City lawmakers consider funding for sidewalk projects
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> City lawmakers next month could authorize spending for two separate pedestrian improvement projects, each of which would be partially funded by grants from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Kristen Wilson, director of the city’s Office of Grants Management, told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee last week that one of the projects would be to design and construct 0.54 miles of accessible sidewalks and bicycle infrastructure on Flatbush Avenue and a portion of Foxhall Avenue. The project would include sidewalk ramps, crosswalks, driveway aprons, pedestrian waiting stations at the Flatbush Avenue railroad crossing, and street trees, according to information provided to lawmakers.
The city was awarded a $772,752 grant for the project in December from the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Climate Smart Communities program, Wilson said. The city will be required to match the grant, so the total project cost will be $1,545,504. Wilson said part of the matching funds could come from another grant the city is seeking.
Wilson said the city felt this was a high-priority project because of deaths that have occurred at railroad crossings in the area and the lack of handicapped-accessible sidewalks. She said there also are some areas of Flatbush and Foxhall avenues with no sidewalks at all, causing people to create their own paths on the sides of the roads.
“There are a lot of people who don’t have access to cars who are walking there,” Wilson said. “And so it’s a pretty, I think, highpriority area to improve the pedestrian infrastructure.”
The sidewalks are to be installed along the north side of Flatbush Avenue, from Colonial Drive to Foxhall Avenue, and on a portion of Foxhall Avenue.
The Finance and Audit Committee agreed to advance a resolution authorizing the mayor to “expend funds in the first instance,” which would authorize staff time to start the procurement process for the design of the project. The resolution still must be voted on by the full council, which next meets March 5.
The committee also endorsed resolutions authorizing the mayor to spend money in the first instance and for the city to borrow up to $1.5 million for a pedestrian improvement project along the length of Franklin Street. Those resolutions also will go to the full council March 5.
Wilson said the city must spend all the money on the Franklin Street project before it can be reimbursed up to $750,000 with a grant from the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Climate Smart Communities Protection Fund. She said the city administration chose this project because of how many children who walk to school in the area and to the Everette Hodge Midtown Community Center.
“It’s been a priority area for the mayor,” Wilson said.
The project is to include the design and construction of new sidewalks, handicapped-accessible ramps, crosswalks, bicycle infrastructure, and other pedestrian safety improvements. The project will complement both the Henry Street Safe Routes to Schools project and the Broadway Streetscape project.