San Ramon, CA Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Section C6-197 states plainly that the owner of real property adjoining any portion of a sidewalk area shall maintain and repair it and pay the cost, and for commercial or industrial driveways crossing the walk, that duty extends to work on the owner's private property or the adjoining street pavement if the city deems it necessary to finish the repair. The one carve-out: no owner owes anything for damage caused by a tree the City of San Ramon itself owns. Section C6-198 turns that maintenance duty into public liability, so a failure to repair is treated as negligence and the owner answers for any resulting injury or property damage.

even though the sidewalk sits on public land. Enforcement runs through the public works director under Section C6-201: the director must give an owner at least 30 calendar days to start required maintenance and at least 180 calendar days to finish repairs, delivered by certified mail or in person, with 15 calendar days to appeal to the city council through the city clerk. When tree-root damage from a neighboring tree is the cause, the director may have the city make the repair at city expense, but only if the owner removes the offending tree at the owner's own cost.

If the owner instead asks the city to do the repair work, the bill splits 50/50 between owner and city; the city never shares in the cost of work the owner performs.