By Beacon Staff
The Burlington City Council approved a revised Sidewalk Improvement Program policy during Monday night’s council meeting, hoping to incentivize property owners to repair their sidewalks at half the cost.
The program is voluntary, and those who choose to opt-in would pay for roughly 49 percent of the sidewalk, after requesting reimbursement from the city through the program. The program itself isn’t new, but the pool of funds goes mostly unused every year because so few people apply for it.
Mayor Jon Billups said the program is useless if the bucket of money isn’t emptied out every year, which is why the council wanted to increase the incentive to use it.
Those who opt-out of the program after they have been notified their sidewalk needs repairing won’t have to pay an up-front cost like those in the program but will have to pay the city back within five years at a 3-percent interest rate through property tax add-ons. City manager Chad Bird estimates that would be about $1,000 to $1,500 per project.
If the repair or replacement is not completed within that time frame, the cost of repair will be added to the property tax until it is paid off.
Any sidewalk on the public right of way would be paid for entirely by the city. Sidewalks impacted by city trees will also be paid for by the city.
Burlington's arterial and connecting sidewalks along high-traffic areas will be evaluated once every seven years. The city will notify property owners whose sidewalk panels need to be repaired in order of worst condition.
Any sidewalk that has not been repaired or replaced and remains deficient at that time will be given notice of such with a time frame for completion. Failure to complete necessary sidewalk repairs as required will result in the city contracting to complete the required repairs and assessing the costs to the property.