Trees & Sidewalks

When the neighborhood was built in the late 1990s, the city of North Bend provided a specific set of rules for neighborhood streets and sidewalk specifications which included the type and amount of trees to be planted in the sidewalk areas. In order for the city to take over maintenance from the builders, these specifications were to be followed or the association would be required to maintain it's own common areas. After the completion of each sub-division in the neighborhood, an agreement was signed with the city transferring ownership of the streets and sidewalks of the division to the city of North Bend for $1. These agreements clearly state the city is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the streets, sidewalks, and trees which were built according to the city specifications at the time.

For many years, the city has done it's job of maintaining issues with the sidewalks where damage has occurred. Unfortunately, in the most recent several years the trees have grown very large due to lack of maintenance and the root systems have been pushing up the sidewalks in many places in the neighborhood. The city did attempt a small temporary fix with asphalt shims in order to help smooth out some of the worst areas, but this temporary fix has outlived it's usefulness.

Recently the city has tried to argue against the ownership of the sidewalks, stating it is the responsibility of our association to maintain them. This is directly against the agreement signed by the city. Another neighborhood in our area has a similar issue with the city.

At this time, the board is persuing legal recourse with the agreements to find out a best possible course of action to A) determine responsibility of the liability and B) settle ownership so that some kind of repairs can be made going forward.