Fairfield, CT Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Article V of Chapter 91, Streets and Sidewalks, titled Limitation on Liability, sets out who answers for the condition of a Fairfield sidewalk. Section 91-27.A tracks C.G.S. § 13a-149 to say the Town is not liable for injury or property damage caused by defects and obstructions, or by ice and snow, on a public sidewalk unless the Town itself owns or controls the abutting land (other than land used as a public highway or street); the Town remains liable only for its own affirmative acts on that sidewalk.

Section 91-27.B then places the corresponding duty of care on the private side: the owner or person in possession and control of land abutting a public sidewalk carries the same duty of care for defects, obstructions, ice, and snow on the portion of sidewalk fronting their property that the municipality itself carried before the Town adopted this ordinance under C.G.S. § 7-163a, and that owner is liable to anyone injured where a breach of that duty is the proximate cause. This is a duty-of-care and liability-shifting provision rather than a permit or inspection scheme; it works together with § 91-2's 24-hour snow-and-ice clearance rule and the town's separate Article III permit system for actually constructing or replacing curbs, walks, and driveway aprons, which the Director of Public Works oversees. Any personal-injury lawsuit arising from a breach of this duty must be filed within two years of the date the injury was first sustained.