By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — The Township Council has awarded a $183,600 contract to a South River company for the first phase of a sidewalk replacement project, which will include problem areas in The Ridings and Washington Greene neighborhoods.
The decision on whether to remove the mature trees whose roots are causing the sidewalks to lift up is being left largely to the homeowners, but if they don’t respond to a letter from the town within 10 days, the town will decide for them.
Low bidder A-Team Concrete was unanimously awarded the contract at the July 26 Township Council meeting. A-Team offered to do the project for $61,731 less than the only other bidder, M.N.C. General Contracting, of Old Bridge.
The work is expected to begin the second week of August.
Trees planted too close to the sidewalks decades ago by the builders of The Ridings, Washington Greene and other developments are causing the slabs to lift up, putting the township at risk of trip-and-fall lawsuits. Last year, the town adopted an ordinance that makes sidewalk maintenance homeowners’ responsibility, but agreed to fix sidewalks one final time wherever there is a pre-existing problem.
Letters were sent out Friday to homeowners in The Ridings and Washington Greene, asking what they wanted the town to do with trees in front of their homes whose roots are causing the sidewalks to lift. Two options were presented: Removing the tree and replacing it with a much smaller 2-inch caliber tree or shaving down the roots of the mature tree so a new level sidewalk can be installed.
If a resident fails to respond to the letter within 10 days, the township will automatically choose Option 2.
The letter advises residents who opt for tree removal that it will replace the mature tree causing the sidewalk problem with a species having “a more confined fibrous root system” that is better suited for the narrow strip of land between the street and the sidewalk. If the new tree dies within the first year, it will be replaced.
Residents who choose the second option also will get a 2-inch caliper replacement tree if their mature tree dies after its roots are shaved. However, if the mature tree survives and grows, it may cause the sidewalks to buckle again in the future when sidewalk repairs are the homeowner’s responsibility.
The township is working with Bill Brash of the Mercer County Soil Conservation District to identify trees that are poor candidates for the root shaving option due to their current health, size or the extent of their encroachment on the sidewalk. In the letter mailed to residents, the township says it reserves the right to remove these trees even if that is not the homeowner’s preferred option.
There are more than 3,100 yards of uneven sidewalks in 15 developments in town, but the most severe problems are in Washington Greene and The Ridings, where often the wrong species of trees were planted in the first place for the narrow grass strip between the street and the sidewalk.
In some neighborhoods, builders planted trees on the homeowners’ lawns within inches of the sidewalk, and these, too, are causing the slabs to lift. These, too, will be addressed by the township if there is an existing problem.
Because the situation is different in each neighborhood, the township opted against a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, the sidewalk replacement project will be done in phases, and the options presented to the homeowners will be tailored to the situation in that particular development.
”We’re looking forward to moving forward,” Council President Ron Witt said at the July 26 council meeting. “Any lessons learned in the first two developments will apply to the next phase, and, hopefully, after that, we’ll be working like a fine oiled-machine.”
In addition to Washington Greene and The Ridings, the township also has identified sidewalk problems in Washington Leas, Arbor Walk, Washington Hunt, the Woods at Washington, Walkers Run, Brookshire, Country Meadows, Saran Woods, Crestwood/Beechwood Acres, Woodside, Windsor Meadows, Meadowbrook Road and Cambridge Knoll.
Earlier this year, the township posted an online survey to obtain residents’ feedback on what to do about the street trees causing the sidewalks to lift up. Only 56 people responded, most of them from the Washington Greene neighborhood, and the majority favored replacing the mature street trees with smaller ones.

