Olympia's sidewalks: Where is the fairness in determining which to repair?

On 6/22/23 the Olympia City Council's Land Use Executive Committee (LUEC) met to take up the issue of sidewalk repair. I listened to the meeting and applaud the city for stepping up to the call from the city’s neighborhoods to revisit their sidewalk repair, which all parties agree is not working. 

The City has allocated $500,000 (2022 budget surplus) to sidewalk repair. Hiring a consultant to plan and prioritizing downtown sidewalk repair are on the list. Neighborhood sidewalks are not included since the city does not acknowledge responsibility for that work.

Some city sidewalk practices are unsupported by experience or policy:

• Example - There is no city law that explains why the city fixes sidewalks downtown and along major arterials at no cost to the property owner -- but city ordinance requires neighborhood property owners to follow city specifications/permits to fix their own sidewalks (expensive). This ordinance is not enforced and many homeowners do not know they are liable for pedestrian injuries. What it does is remove all city responsibility for the maintenance of neighborhood sidewalks. Where is the fairness in this policy? 
•  Example - Sidewalks are required for new homes built in established neighborhoods ("in filling"). On streets where there are no other sidewalks, the builder has the option to pay an in-lieu fee to the city sidewalk fund. Sounds like a good thing so why is this option rarely used? We who live in these neighborhoods know that the cost of building a sidewalk to “nowhere” is usually cheaper than the in-lieu payment.  This is an example of a missed opportunity to maximize the public benefit.  

Larry Dzieza, Chair of the Council of Neighborhoods Associations (CNA) testified to the committee about the lack of neighborhood involvement to date as the city contemplates sidewalk repair. Several Neighborhood Associations (my own included) have done sidewalk condition inventories in years past, but to date, the city has shown no interest.  We would be glad to do that again to assist in the work by public works or a consultant. This would leave more funds for the actual repair work.

Neighborhoods with old broken sidewalks can delegate representatives to work with Public Works as they craft a plan for the work. Please don’t wait until you've designed a plan before involving the neighborhoods.  This has been all too common in the City’s planning processes.

Finally, we need a community dialog about the overall approach.  At the LUEC meeting, there was a disturbing discussion filled with assertions about relative liability risk for sidewalks that don’t meet ADA requirements. Common sense says that when living within the reality of limited budgets, if you can significantly reduce the risk of injury and increase accessibility you reduce your overall liability and you are doing the right thing!

The sidewalk “plan” following the sidewalk condition inventory could recognize that the city is pursuing maximum harm reduction and will make the problem sidewalk compliant in two phases – immediate affordable actions such as grinding raised sidewalk panels, followed by a schedule for full compliance when money is available.

          ~ Melissa Allen, Olympia

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