This layout is common on older residential blocks in parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, where the planting strip between the ribbon and the curb often holds street trees and can complicate repair scoping, since root damage from that buffer strip frequently affects the ribbon itself. Repair specifications still apply to the ribbon the same way they would to a standard curb-adjacent sidewalk, but contractors need to account for the intervening planted area when assessing drainage and root exposure. Owners on these blocks should expect tree-root considerations to come up more often than on a standard curb-to-building sidewalk.
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