Cheaper Sidewalk Still Chopping Trees, Upsetting Neighbors
Park Road's newest patch of sidewalk won't be as puzzling as this one, but it still has residents scratching their heads.
All it apparently takes to shave more than $250,000 off a government project is for a few dozen people to show up at some city council meetings and a few dozen more sending angry e-mails to elected officials and the media. At least that seems to be the case for a controversial sidewalk project that the Charlotte City Council’s Transportation Committee on Monday voted to move forward.
The sidewalk in question, which will span less than two blocks, had an original price tag of $665,000. That cost tumbled more than a quarter of a million dollars, after Park Road residents who opposed the sidewalk lobbied councilmembers to reconsider the project. Neighbors balked at both the price, which they said was excessively expensive, and the impact the project would have on the Park Road area, felling nearly a dozen mature trees and in some cases carving chunks from front yards.
Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) officials credited additional design work for the revised, lower price of the sidewalk, which now stands at about $400,000. It’s interesting to wonder, though, whether the original cost of $665,000 would have breezed through under the council’s radar, if not for the ruckus raised by neighbors who opposed the project.
In any case, the lower cost might smooth a few feathers but it’s clear that plenty are still ruffled. In addition to losing nine mature trees along Park Road, resident are concerned about the precedent the project is setting for other areas that could also fall under the city’s sidewalk retrofit policy, which calls for identified thoroughfares to be bordered on both sides by sidewalks. That policy wasn’t in place when Park Road was widened, hence the retrofit moniker.
The sidewalk is proposed to run along Park Road between Sunset and Poindexter drives, near the Sedgefield neighborhood, and is expected to impact about a dozen properties.
Under the city’s sidewalk policy, areas to be designated as thoroughfares, such as Park Road, are identified by staff. No public meeting is required for a thoroughfare sidewalk project, and no set percentage of neighbors requesting or opposing sidewalk placement is necessary.
In addition to concerns about losing trees and having front yards impacted, some neighbors contend the proposed sidewalk, which will be about seven-feet wide with eight-foot setbacks, is a poor fit for the Park Road aesthetic.
City officials counter that the two-block project will fill a significant gap along Park Road that is a risk area for pedestrian mobility.
Councilmember Patsy Kinsey, a Democrat who represents the district, said she empathizes with neighbors’ concerns about tree-save issues, but thinks CDOT has gone the extra mile to mitigate any loss. The city has committed to replanting the trees lost because of the project, although they will take years to fully mature.
“We tried to strike a reasonable balance between tree save and pedestrian safety,” Kinsey said.
Because the project falls under an already-adopted city policy, it doesn’t require specific approval from the council, although councilmembers will have to sign off on the construction contract and expenditure. And if the city can’t reach agreement with impacted homeowners to purchase part of their front yards, the council would need to vote to snatch the property by eminent domain.
In other words, don’t expect neighbors’ protests to fade silently into the night. Who knows, maybe if they keep shouting loud enough the city can find a way to shave a few more thousands dollars off the project’s price tag.
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