Mayor insists council vote again on sidewalk work

Port Washington Mayor Marty Becker said Tuesday that the Common Council will take up the controversial issue of sidewalks along Hales Trail and two other bluff roads leading to Upper Lake Park when it meets Tuesday, March 17.

“I would like to give the council notice that in two weeks I want a vote,” Becker told aldermen. “It’s time to get it over with.”

Becker, who brought up the issue during the Mayor’s Business portion of the agenda, said he wants the council to decide whether to uphold a February 2018 decision to install sidewalks on both sides of Hales Trail from Kaiser Drive to Upper Lake Park, on Sunrise Drive between Crestview Drive and Hales Trail, and on Crestview.

That work was expected to be done last year, but was delayed after Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven, who was to design the walkways, got busy with flood mitigation work.

Becker asked whether the idea of delaying the work for one year was part of the 2018 motion, saying “What if they missed it (the deadline)?”

That’s something city staff members said they will research before the March 17 meeting.

  The sidewalks are seen by many as a needed amenity for residents walking to Upper Lake Park and Possibility Playground as well as the neighborhood.

But a number of residents in the area have opposed the sidewalks, saying they would take away from the aesthetics of their neighborhood, adding they don’t need the walkways and don’t want to pay to install or maintain them.

Becker, who has threatened to veto any action by the council approving the sidewalks, said the city doesn’t have the money for other, more necessary projects and shouldn’t tie up the funds it does have on walkways no one wants or needs. 

Instead, this funding should be used for projects residents would appreciate more, he said.

“I bet Kiley (Schulte, the recreation director) would like to have it for parks and recreation,” Becker said. “I bet Jon (Crain, parks director) might like to have it.”

Vanden Noven estimated the cost of the sidewalks would be $200,000.

When asked if the city has the money for the project, Ald. Dan Benning, a member of the Finance and License Committee, said the group is looking at prioritizing capital projects that would be funded with $300,000 that will be borrowed as the city refinances several bond issues.

At the March 17 meeting, Becker said, aldermen could decide to uphold their earlier decision, rescind it or “something else” — anything from installing the walkways along a portion of Hales Trail to deleting one or more of the streets from the plan. 

City Attorney Eric Eberhardt told the aldermen that it’s too late to reconsider the 2018 motion. Instead, any aldermen can make a motion to rescind that decision and the debate can go on from there.

Becker said he doesn’t know what the chances are that the decision will be overturned, but noted, “This is a different council. I’m a different mayor. We’ll have to see.”

Last month, Ald. John Sigwart asked that the Board of Public Works review the city’s overall sidewalk policy when it meets on Tuesday, March 10.