MONROE - The Monroe City Council Tuesday night approved new sidewalk installation locations by a 6-3 vote.
Aldermen Jan Lefevre, Thurston Hanson and Dan Henke voted against the resolution brought to the council by the Board of Public Works. Alderman Mark Coplien was absent.
The resolution establishing new sidewalk locations for 2008 includes both sides of 20th Street from 11th to 16th avenues; 30th Street from Sixth Avenue to Wisconsin 69; First Avenue from Sixth to Eighth streets; and 12th Avenue from 19th to 21st streets.
It also includes three schedules for annual payments: up to $300, property owners have to pay in one installment; $300.01 up to $2,500, five annual payments; and more than $2,500, seven annual payments.
Payments and accrued interest are due by Nov. 1 of each year after the assessment is levied. Bills are considered delinquent after 90 days and an interest rate of 7.5 percent per year is charged on unpaid amounts after 90 days.
The same repayment options are available in a resolution for 2008 sidewalk repairs, which passed 8-1. Hanson voted against that resolution.
In a Judiciary & Ordinance Review Committee (JORC) meeting earlier in the evening, Lefevre, Hanson and Henke made their positions on the city's requirement of new sidewalks in general known to Mayor.
Mayor Ron Marsh had submitted to the JORC a section of the city ordinances concerning sidewalk construction and repair which he had edited for proposed changes. Marsh wants JORC members to review the changes for a couple weeks and respond with their own suggestions.
However, having previewed the proposed changes, some JORC members were prepared to express their sentiments on required sidewalk installations.
"As you know, you're not meeting with the most friendly crowd," Hanson told Marsh.
Hanson said he thought the changes made sense, but his concern was with property owners "having to" comply with mandatory installations.
"Nobody has a problem with sidewalks if they don't have to pay for them," Hanson said.
Hanson did not agree with the argument that some residents have already been made to install sidewalks and the remaining residents should have to also.
"Just because one has to pay under a bad policy doesn't mean another has to be victimized by a bad city policy," he said. "It seems to me that if someone has been victimized under a bad city policy, they wouldn't want someone else to be victimized too.
"I'd rather leave a bad policy in place until the other aldermen get sick of it and vote it down," Hanson said.
Lefevre also said she had "no problem" with "bringing things up to code."
"But I have problems with other things," she said.
Henke said he did not see the need to have sidewalks on both sides of a street. Pedestrians are smart enough to cross the street to use a sidewalk, he said.
Henke expressed concern Tuesday that sidewalks and pavement increase storm water runoff, when it would be better to allow it to soak into the ground.
"We're getting to the point now where we're looking at individual cases. But I don't like the overall policy," Henke said.
"This has nothing to do with financing," Marsh said, about the proposed ordinance changes. "This is to bring everything under the code."
Marsh said there were "two or three forms floating around," and he wanted the paperwork consolidated.
In one section of the ordinance, Marsh's proposed rewording inserts the word "installation" among the acts of repairing or replacing sidewalks by residents. The changes would require residents to apply for and obtain permits, and to submit "self-repair agreements" with the city before self-installation of new sidewalks, just as they now do to repair or remove a sidewalk themselves.
In another section, "Mandatory Installation," Marsh has added that sidewalks "shall be installed within one year of the sale of a lot or piece of land" and wherever curbs and gutters are "currently installed."
And under "Exceptions to Mandatory Installation," Marsh has listed six specific exceptions - which, he side-noted, may need to be expanded and defined: no curb or gutter, safety hazard, engineering, weather, trees/landscape and financial hardship. However, he noted that these exceptions are "postponements only."
Aldermen Jan Lefevre, Thurston Hanson and Dan Henke voted against the resolution brought to the council by the Board of Public Works. Alderman Mark Coplien was absent.
The resolution establishing new sidewalk locations for 2008 includes both sides of 20th Street from 11th to 16th avenues; 30th Street from Sixth Avenue to Wisconsin 69; First Avenue from Sixth to Eighth streets; and 12th Avenue from 19th to 21st streets.
It also includes three schedules for annual payments: up to $300, property owners have to pay in one installment; $300.01 up to $2,500, five annual payments; and more than $2,500, seven annual payments.
Payments and accrued interest are due by Nov. 1 of each year after the assessment is levied. Bills are considered delinquent after 90 days and an interest rate of 7.5 percent per year is charged on unpaid amounts after 90 days.
The same repayment options are available in a resolution for 2008 sidewalk repairs, which passed 8-1. Hanson voted against that resolution.
In a Judiciary & Ordinance Review Committee (JORC) meeting earlier in the evening, Lefevre, Hanson and Henke made their positions on the city's requirement of new sidewalks in general known to Mayor.
Mayor Ron Marsh had submitted to the JORC a section of the city ordinances concerning sidewalk construction and repair which he had edited for proposed changes. Marsh wants JORC members to review the changes for a couple weeks and respond with their own suggestions.
However, having previewed the proposed changes, some JORC members were prepared to express their sentiments on required sidewalk installations.
"As you know, you're not meeting with the most friendly crowd," Hanson told Marsh.
Hanson said he thought the changes made sense, but his concern was with property owners "having to" comply with mandatory installations.
"Nobody has a problem with sidewalks if they don't have to pay for them," Hanson said.
Hanson did not agree with the argument that some residents have already been made to install sidewalks and the remaining residents should have to also.
"Just because one has to pay under a bad policy doesn't mean another has to be victimized by a bad city policy," he said. "It seems to me that if someone has been victimized under a bad city policy, they wouldn't want someone else to be victimized too.
"I'd rather leave a bad policy in place until the other aldermen get sick of it and vote it down," Hanson said.
Lefevre also said she had "no problem" with "bringing things up to code."
"But I have problems with other things," she said.
Henke said he did not see the need to have sidewalks on both sides of a street. Pedestrians are smart enough to cross the street to use a sidewalk, he said.
Henke expressed concern Tuesday that sidewalks and pavement increase storm water runoff, when it would be better to allow it to soak into the ground.
"We're getting to the point now where we're looking at individual cases. But I don't like the overall policy," Henke said.
"This has nothing to do with financing," Marsh said, about the proposed ordinance changes. "This is to bring everything under the code."
Marsh said there were "two or three forms floating around," and he wanted the paperwork consolidated.
In one section of the ordinance, Marsh's proposed rewording inserts the word "installation" among the acts of repairing or replacing sidewalks by residents. The changes would require residents to apply for and obtain permits, and to submit "self-repair agreements" with the city before self-installation of new sidewalks, just as they now do to repair or remove a sidewalk themselves.
In another section, "Mandatory Installation," Marsh has added that sidewalks "shall be installed within one year of the sale of a lot or piece of land" and wherever curbs and gutters are "currently installed."
And under "Exceptions to Mandatory Installation," Marsh has listed six specific exceptions - which, he side-noted, may need to be expanded and defined: no curb or gutter, safety hazard, engineering, weather, trees/landscape and financial hardship. However, he noted that these exceptions are "postponements only."