Springfield, OR Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Sidewalk Repair (2026)

Springfield Municipal Code § 3.306 places the duty on all property owners, including record owners and contract purchasers, to keep sidewalks in front of, abutting and adjoining their property clean and in good repair, free of defects, obstructions and hazardous materials, and it makes an owner who fails in that duty liable to any person injured as a result. Section 3.304 assigns the council, acting through the city manager, responsibility for maintaining all city sidewalks in a state of good repair once the manager receives written notice of a needed repair; the manager is not deemed to have notice until the defect has been reported in writing.

Under Section 3.308, once the city manager has cognizance of a needed repair, the manager must give the record owner written notice, with a copy mailed to any occupant, directing that the sidewalk be repaired to the satisfaction of the public works director within 10 days of the notice, or within any additional time the director allows. If the owner fails to complete the repair within that 10-day window, the city manager causes the sidewalk to be repaired directly. Section 3.310 then makes each lot or parcel liable for the full cost of that repair or reconstruction: the city manager presents the billing to the council, the council assesses each parcel's share by ordinance and enters it as a lien on the docket of city liens, and if the assessment is not paid within 30 days of notice from the finance director, the council may levy on the property and satisfy the lien by execution and sale under the charter, city ordinances or state statute governing delinquent street-improvement assessments.