Denver is one step closer to improving its sidewalks after the City Council approved a $15 million contract to begin implementing a voter-approved program.
That step, however, has been a long time coming. And while some immediate repairs will start soon, the contract that was approved Monday mostly will pay for a “sidewalk master plan” to prepare to fix the rest.
“This is a really exciting moment,” said Jill Locantore, the executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership, which spearheaded the ballot initiative for the new program. “I think people are really antsy to start seeing the repairs happen.”
In 2022, voters approved the “Denver Deserves Sidewalks” initiative, which made sidewalk maintenance the city’s responsibility — rather than property owners’, as it long had been — and created a citywide fee to fund the work.
But the council delayed the new fees twice last year as it worked out how to structure them. Last year, its members decided on a flat $150 annual rate for most property owners. Those with more than 230 linear feet of sidewalk along their property frontage will pay $3.50 more for each foot beyond that length.
The city began collecting that fee through municipal stormwater bills earlier this year. It’s expected to bring in about $40 million annually.
Now, the up-to three-year contract with HNTB will pay for the master plan, engineering and program management services. Within about nine years, the city plans to build more than 350 miles of new sidewalks and will make improvements on 1,200 miles of existing sidewalks, according to a recent council presentation.
The city plans to begin some work on the most damaged sidewalks this year.
“Voters are not going to want to pay that fee and not see (any improved sidewalks) out there,” said Nick Williams, with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, in a council committee meeting this month.
The city was originally set to begin collecting the fee in 2024 but under the original ballot measure, it would have been calculated on a by-the-linear-foot basis, meaning owners with corner lots would pay significantly more others. The council debated ways to adjust the formula and ultimately landed on the flat fee instead.
The council approved the HNTB contract 11-1, with only Councilman Chris Hinds voting no.
Hinds said he opposed using an “on-call” contract for the work, saying it appears less transparent to the public.
Geneva Hooten, the program director with DOTI, responded that the contract style gives the city more flexibility. A shorter, more prescriptive contract would hinder its ability to get the work done quickly, she said.
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