This northwest Harris County woman has been passed between agencies for two years seeking help.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A northwest Harris County homeowner says tree roots have shifted sidewalks so much, the walkways have become a danger zone. After repeated calls for help, she reached out to KHOU 11 seeking a solution.
On a section of the sidewalk in Riata Ranch, the roots have grown out so much, the lifted sidewalk has a drop-off just under half a foot high. The homeowner who contacted KHOU says she’s fallen before and can’t risk falling again.
After asking questions, KHOU 11 learned this trouble spot is scheduled for repairs next month.
“Some of those roots are about a foot and a half tall on top of the ground in addition to what’s underneath.”
Ms. Lou, a homeowner who didn’t want to show her face, has lived in Riata Ranch for 21 years. But in the last few years, the tree roots have burst through the ground, lifting the sidewalks.
“I’ve had several falls myself personally, and I had one pregnant lady when I first started having this issue and she fell.”
That fall, she says, almost ended in a lawsuit, but she says it was determined that her local municipality was responsible for the repair.
When asked about the process of figuring out which agency or municipality is responsible for getting this done, she said she’d gone through a lot.
“I started calling the City of Houston. No, we don’t do that. You have to call your precinct. I said, ‘All right.’ One time they said it was Precinct 5. I was calling Precinct 5. They said, ‘Nope, not us. We’ve been remapped and rezoned. You’ve gotta go to Precinct 3,'” she told KHOU 11.
KHOU 11 confirmed that these sidewalks are Harris County Precinct 3’s responsibility.
Precinct 3 provided the following statement to KHOU 11:
“Currently, we’re working through decades worth of aged sidewalk infrastructure, which is a massive financial undertaking. This is due to the decision made by the County Attorney five years ago that the repair of existing sidewalks in unincorporated Harris County is now the responsibility of the County.”
While she appreciates the response, Ms. Lou says that after waiting nearly two years for action and with storm season approaching—and the risk of widespread damage—she’s concerned the fix won’t come soon enough.
“My name is going to get pushed to the bottom of the list again. I can’t deal with this much longer.”
Precinct 3 says the problem is caused by planting trees between curbs and sidewalks. The precinct hopes to work with homeowners associations interested in sidewalk repairs to provide a solution to this problem in other areas.