Who is responsible for managing/maintaining Sacramento road verges (green strip between sidewalk and street) (house)

[JVinci]

Hey all,

I am new to the world of homeownership and just bought a house that has a "road verge". Apparently the strip of grass/trees that separate a sidewalk and street goes by many names but road verge is what Wikipedia responded to.

Anyways, is anyone familiar with the rules/regulations with these areas? Mine is pretty overrun with tall grass and weeds and I'd like to know what my rights are for this area. I know I don't own this little bit of land, but do property owners have some kind of use easement? Could I rock it to avoid maintaining/mowing it? Kind of hard to google as it goes by so many names so I thought I'd see if anyone has any experience with this.

Oh, same goes for the trees. The trees in this strip are old and huge. I'd like the limbs to be trimmed back so they don't drop all over my roof. Is this my cost? Do I call some city department?

Thanks!

[wburg]

Assuming you're in the city limits of Sacramento, that strip is your property, so it is your responsibility to take care of it. So is the sidewalk, but there's an easement on that to allow the public to walk on it, and, to a limited extent, the "road verge" (or "mow strip" etcetera.) You can also landscape it, remove the grass and xeriscape it, add decorative plantings, decorative pavers, planter boxes, etcetera. So it's your responsibility to trim that grass, water those trees, trim them, etcetera. If you want to remove or replace them, check with the city arborist's office.

[Rob98LS1]

Typically, that strip of land is owned by the property owner, not the city, county, or parks agency, etc. As Wburg mentioned, in this scenario there is a couple of easements usually for public utilities, landscaping, and pedestrian access for the use of the sidewalk. Before modifying the existing turf you will want to contact whatever jurisdiction you are within (city or unincorporated county) so verify first (that you own the strip of land), and secondly what types of landscaping are allowed. Operations and Maintenance divisions of cities do not like the use of materials that can easily get pushed out into the street and cause a headache (rocks, gravel, bark, etc). There are also instances where that area is actually within the public right-of-way but when the subdivisions are created they basically have a cc&r or other agreement that requires the homeowner to maintain it so the homeowner doesn't even realize that it isn't their property.
So in short, contact the city/county and verify that it's your property and what the municipal code allows for landscaping wise.

[JVinci]

When buying the house, I didn't sign or review any CC&R's about this mow strip so either it's my property or not, right?

What department do I contact? Or should I just start calling any number I can find until they transfer me to the correct person?

[wburg]

It doesn't matter whether you signed any CC&Rs or not. It's your property but there is a public easement on the property. If you live in the city of Sacramento, you can direct pretty much any inquiry by calling 311, or email 311@cityofsacramento.org and they will hopefully get you pointed in the right direction, but here are some direct links. Urban Forestry is in charge of trees, Public Works in charge of sidewalks.

Sidewalks, Curbs & Gutters - City of Sacramento

About Urban Forestry - City of Sacramento

In terms of mowing and keeping it clean, that's your job, whether or not you signed any CC&Rs; typically, CC&Rs in their contemporary context are substitutes for city regulations, enforced by the homeowners' association.

The city is encouraging property owners to remove grass and add low-water/native or xeriscaped landscaping to lawns, including the mow strips, which of course would also save you from a lot of future mowing.

[JVinci]

Thanks wburg, solid info provided as usual.

[jbmcd]

Generally, in the City of Sacramento, the "street trees" in the mow strip between the street and sidewalk are maintained by the city -- call 311 and they can advise. The rest of the landscaping is likely the homeowner's to maintain, but it's worth asking about any regulations etc.

[xeney]

The city does minimal maintenance on those trees. They are generally planted, watered, pruned, maintained, cleaned up after, and replaced by the property owner. The city comes around in the fall and does minimal spot checking and pruning before the winter storms, but they missed the same huge dead branch on our tree three years in a row so I would not rely on that.

In our experience the city could not care less what you do with your park strip, except to the same extent that they care what you do with any part of your landscaping.

[Cherryblair]

Does anyone know of an avenue to purchase this chunk of land? Im in a similar position as the OP however, our verge is so large people often use it as a parking lot and then we cannot park in front of our own home. Its a 125x25ft area I know some will still have to be considered verge but if we could at least own some so we can put a driveway in that would be awesome. I dont mean to hijack the OP’s post but maybe purchasing the section is a viable option?