Bowling Green, KY Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Section 27-5.04(b) of the Bowling Green Code of Ordinances places an affirmative maintenance duty on "every person owning, occupying or having control or management of any building or lot in the City": the abutting sidewalk must be kept open and free from all obstructions, barriers and impediments of every description. The same subsection bars letting trees, brush, hedges or other vegetation grow so as to interfere with normal sidewalk or vehicular traffic in the public right-of-way, or become so diseased that it turns into a hazard to people or property using the sidewalk or adjacent streets.

This owner duty sits alongside the general ban on placing obstructions in the right-of-way at Sec. 27-5.04(a), and subsection (c) separately forbids depositing snow on city sidewalks or letting drainage cause ice to accumulate there. Violations are Property Code nuisances enforced by the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services: a Citation Officer issues a Notice of Violation under Subchapter 2-21, and Sec. 27-7.01 sets civil fines for non-structural property-maintenance violations at $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second and $400 for further offenses within five years if uncontested, doubling to $200, $400 and $800 if the owner contests the citation and the Code Enforcement and Nuisance Board holds a hearing. The City can also abate the hazard directly and bill the costs to the owner.