Charlottesville, VA Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Charlottesville City Code Sec. 28-7 puts the burden of building or repairing a sidewalk squarely on the abutting property owner. Anyone who wants to lay a sidewalk applies in writing to the director of public works, who grants permission on the condition that the applicant does the work at their own expense and under the department's supervision. If no owner steps forward, Sec. 28-7(b) lets city council require a sidewalk to be laid as provided by state law or direct it built in another manner consistent with state law; the city's Charter, Sec.

16, likewise authorizes special assessments on abutting landowners for making and improving sidewalks, capped at the peculiar benefit the work confers on that landowner. Maintenance duties run alongside construction duties. Section 28-24 makes it the duty of anyone occupying a store or premises fronting a street to keep the sidewalk immediately in front clean and clear of rubbish, trash, waste paper or filth, and shifts that duty to the building owner or the person in charge wherever three or more tenants occupy the structure, or to the ground-floor business where a store fronts the walk.

The same chapter separately requires the owner or occupant of any house or lot to clear snow or ice from the abutting sidewalk within twenty-four hours after it stops falling, extendable to seventy-two hours for accumulations over twelve inches, under Sec. 28-25; the director of neighborhood development services can do the work after a warning and bill the owner or occupant like a delinquent local tax if they do not comply. Chapter 28's general penalty clause, Sec. 28-1, makes any violation not otherwise addressed a Class 1 misdemeanor, so an owner who ignores a public works order to build or repair a sidewalk, or who lets one stay filthy, is exposed to that charge on top of any assessed or abated cost.