Hmmm, i would think they would have one for blocking the Right of Way (ROW). After all, it is not so much about it being grass/earth, as it is for blocking the pedestrian path.

There is also a code requiring sidewalks.

Just to confirm, this is First street? It looks like Bay St between Warren and Washington to me.

Yep, It's Bay Street. The map didn't like any of the address options.
The fenced lot is the historic 111 1st Street block.
The grass has seen better days but it has heavy foot traffic with dog people. Winter is the worst season for this pathway.
The parking officer I spoke to on the street yesterday claimed that she didn't have a code for this type of violation. Hard to believe nothing applies to parking off the street curb. I'm sure people would appreciate a sidewalk added because there is an actual sidewalk on both end of the block at Washington and Warren Streets.

Let me see what I can find out.

Permits are in order to do full/partial closure of sidewalk. Will make sure sidewalk walking area is accessible.

Nope

There is no sidewalk to give permits to, it is a vacant lot.

It's not a vacant lot. The property owner had landscaping crews come at least once a month to maintain the trees, shrubbery, mow the lawn around the parking lot, and trim the grassy mound.

Photos of all four corners of Block 11610, obviously not vacant. Three other sides have functioning sidewalks. Creating a sidewalk will stop the vehicles from parking off the street.

Vacant does NOT equal abandoned. Vacant means there is no building on it and it is not a piece of land adjacent to one with a building, owned by the same property owners.

THEREFORE, I was going to see if the division that handles vacant lots and vacant buildings could help, since you must register and pay a fee for a vacant lot.

No sidewalk permits exist for the side of this lot hat do not have sidewalks.

I am not sure where you can go from here. I know when I worked at Housing Code, now Code Compliance, we ran into this issue a lot in areas like where Coles street went under the 78 overpasses and industrial areas.

When there was a 111 First Street structure, it had a loading area and railroad tracks along Bay Street, no sidewalks on either side. When the Butler Brothers warehouse, aka Modera, was rehabilitated, Bay Street was completely closed to traffic during the years of construction. When the work was complete, the sidewalks at the two ends were built out, and crosswalks added to each intersection. (we lived in chaos) All the railroad tracks were thrown away. Modera chose to add grass sod. I suspect that it is technically a public-right-of-way. But it was neither a street or a sidewalk before. Someone should make a decision and give it a purpose. Should 111 First Street ever get built... they can get a franchise agreement and build a sidewalk like 110 First Street and Modera did when they became a residential buildings.

We can not force a property to place down a sidewalk that did not exist. I have looked in Google and can see back to 2012 that there was no sidewalk. The sidewalk will come with development.

My thought was that maybe this could be seen as "surface Parking, but I don't know the particulars of the public right of way easement or how to get creative.

Code Compliance went out there and walked the area. They even got the permit for 335 Washington since it looks like the City gave permission for parking 4 of their vehicles on the north side of Bay St. I am having someone look up the plans for that permit. Unfortunately though, since the work is not being done at the 111 First Street lot, we cannot force the property owner to install a walk way.

Inspector Jeff called me and we looked at ways to make this happen. However, short of City Legislation stating your original request of no parking on the grass of a public easement.

Let me see if this type of legislation is possible.

the city owns the roadway. The city can add a sidewalk. ? :)

It is possible for the City to create this sidewalk, but it would have to include redoing the entire street as well. We will place this on our list of project possibilities, but I want to be honest that these projects are planned 4-6 years out, so it won't be done any time soon.

I believe the permit is in order.