Council considers sidewalk renovation
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on January 27, 2016 1:46 PM
The Goldsboro City Council is looking to renovate the sidewalks on North John Street that run in front of Torero's Family Mexican Restaurant and Jay's Sushi and Burger Bar.
"I've walked it all and this area is the worst in that block in terms of tripping hazards and a lot of broken sidewalk, and it also has a lot of water meter boxes. There are seven in one area, six in another area, that just create a lot of opportunity for tripping hazards," said City Manager Scott Stevens. "We have had the owner of the yoga business there just talk about her clientele coming and going and being concerned with some of her customers coming in and out that do have some ability issues as to the sidewalk creating tripping hazards for them."
At a currently estimated cost of $12,300, the expense for the work being considered for the one and a half block portion of the North John Street sidewalk would be pulled from the city's general fund.
"We would put new concrete that would close the little alleyway driveway that's no longer a drivable alleyway, it's just a pedestrian alleyway," Stevens said. "We may install a wheelchair ramp, we may do a pedestrian crossing area to use that area to help folks move safely across John Street."
These changes to the current sidewalk configuration would require parking changes to occur in the vicinity, though no concrete plan for that has been made yet.
Another concern with the section of sidewalk the city is considering for renovations is the cluster of water meter covers in front of the businesses, all of which are at different heights and cause most of the tripping hazards in the area.
The city is considering paying to fix that issue, too.
"All these covers that close together create five or six different lids that all have a little different texture when you walk on them, and all are subject to moving around," Stevens said. "I think it would be safer and better aesthetically to replace that into a vault, but that also comes with a fairly expensive price tag. The quote we have is $16,000. We might do it for more like, $10,000, but it's still going to be substantial in cost."
The cost for the water meter cover replacement would come from the city's utility fund.
Only one vendor for the work has submitted a quote for the project, and the city has attempted to solicit more bidders for the work.
When Stevens recently presented the proposal to the City Council, the council indicated desiring more quotes be gathered for work on the project.
So far, the city has only received one quote for the price of the work on the project, and is running into difficulties getting other vendors to take an interest in the project.
"We will work to get two more quotes, and if I didn't have Public Works so tied up in the events center and things out there I'd be pushing Public Works to do the work for us as well," Stevens said. "The challenge will be that this is a relatively small job, and we have solicited other vendors for quotes, and they just aren't willing to even come look at it because of the size of job it is."
City Finance Director Kaye Scott will bring a budget amendment to the next City Council meeting for the council's approval that would allow the work to move forward if the council approves it.