Rochester City Council considers plan to improve downtown sidewalks
Some of downtown Rochester’s sidewalks will likely get a facelift this summer, although the Rochester City Council said Monday the scope of the project would be much smaller than what the city’s Public Works department originally proposed.
The city’s proposal includes $1.3 million in repairs for the downtown sidewalk corridor; specifically, in certain areas along both sides of Broadway between the Castle and 4th Street SW, and the sidewalks immediately surrounding Old City Hall. The parts of the Broadway sidewalk in question have brick inlays that were installed in 1987, which have split apart and been patched — with varying success — in the years since.
The sidewalks in those areas, Assistant City Engineer Tyler Niemeyer says, are not ADA compliant and have led to people tripping at rates more than twice the city average. He says the project would re-design sidewalks to match the design of most other downtown sidewalks, while adding some trees and planters where possible.
“It’s a construction project to replace deficiencies in order to mitigate hazards, especially when you think about those with disabilities in our community and our vulnerable medical population,” said Niemeyer. “We want to enhance the pedestrian experience, and really want to bring a more consistent look to downtown.”
While the Council agreed that the sidewalks are in dire need of repair, support for the presented plan was minimal. Roughly $260,000 of the $1.3 million price tag is currently unaccounted for, even after Public Works excluded other potential improvements, such as adding heating coils to help snowmelt and improving sidewalk lighting.
Despite not being included in the recommendation from Public Works, the council did discuss the option of applying assessments to nearby property owners. However, council members were wary of putting an additional burden on businesses already crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We do need to improve these environments, but I’m concerned about impact to downtown businesses,” said Council President Brooke Carlson. “We need to look at the budget we have available. I would be reticent to support additional funding going to this project.”
Destination Medical Center is slated to fund roughly $850,000 of the project, but council members were under the impression that the initiative would foot the bill for any and all sidewalk projects in the DMC sub-district. Under the current plan, council members said the city would probably have to dip into its contingency fund again — something the council was steadfast in opposing.
“We need to get funding for this,” said Council Member Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick. “This is a DMC need. They’ve expanded their district significantly in recent years, and I think it’s important we seek more funding from them.”
Deputy City Administrator Aaron Parrish said staff will come back in two weeks time with additional information on how future sidewalk improvements could be funded. However, a timeline for addressing the specific proposal discussed Monday has not been set.
The downtown sidewalk improvement project had been scheduled to break ground this July and wrap up by the end of October.
Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.
Article updated 2.24.21
