The document discusses sidewalk repair in the neighborhood. It notes that many sidewalks need repair, which is the responsibility of either the city or property owners depending on the cause of damage. It also describes the lengthy and costly process for private contractors or homeowners to repair sidewalks. The neighborhood association had a previous cost-sharing program to incentivize repairs but it had limited success. The document outlines a new plan to identify and bundle together blocks of sidewalks most in need of repair and work with the city and property owners to get the repairs done efficiently.

1. Sidewalks
February 13, 2012

2.  A large number of sidewalks in need of repair
◦ Damage from right-of-way trees = City
responsibility
◦ Damage from property trees = Property owner
responsibility
◦ Worn out pavers, sewer and other issues = Property
owner responsibility (generally)
 Minimal City budget, minimal City staffing
result in no proactive initiatives, limited
reactive resources

3.  Report issues to DPW on line or through PEDS
(publicworks@atlantaga.gov or www.peds.org)
 Possible involvement of Parks regarding trees
 Receive inspection within 72 hours, unless tree
involvement
 Receive price quote thereafter
◦ Standard 50 foot sidewalk costs about $1000, which
may be partially paid by the City depending on tree
damage
 Property owner contracts with the City and pays
the City for repair
 Inefficient because repairs are not bundled
 Wait

4.  To privately contract sidewalk repair, City
requires:
◦ A large bond
◦ Architect or Engineer stamped drawings
◦ Complete building permit process (hours in City
Hall)
 We contacted 11 contractors and NONE were
willing to undertake sidewalk repair for a
homeowner unless part of a major
construction project. They can’t cover the
cost of taking the sidewalk through the City
for the $1000 standard sidewalk price.

5.  VHCA had a 50% cost matching program of
up to $500 for sidewalk replacement
 There were few takers (less than 20 in 3
years)
 Some of those funded were doing sidewalks
anyway
 The worst sidewalks – those the VHCA would
target – did not necessarily get repaired
 Program was discontinued
 Is there a better way?

6. 1. Identify bad spots on Virginia and North
Highland
1. Committee evaluation by address with photos
2. Open request to neighborhood got a good response
2. Identify property owners from tax records and
White Pages (done)
3. Provide information about the process to
property owners (started)
4. Ask property owners individually to initiate
repairs with the City (started)
5. Ask the Board for funding to incent repairs
6. Track the process with property owners so the
City gets to these repairs

7.  Identify a few blocks to bundle for repairs
 Select the bundle using clear criteria
◦ Larger streets first – traffic light controlled
◦ Through streets with probably pedestrian traffic
◦ High proportion of broken sidewalks
 Prepare information for property owners
about the process (draft in progress)

8.  Sidewalk committee set criteria and identified
broken sidewalks on several potential bundles
 Sidewalk committee put out a public request to
identify bad sections and combined the work of
the committee and public input for a total of
about 100 sidewalk segments
 Sidewalk committee selected St. Charles and
Barnett near St. Charles as the first bundle
(hopefully more bundles will follow)
 To receive the list, together with photos, email
pegberg1111@gmail.com

9.  Alex Wan hosted a conference call with the
Committee and agreed to talk to DPW about a
bundled inspection with a committee member
 Next steps depend on the City’s willingness to
work on a bundle with us
◦ If yes, we get pricing for each property in the bundle
from the City and offer to work with each homeowner
individually to get the bundle assembled
◦ If no, we contact each homeowner and ask them to start
the process with the City, track the process with them,
and encourage the City to notice the opportunity to save
money by bundling construction

10.  Most of the sidewalks at issue have some right-of-
way tree involvement and therefore at least partial
City funding
 As the bundle takes shape, VHCA will work on a
program to pay a share of the property owner’s
portion of the cost
 Shared 3-ways, not necessarily evenly, the property
owner potentially gets a $1000 improvement for
$500 or less if they participate in the bundle
 Propose funding incentives this to the Board when the
structure of the funding is defined. However, the
Board is tracking the Committee’s progress
 A formal funding request is planned and will have to
be approved prior to committing any funds

11.  Fix the worst primary artery sidewalks
 Fix a first bundle of sidewalks in the
community
 Structure a program that we can repeat
 Get more sidewalks fixed
 Get the most for VHCA sidewalk dollars