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Village Council— Sidewalk fix moves ahead
- Published: September 13, 2018
The Village of Yellow Springs will test out a new way to fix sidewalk trip hazards, Council decided at its Sept. 4 meeting.
Council unanimously approved a resolution to contract with Precision Concrete Cutting of West Chester to smooth several hundred problematic sidewalk panels in the village by grinding down the concrete.
Those areas include Glen Street and South Walnut Street near downtown and along the entirety of Dayton Street and Xenia Avenue. In total, some 273 sidewalk panels are slated to be ground down as a way to test the method, a propriety process of the company.
“This will give us a good idea on a widespread basis … whether [we get] the results we are looking for,” Village Manager Patti Bates said at the meeting.
The Village will pay nearly $23,000 for the work, which should begin soon, according to Village Public Works Director Johnnie Burns at the meeting. He added that the sidewalks will be ADA-compliant when complete.
Earlier this year, Precision Concrete Cutting reached out to the village, analyzing local sidewalks and identifying 1,308 trip hazards on sidewalks through town that it would fix for slightly more than $100,000. The company also identified an additional 81 areas where the hazard was higher than two inches and the sidewalk would have to be replaced at an unknown cost.
An initial test at the Gaunt Park Pool impressed Burns, who brought up the proposal from Precision at Council’s work session on infrastructure in July.
Burns did say the process has one drawback.
“It’s going to be noisy,” he said.
Burns added that the crew will try to complete the downtown area during the morning before businesses open, and that local business owners will be contacted about the work ahead of time.
Burns does not yet have a plan for the 81 areas where trip hazards are greater than two inches, he said in response to a question from Council member Kevin Stokes.
In response to a question from Council President Brian Housh about funding for the project, Burns said that the $50,000 that Council allocates annually for sidewalk maintenance has already been spent matching an Ohio Department of Transportation project to install curb cuts in areas around downtown.
“This would be above and beyond the budget,” Burns said.
Other items from Council’s Sept. 4 agenda will be covered in next week’s News.
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