On the City Council agenda tomorrow night are several City Sidewalk Participation requests — one for Komatsu, two for Caterpillar, and one for Bradley University. In a previous post, commentator “kohlrabi” asked me about these requests:

Do you happen to know what Sidewalk Participation Request means – consent agenda items Q through T? What I’m asking is if Requesting participation just gets the petitioner in the queue for city money that will cover the 20% or if Cat, Komatsu and Bradley have a go to the head of the line pass?

I sent the question on to City Manager Randy Oliver, and he gathered information from several people in the city administration, including Kenneth Andrejasich in the Right of Way Management and Permits Division. Here’s the answer to “kohlrabi” from Mr. Andrejasich:

From reading the blog request I believe there is a misunderstanding on the programs – there are several sidewalk programs in the City of Peoria, one being the Special Assessment Program where an entire block of a neighborhood can come to the City to request improvements (ornamental street lighting, curbs, sidewalks, drive approaches, street overlay, boulevard landscaping and traffic control). Another is the Sidewalk Participation Program, whereas an individual property owner request an application to replace their walks adjacent to their property.

In the case of the Special Assessment Program, the partnership agreement is between the neighborhood and the City and there is a queue of projects….

The Sidewalk Participation program starts with a property owner soliciting a minimum of two bids from contractors that are licensed and bonded with the City, submitting the paperwork for approval, then entering into an agreement between the property owner and the contractor to complete the work. Once the work is completed and accepted by the City, the property owner pays the contractor in full, then the City reimburses the property owner the pre-approved 80% participation funds. (see attached brochure information) This program is based on available funds, and is on a first come first served basis, there is no queue, the program runs from the first week of March until the second week of October each year (the program may close earlier if funds are depleted for that year)

The council agenda for this week includes Caterpillar, Bradley, and Komatsu under the sidewalk participation program, they have come in for sidewalks adjacent to their respective individual properties, and thus, no queue.

I hope this clarifies the different programs that are available regarding sidewalks.

Randy also sent along a couple of fliers the city publishes regarding these programs, which you can look at here (PDF format):

City Sidewalk Participation Program
Special Assessment Program for Public Improvement Projects

Here are the main differences, as I understand it: With the special assessment program, you have several adjacent property owners who share in one big project which the city pays for up-front; then each property owner pays back his or her share either in a lump sum or spread out over ten years. With the sidewalk participation program, you have one property owner, and that owner pays the whole cost of the sidewalk improvement project up-front and gets reimbursed for 80% of it by the city (as long as he got certain things pre-approved by the city).

Homeowners can participate in the Sidewalk Participation Program if they wish. It’s not just for businesses.