photo by: Nick Krug

A crumbling section of a Lawrence neighborhood sidewalk is pictured in this file photo from Feb. 28, 2018.

City leaders will soon discuss some new ideas for sidewalk repair, including the creation of a sidewalk insurance program and a potential city takeover of maintenance responsibilities.

The Lawrence City Commission requested to reconsider the city’s sidewalk maintenance program earlier this year, and the commission will discuss the potential changes as part of its work session Tuesday. Some residents have voiced strong opposition to the program, which generally requires homeowners and other property owners to pay to repair city sidewalks that border their property.

As part of the work session, commissioners will discuss several questions related to how the city handles sidewalk repairs. Those include whether the city can take over the maintenance of sidewalks after residents repair them and whether the city can administer a sidewalk maintenance insurance program. Under the current maintenance program, the city has been divided into nine different enforcement zones, and other questions include how long will it take to complete sidewalk repairs across the entire city under the current model.

The city adopted a policy in 2018 to administer its sidewalk repair ordinance, which had been on the books for decades but had not been strongly enforced. The ordinance requires all property owners — businesses, landlords and homeowners — to pay to repair the sidewalks running along their properties. Under the policy, low-income homeowners and those with more than one sidewalk along their property qualify for financial assistance from the city. Many homeowners spoke out against the approach when the city began fully enforcing the ordinance last year.

Commissioner Courtney Shipley, who took her seat on the commission in December, campaigned against the current program and, after joining the commission, suggested the sidewalk insurance program as a potential alternative, as the Journal-World previously reported. The idea is to allow property owners to opt into a program where they pay a small annual fee and the city uses that funding to make repairs to sidewalks adjacent to their property when necessary.

Mayor Jennifer Ananda previously said she wanted to discuss the city taking over financial responsibility for sidewalk repairs section by section, as inspections and repairs are completed in each enforcement zone. She asked city staff to provide data on how much that gradual takeover would cost the city and what the liability impacts would be.

In a memo to the commission, city staff state that a voluntary fee-based sidewalk insurance program may be possible for properties with sidewalks in good repair, but there are many unknowns about the form and function of such a program. The memo states that other alternatives that would be less administratively burdensome include a cost-share program that caps the costs that any property owner would pay or for the city to fully fund repairs with a dedicated revenue source such as a bond issue.

The cost for the city to takeover sidewalk maintenance and how long it will take to complete sidewalk repairs under the current program is still unknown.

Regarding costs, the memo states that with the existing funding for the current program and the city’s curb replacement program, the city could add a four person crew and one field supervisor that could replace approximately 1.9 miles of standard five-foot-wide sidewalk and accessible curb ramps annually. A citywide sidewalk condition assessment is expected to be completed in the next year, and at that time city staff say they can provide an estimate of how long it would take to complete all the sidewalk repairs under the current program. Regarding liability, the memo states that under the current program, the city has limited liability for sidewalk related accident claims and that liability would increase if the city were to take over maintenance.

In other business:

• As part of its regular agenda, the commission will consider approving a new temporary layout for downtown Lawrence that limits parking in an effort to give businesses more space to safely operate during the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the meeting, the commission will review some potential alternatives to the layout proposed last week and feedback from business owners and residents.

• As part of its work session, the commission will receive the city manager’s recommended 2021-2025 Capital Improvement Plan and provide direction as appropriate. The CIP includes $60.7 million of projects for 2021 and will ultimately be determined by the commission as part of the upcoming 2021 budget process.

The City Commission will convene virtually at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, with limited staff members in place at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The city has asked that residents participate in the meeting virtually, if they are able to do so, using temporary meeting procedures put in place to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Directions for submitting public comment and correspondence are included in the meeting agenda that is available on the city’s website.