Port cements controversial plan for bluff area sidewalks

The City of Port Washington’s controversial plan to install sidewalks along several bluff area streets is being etched in concrete.

Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said Tuesday that forms for the sidewalks have been installed along Crestview Drive  and concrete is expected to be poured beginning Wednesday.

When the concrete work on Crestview is completed in the next two weeks, crews from BMCI Construction will begin work on either Hales Trail or Sunrise Drive, Vanden Noven said.

The paving is expected to take about six weeks, after which the city will do landscaping. The entire project is expected to be completed by late September, he said.

Vanden Noven noted that fewer than a dozen trees, all of them within the city right of way, have been removed to make way for the sidewalks. 

“Most often, we worked around the trees,” he said, adding that the property owners were consulted in every case.

Vanden Noven noted that a number of people have stopped Engineering Technician Ross Kroeger while he was working on the project to tell him they support the work.

That’s heartening, he said, since the $200,000 sidewalk project has been a controversial one for the city. 

Officials and some residents have called for sidewalks to be installed, saying they are an important part of creating a pedestrian friendly community and provide a much-needed, safe walkway to Upper Lake Park, one of the city’s premier recreational areas and home to Possibility Playground.

But many property owners opposed the sidewalks, saying there is no need for them. The area is safe for pedestrians, they said, adding their subdivision was designed to have a rural feel that doesn’t include the walkways.

Residents circulated a petition asking the city not to install sidewalks, and several homeowners asked the city to consider putting in a pedestrian lane on one side of the road instead of the sidewalks.

However, officials said separating walkers and traffic with a curb and parkway is a better option than an on-street pedestrian lane.

Two years ago, the Common Council voted to install the sidewalks, but  that decision was revisited several times with former Mayor Marty Becker threatening to veto any move to install the walkways.