Councilman Martin renews call for more sidewalks in Shelby
More than two years after he first raised the issue, Shelby City Councilman Nathan Martin is renewing his concern over a lack of sidewalks in the community.
While supporting a renewed sidewalk maintenance program as part of a separate city effort, Martin is advocating for more than fixes to existing Shelby sidewalks.
”I’m going to vote for this (maintenance resolution), but my hope is that we look at a more comprehensive program, especially considering the vast amount of areas that are not compliant with having sidewalks,” Martin said at the Feb. 6 City Council meeting. “Whether they’re grandfathered or not, that’s a question of whether that’s actually the case.”
”Then we also have the case of Technology Parkway, and a lot of runners and trucks coexisting in the early hours,” he said. “The way our city is changing I think requires a little further examination and a more comprehensive longterm solution to our sidewalk problem.”
City Council on Feb. 6 voted 5-0 to adopt Resolution No. 4-2023 authorizing the mayor as director of public service to advertise for bids and to enter into a contract for the removal, replacement, and/or repair of sidewalks, and establishing program criteria.
Councilmen Derrin Roberts and Charles Roub sponsored the legislation.
”I think this is a fine and adequate first step,” said Martin, chairman of the council’s Utilities and Streets Committee. “My hope is that the administration and council work together on more longterm comprehensive solutions.”
Martin had first called for additional sidewalks on Dec. 17, 2020 when he specifically mentioned Technology Parkway.
“We have a lot of runners and walkers, and they’re basically just running and walking in road, and that’s a very heavily trafficked area,” Martin said at the time.
“I think we need to look at sidewalks in that area,” he said.
“It’s definitely not the safest it can be, that’s for dang sure,” Martin added.
In reviving the issue this month, Martin cited “a couple of things that are a little concerning” about the sidewalk issue in Shelby.
”I think that if we want to put city funds to something as large in scope that it would be nice to have, similar to the streets, a priority of sidewalks,” Martin said. “Which areas do we actually feel we need sidewalks and that are in good working order? And put a majority of our resources into those.”
Martin also said that
the resolution adopted by council “does not allow for new sidewalks, just replacement sidewalks.”
”And there are certainly a lot of areas in our town that are required by ordinance to have sidewalks, but they don’t,” Martin said. “Why are we excluding those homeowners? Those are the two questions that I have.”
City of Shelby project coordinator Joe Gies offered a response.
”Obviously, council can decide what they want to do, but this really was a successful program for people who wanted to get their sidewalks fixed and just didn’t have the money,” Gies said of the maintenance program. “There’s a lot of them out there, so this was a way of getting that done.”
Gies also spoke of the “valid point of ‘let’s look and see where the worst ones are.’”
But the way the maintenance program initially was set up, it was first come, first serve, he said.
”People who really wanted to, they were there showing up at the door,” he said. “The first time we said that we were taking all cases.”
In response to a question by Martin about the funding level for the renewed sidewalk maintenance effort, Shelby City finance director Brian Crum said the fund for the program currently includes a little more than $17,000. By the end of the year, the finance department expects it to have an estimated about $33,000.
”If council would like to increase this in one of the later (legislative) readings, or later on in the year, they can do that,” Crum said. “If they don’t, we have other monies for some of the projects that we’ve been using this money for. We have some options there if things happen to change in the next couple weeks.”
Councilman Garland Gates responded to comments by both Crum and Martin.
”Two points,” Gates said. “With all due respect, it’s the duty of the finance director to advise council what’s
available in that fund. It’s not up to us to amend it. He tells us what it is and if, again, if he finds out in a few months, ‘My estimation is that by the end of 2023, we’re going to have this $30,000 figure,’ all he needs to do is to inform us of that, and then the administration can act accordingly.”
Gates then addressed the issue of lack of sidewalks as highlighted by Martin.
”In a perfect world, every property within the city limits would have curb, gutter, street, sidewalk, sewer, they’d have the whole thing,” Gates said. “That’s a perfect world. I don’t ever expect to see that, particularly in the balance of this year.”
”But the city charter clearly empowers City Council to tell people through the legislative process, ‘You will install sidewalks at your property,’” Gates added. “If that seems to be, perhaps, the vision of the member to my right (Martin), if he wants to do that, then he should bring in legislation doing that, where we will assess people for the cost of their sidewalks.”
Gates, however,
recalled a recent project in Shelby.
”Now, we just lived through an assessment project on West Main Street for sanitary sewer,” he said. “And I will tell you from my years of experience, there’s nothing that brings more people into this (council) chamber with anger than when they get a certified letter from the clerk of council telling them, ‘Guess what? You will install this. If you don’t, the city will, and it’s going to cost this.’”
But nonetheless, council is empowered by the people of the community through the city charter to do just that, Gates said. “If that’s what the ultimate goal is of council, that people have sidewalks, we have the power to do that,” he said.
As he presided over the meeting, Mayor Steve Schag asked to speak.
”It runs in my mind that a lot of the sidewalk (program) was replacement because of safety issues,” Schag said of the city’s prior maintenance effort. “I understand what Mr. Martin is saying about the safety issue on Technology Parkway,
but these (maintenance issues) were tripping points.”
”Uprooted trees were tipping sidewalks all over the place,” Schag said. “You couldn’t ride bikes around there or skateboarding or whatever. I think that was the reason it was for the removal and replacement. I think it was a safety issue of walking on uneven sidewalks, particularly on
grass. I think that’s part of it.”
Councilman Gates responded: “It doesn’t have to be an either/ or, mayor. We can still, if council passes, do this for people who asked to cost share (for maintenance). But then council can still go through and find these trip hazards and, again, inform people, ‘You shall do this.’”