Parma is poised to flip the script on who pays when sidewalk slabs buckle over tree-lawn roots. Instead of homeowners footing the bill, the city is moving to make its own Service Department the default fixer for trip hazards caused directly by city-planted or city-maintained trees.
Council members are lining up behind a narrowly targeted tweak to the tree-lawn ordinance that would spell out exactly how the city handles those problem spots. The change is one of six proposed ordinance revisions drafted by the law department and sets up a three-step playbook: grind down small heaves, lift panels when grinding is not practical, and remove and replace sidewalk sections when neither option works, Service Director Tony Vannello told Cleveland.com.
The city has already bought a sidewalk grinding machine for an estimated $10,000 and plans to bring in contractors for lifting and full replacement jobs when in-house crews cannot cover them, according to Vannello. Officials say the goal is simple: cut down on the number of residents who decide the cheapest fix is to cut down the tree…