Warrick County, IN Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Obstruction Rules (2026)

Warrick County Code § 159.01(A) assigns responsibility for the care, maintenance, and repair of sidewalks in unincorporated areas of the county to any landowner whose property abuts that sidewalk; § 159.01(B) requires that any repairs comply with the county's public sidewalk construction ordinances. Section 159.02 spells out what that duty covers: repairing damaged or broken sidewalk, removing snow and ice, and removing vehicles, debris, vegetation, or other obstructions blocking the walk, all at the landowner's own expense and as needed, not on a fixed schedule.

Section 159.01(C) clarifies that the chapter does not create a private right for a third party, such as an injured pedestrian, to sue the landowner directly over sidewalk condition; the duty runs to the county's enforcement process instead. That process is set out in § 159.03. The Board of County Commissioners or its designee must first notify the landowner, in person or by mail, and the landowner then has 30 days to complete the repairs; the Board has no obligation to conduct routine inspections to find problems on its own.

If the landowner misses the 30-day window, the county may hire an independent contractor to do the work, then serve the landowner a certified invoice for the actual cost. The landowner has ten calendar days from service of that invoice to pay the Board of County Commissioners in full. An unpaid invoice does not stay unpaid: under § 159.03(C), the Board certifies the amount, plus any added administrative certification costs, to the County Auditor, who places the total on the property's tax duplicate, where it becomes due with the real estate tax bill, plus any accrued interest. This chapter was adopted by Ord. 2024-18, passed October 28, 2024.