Germantown residents looking to sell their homes now face a new fee: $100 for a sidewalk inspection.
A new sidewalk policy that took effect Jan. 1 requires Germantown homeowners to address sidewalk repairs before any sale or transfer of ownership of any property can happen within the city limits.
Cameron Ross, Germantown’s director of economic and community development, said the policy allows the city to be more proactive by working through property sales to get sidewalk panels checked and replaced if they are deemed a safety hazard.
“The code compliance officers had always dealt with this on a complaint-driven approach, so more reactive,” Ross said. “So, now this brings them to us in a different way, and we can have these issues fixed as part of property transfers.”
Ross said Germantown spent more than $100,000 last year repairing sidewalks around the city, with some of those repairs in front of private property. He said the cost for repairs is transferred back to the property owner, and, if not paid, it is applied to their taxes or put as a lien on their property.
“That’s not how we really want to accomplish this, and we want to work with our residents and not in an adversarial fashion,” Ross said. “This is one way to do it, but when a code officer goes out to perform one of these sidewalk inspections, they’re also looking at sidewalks in the general area, and issuing courtesy notices to those properties to also know they need to fix their sidewalks.”
Damaged sidewalks an issue in Germantown
Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo said addressing sidewalk maintenance has come up at times over the years because the city has received a lot of complaints about uneven sidewalks.
Ross said 65% of the sidewalk inspections that the city has done in the past month have required some sort of repair, either caulking or panel replacement.
“There is an issue out there, and so this is again, a proactive way to get these repairs done that isn’t through city resources that can be applied elsewhere and working with property owners through property transfers,” he said.
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Taking a page from another Memphis suburb
Germantown’s adoption of a sidewalk inspection for homeowners follows what Bartlett has done for almost 30 years.
Trey Arthur, Bartlett’s director of code enforcement, said in an email to The Commercial Appeal that the city has been performing sidewalk inspections since 1997. According to Arthur, Bartlett charges $37 for a sidewalk inspection. Bartlett’s property maintenance ordinance states that all damaged sidewalks must be repaired by homeowners before the transfer of property.
Palazzolo said Germantown wanted to do something that has been working in Bartlett and bring it to its Memphis suburb.
“Bartlett ordinance says that when a property transfers, or when a person goes to sell their house, the sidewalk has to be inspected and comply to the city ordinances, or the person cannot close on that transaction,” Palazzolo said. “Obviously, both the seller and buyer have an incentive to want to get to closing and now there is a fixed sidewalk, which benefits all parties. This allows our city to leverage our code compliance officers because about 40 to 50 houses a month are (sold) in our city.”
Germantown’s sidewalk inspection details
There is a fee of $100 for each sidewalk inspection in Germantown. An application is available at the Economic and Community Development Office, 1920 S. Germantown Road.
No sidewalk inspection is mandatory for the sale of condominiums or homes without sidewalks. Ross noted if a panel has to be replaced, then the sidewalk inspection is valid for a year.
“If a [home] sale falls through and a person has to relist the property, they won’t have to come back in for another year if they’ve replaced it,” Ross said. “Also, if they’ve caulked it or the panel didn’t require any repair or replacement, then the permit is good for six months.”
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Getting the word out to Realtors and Germantown residents
Palazzolo acknowledged the new sidewalk inspection program is something people in Germantown are still getting used to in the city. He said Alderman Jon McCreery recently spoke at a Crye-Leike Realtors meeting, outlining the sidewalk policy change.
Memphis Area Association of Realtors President Scott Bettis told The Commercial Appeal that the organization hasn’t taken a position on the sidewalk policy change in Germantown, but understand that it has to comply to whatever is happening in the area.
“Some of our members have been through the process already, and it wasn’t terribly cumbersome for them,” Bettis said. “We just have to be aware of it, help guide our sellers and understand it’s going to be part of the transaction like everything else we assist with in getting houses sold.
“For quite a while, Bartlett has had a very similar sidewalk ordinance, and we’ve successfully been able to work with it in Bartlett for years. I don’t look for it to be too impactful, but it’s just making sure the word gets out to both residents and our whole Realtor community.”
Ross said Germantown is continuing to educate and work with the local real estate community.
“We’re speaking to local [real estate] offices that invite us, and we’re looking for invitations because we don’t have a comprehensive list,” he said. “We’re working with Memphis Area Association of Realtors to help us get the word out, and we’re putting together with them another opportunity to speak with agents.”
Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Corey.Davis@commercialappeal.com or 901-293-1610.