photo by: Bremen Keasey

A brick sidewalk in July 2024 in East Lawrence.

As Lawrence looks to update its sidewalks and infrastructure, a commission is asking the city to expand protections for brick sidewalks as part of a new city policy.

Efforts to create a policy for preserving and maintaining brick streets and sidewalks have been in the works since 2013. The initial draft of a brick streets and sidewalks policy was presented to the Historic Resources Commission for the first time Thursday night.

Under the policy’s draft, Cece Riley, a transportation planner for the city’s Municipal Services and Operations department, said all brick sidewalks currently in good condition will be allowed to stay. But if the sidewalks don’t meet adopted accessibility standards, sidewalks in specific areas of the city will be replaced with the help of the city’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Public Right-of-Way Transition Plan, which was approved by the City Commission last week.

Riley said creating a policy to protect the city’s brick areas is crucial because without those policies in place, the ADA Transition Plan’s basic standard would be to replace sidewalks deemed inaccessible with concrete sidewalks.

“This policy serves as a means of protection and preservation,” Riley said.

The draft outlines exactly where brick sidewalks are appropriate — specifically, inside local, state or nationally designated historic districts and inside specific “overlay” zoning districts, which are overlaid on base zoning classifications to alter their zoning regulations. Additionally, property owners are considered responsible for maintaining and keeping brick sidewalks adjacent to their properties in good condition.

Riley also noted that the draft laid out standards for preserving brick streets, which is wholly the city’s responsibility. She said there is an option for select neighborhoods to uncover some brick streets that have been covered with asphalt, with priority to streets inside local historic districts.

Although many of the HRC commissioners were happy with the development of a policy to protect the historic brick streets and sidewalks, many expressed concerns that the drafted map was too limited in scope. HRC commissioner Jeanne Klein said while she recognizes that the draft might have been limited because of limited brick resources and funding constraints with the city, she felt “there’s not enough flexibility” in what was written.

Because the drafted map boundaries only included historic districts or special “overlay” zoning districts, many areas that currently have brick sidewalks or streets in East Lawrence and other areas were left unprotected.

HRC vice chair Jay Holley said “the map needs work,” and he encouraged giving the most expansive map possible. Holley also felt the six-week timeframe for notifying residents that the sidewalk be inspected for accessibility standards provided too little time for the property owner to repair it. He suggested it should be a three- or six-month notice of inspection.

Riley said that with the suggestions from the HRC, she and the group working on the policy will discuss and add potential changes before presenting a final option to the HRC on Aug. 15. Then that recommendation will be shown to the City Commission on Sept. 3.