Right-of-Way Permits: Curb Cuts, Sidewalk Repair and Encroachments

A new driveway’s curb cut, a sidewalk repair or anything private left in the strip along the street is work in the public right-of-way. In Austin and Los Angeles its permit comes from public works, Austin’s Right of Way Management office and Los Angeles’s Bureau of Engineering, not the building department; elsewhere, ask the city’s public works or engineering office which permit applies. Austin says every right-of-way activity must be permitted: a driveway/sidewalk permit covers sidewalks, driveway approaches, walkways, curbs and gutters, and a right-of-way contractor’s license is required to do the work. In Los Angeles, the Bureau of Engineering’s A-permit covers small curb, sidewalk, driveway approach and gutter jobs built to match the existing grades without a survey or engineered plans; there is currently no rule on who may apply, and a sidewalk broken by street tree roots gets one with no fee once the district office has a photo of the damage. Leaving a private improvement in the right-of-way, an encroachment, takes Los Angeles’s revocable R-permit; Austin’s Transportation Criteria Manual describes a license agreement for a temporary structure and an encroachment agreement, which the City Council approves, for a permanent one.

Austin: driveway, curb cut and sidewalk permits

Austin’s Transportation and Public Works department lists a driveway/sidewalk permit for removing, repairing, modifying or installing sidewalks, driveway approaches, walkways, curbs and gutters, and its Right of Way Management office approves all right-of-way development work. With a residential building permit, the driveway/sidewalk permit is created automatically and applied for through the city’s residential form, with stamped plans approved by Residential Review for site work; without one, it is a stand-alone permit applied for through the city’s online portal. A repair or replacement needs no further documents, each driveway takes its own permit (a semicircular one counts as one), and a driveway or sidewalk that departs from the city’s standards goes to its Land Development Engineering division and may need a waiver. Closing a sidewalk or driveway to work on private property takes a temporary use of right-of-way permit, and excavating a sidewalk or driveway to reach the utilities under it takes an excavation permit. A right-of-way contractor’s license is required to do driveway/sidewalk or excavation work in the right-of-way, anyone pulling the permit for the contractor has to be on its authorized agent form, and the city code requires work that needs a sidewalk, curb, gutter or driveway approach permit to be done by a licensed contractor unless state law or the technical codes exempt it. Contractors may make emergency repairs without a permit, but have to apply by noon the next business day or within 24 hours of starting.

Austin’s Transportation Criteria Manual describes a license agreement as permission to use the right-of-way for a temporary structure, with a 90-day revocability clause, and an encroachment agreement, which the City Council approves, for a permanent one. The manual requires a retaining wall that facilitates private development to be built on private property, except in special cases the Director approves, and one in the right-of-way or a drainage easement that supports private property needs a license or encroachment agreement; the easements guide covers those rules. This guide has not read who maintains a sidewalk in Austin; ask Transportation and Public Works.

Los Angeles: A-permits and sidewalk repair

The Bureau of Engineering’s A-permit is for minor street construction: new driveways and driveway repair, sidewalks, curb and gutter repair, curb drains, street tree wells and small street repairs, limited to work that does not change a gutter’s flowline or the grade of a sidewalk or street. It is for work limited in extent that can be built to match the existing grades without a survey or engineered plans; anything larger, or a change of grade, takes a B-permit, whose plans are usually signed by a licensed engineer. The manual currently sets no requirement on who applies, and proof of ownership is not needed. Moving a water meter, gas valve box, street light conduit or parking meter for a driveway or sidewalk needs coordination with the agency that owns it.

The owner of a lot has to keep the sidewalk, driveway approach, curb return and curb on or in front of it from endangering any person or property or violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. If the Board of Public Works finds one that does, it posts and mails a notice and order to repair; the owner starts within 30 days, or up to 90 if the board allows, and finishes within 60 days, or up to 120; otherwise the city does the work at the owner’s expense and records the cost as a lien. An appeal goes to the board in writing within 30 days. For a damaged sidewalk, the city issues no such order before it has certified the sidewalk as meeting the Act, or during the warranty after its own repair, 20 years for a residential lot, unless the owner or someone else caused the damage. Those limits do not apply to a sidewalk first built after January 16, 2017, to a government lot, to a lot undergoing a project other than a single-family home, a residential project that adds no dwelling units or a commercial addition of 500 square feet or less, or, after a 30-day notice to remove it, where a tree on the lot did the damage. A sidewalk broken by street tree roots gets an A-permit with no fee if the district office has a photo of the damage, and trimming the tree’s roots needs a street tree permit from the Bureau of Street Services, applied for after the A-permit. The city’s Sidewalk Repair Incentive Program partly reimburses owners who repair a sidewalk voluntarily, as funding allows; the repair still needs its permits.

Los Angeles encroachments: the revocable R-permit

Los Angeles’s revocable permit lets a private party keep an improvement in the public right-of-way that it is not otherwise allowed to occupy, after a review of its design, use, materials and inspection. Unless the permit says otherwise, it lasts as long as its conditions, maintenance included, are met, and it stays valid when the property is sold, though the new owner applies for a new one so the insurance is recorded. The owner records a notarized waiver of damages with the county recorder, and it shows on a title report. Once its conditions are set, the permittee normally has 180 days to meet them, and the District Engineer normally allows one 180-day extension; after that, the permittee reapplies.

The driveway permit brief covers the driveway on your own lot, and the permit process guide covers how a building permit runs from inspections to expiry.