PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Aaron Hutton, his wife, and two children have lived in Perrysburg for three years. He says they like living there. He also says he doesn't feel like he's being treated fairly by the city after they forced him to install a concrete sidewalk on his driveway - what he calls a "sidewalk to nowhere".
Hutton says after purchasing the house, his family wanted to make it even better, so they began to do renovations, including putting in a new driveway.
"We filed with the city to get all the permits we needed, and they said we would need a sidewalk in the driveway," said Hutton.
Hutton says the city, citing an ordinance, gave him seven days to install a sidewalk or they would fine him. Faced with the fear of being fined, Hutton got to work.
"I spent the next 7 days pick-axing this new driveway out. To put the sidewalk to nowhere in," said Hutton.
The "sidewalk to nowhere" did force Hutton to dig deep into his pockets, however. He paid for the work himself, mostly in cash. He says the combination of material, time and labor was around $2,000.
Hutton wasn't happy with the sidewalk, but since he completed installation on time, he wasn't fined.
But that's not the end of the story.
Hutton says the city also tried to make his neighbor install a sidewalk after they put in a new driveway themselves.
"He didn't want to put a sidewalk in because there wasn't one before and it doesn't go anywhere. So, he argued. He called the city," said Hutton.
Hutton said the neighbors situation was similar to his in the beginning, but then took a turn after his neighbor called the city and received permission to not put a driveway in.
That's when Hutton decided to call the city himself.
"Planning and zoning said, 'we tried to enforce that, but the mayor gave him special permission. You need to talk to the mayor about that,'" said Hutton.
He then called the mayor to ask what could be done. Hutton says the mayor told him he could put in a request to get reimbursed for the cost, but it probably wouldn't happen.
Now Hutton said he is left with a sidewalk to nowhere, and nowhere else to turn.
"Who are you supposed to call when the person on top is making those decisions, I don't know who else to go to," said Hutton.
The City of Perrysburg released this statement to WTOL 11 regarding Hutton's driveway:
"City administration had discussions about the sidewalk requirement on White Street after a resident brought it to our attention. During those discussions and investigation, we realized that since many of the properties on that road do not have a city right-of-way, a sidewalk could never be connected because they are private properties. We have since modified our approach, as we have in other areas of the city, when it comes to the sidewalk requirement. Unfortunately, this discussion and change took place after some of the sidewalks were already installed."
Hutton said he either wants the entire sidewalk finished or to be reimbursed for the $2,000 that he spent on the project.