New Braunfels, TX Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Sec. 114-3 splits the sidewalk-maintenance duty into four parts. Subsection (a) requires every owner, occupant and user of property served by a public-use sidewalk, driveway or way to keep it safe, free of depressions, excavations, inequalities, obstacles, obstructions or encroachments. Subsection (b) goes further: whoever owns or occupies property abutting a defective, unsafe or hazardous sidewalk, parkway, way or driveway must repair it at his own expense, not the city's. Subsection (c) extends the same owner-pays duty to trees and tree parts along the sidewalk, including those in the right-of-way (outside street medians), utility easements or drainage easements, requiring the owner to trim, prune or remove any tree or limb that becomes unsafe, even though the city, New Braunfels Utilities or other utility providers separately regulate vegetation in those same easements.

Subsection (d) puts primary liability for any injury or damage caused by a violation of the section on the owner, occupant or user of the property, not the city. Sec. 114-4 layers on a companion duty to keep the abutting sidewalk, parkway and alleyway clean and free of weeds, trash, rubbish, filth and debris. If an owner does not repair a hazard voluntarily, Sec. 114-6 lets the building official, city engineer or code enforcement officer issue a written abatement notice with up to 15 days to comply, or immediate abatement for a genuine safety emergency; an owner who still does not act can be billed for the city's repair work, with an unpaid bill becoming a property lien carrying ten percent annual interest, appealable to the construction board of adjustment.