Dispute prompts Port to rethink sidewalk policy

Prompted by a bitter fight between city officials and residents of a north bluff neighborhood over the installation of sidewalks, Ald. John Sigwart asked the Board of Public Works to take a hard look at the city’s sidewalk policy.

Sigwart said Tuesday that he wants to look at virtually every aspect of the city’s policy, which calls for the city to install sidewalks in areas where there are none when the street is reconstructed.

“I’ve always thought that was a little too broad,” he said. “We should put sidewalks where they’re needed. If  they’re not needed, let’s not get too excited about it.”

They may not be needed in cul de sacs, he said, and on many streets they aren’t necessarily needed on both sides of the road.

Adding sidewalks to streets such as Crestview Drive, where the city proposes adding sidewalks but where the walkways don’t connect to other sidewalks, “borders on insanity,” Sigwart said. “You can walk in front of your house but you can’t walk anywhere else.”

Sigwart also noted that when the city repairs a street but doesn’t reconstruct it, sidewalks aren’t installed because the curb and gutter isn’t disturbed by the work.

“If they’re that important, they should be installed then too,” he said.

A number of years ago, the city surveyed all the sidewalks, making areas where the walkways need to be repaired, Sigwart said. 

“If sidewalks are so important, we should be fixing those areas,” he said. “I think we need to discuss the fact we went out and marked the sidewalks and people assumed it was going to be repaired, but it wasn’t.”

The city should do a study to determine where sidewalks are truly needed, Sigwart said, set priorities and install them as soon as possible.

“I think sidewalks are worth the discussion,” Sigwart said, noting it is a topic his constituents repeatedly bring up. “I don’t know if a blanket policy is really necessary.”

Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven has said that the city’s policy is guided by the fact that Port Washington prides itself on being a walkable community. Sidewalks, he said, are important for numerous reasons, including the fact they provide a safe place for pedestrians, create a sense of community and add value to property. They are an amenity many people seek out when buying a home, he added.

While he may disagree with the policy on siting sidewalks, Sigwart said he supports the city’s current policy regarding the cost of sidewalk work. Property owners are assessed the cost of installing sidewalk in areas where the walkways haven’t been placed before, but the city picks up the cost of repairing or replacing existing sidewalks.

Sigwart said he asked the Board of Public Works to revisit the policy in light of the controversy over whether to install sidewalks along Hales Trail and two other bluff roads leading to Upper Lake Park.

Although the Common Council approved the installation of sidewalks in the area in 2018, the final design was delayed because city staff was busy working on other projects and flooding issues. 

Vanden Noven has said he plans to bid the project this year, but City Administrator Mark Grams said that there is no money in the budget to finance the work. 

Residents there have argued against installing the walkways, saying their subdivision was designed without sidewalks and they don’t want or need them.

Mayor Marty Becker has spoken out against the project as well, adding he would veto the installation of sidewalks if given the opportunity.

“There are certain places I don’t feel we need sidewalks,” Becker said Tuesday, and Hales Trail, Crestview Drive and Sunrise Court are among those areas. “I know what the city policy is, and I disagree with it.”

Becker said he would prefer the city install a pedestrian walkway like the one going through Upper Lake Park along Hales Trail, noting it would be less intrusive.

He also said installing a sidewalk on one side of the road may be enough in some places.

But Becker stressed that his concern is limited right now to the bluff area, not the city as a whole, saying he has not  taken a larger look at the issue.