Lawton, OK Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Section 20-1-103 of the Lawton Code places the duty to maintain public sidewalks squarely on the property that abuts them, not the city. Owners, occupants, and users of real property abutting a street must, at their own cost and expense, keep the sidewalk and any paving laid on it in a safe, adequate, and good condition without defects, and at curb grade and level, free of depressions, excavations, elevations, inequalities, obstacles, obstructions, or encroachments, natural or artificial, above or below ground, including anything overlapping or impinging on the sidewalk or the eight feet of space above it.

The sidewalk must remain easily accessible and safe for public foot travel, and no oil, grease, ice, snow, or water may be permitted to collect or remain on it. The ordinance does allow property owners to grow trees on the parkway strip next to the sidewalk, so long as limbs and branches are kept pruned at least eight feet above the walkway and an equal distance out from it. Subsection B makes the consequence explicit: the owner, occupant, or user of property abutting a defective sidewalk is primarily liable for any injury or damage a pedestrian suffers as a result of a violation of the maintenance duty in subsection A.

This shifts the first line of civil liability for a cracked, uneven, or ice-covered sidewalk away from the City of Lawton and onto the adjoining property, a distinction that matters directly in a slip-and-fall claim.