lansing and see which of them have sidewalk marking rules. I know already that Lansing Township does, even though it seems hardly enforced. Meridian Township also does, but to the best of my determination, Alaiedon Township does not. I went looking on Delta Township’s Web site, and found the Delta Township Concrete Construction Standards. There is nothing in here about markings, so I guess Delta Township does not require sidewalk stamps. Boo! Boo, I say!