Denver property owners would not see their first bills for the city’s voter-approved sidewalk repair, replacement and construction program until next year under a second proposed delay of that initiative.
Continuing implementation challenges, along with legal questions about the city’s latest proposed approach to fees, were blamed Tuesday for pushing the effective date back again, until after Jan. 1.
The new proposal to delay sidewalk fee collections by at least six months sailed through the City Council’s Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee during an afternoon meeting. Assuming that change wins approval from the full council later this month, Denverites will have waited more than two years after passing the city-led sidewalk program before the dedicated fund that’s needed to fuel that work begins filling up.
City officials estimate that 40% of Denver’s sidewalk network either is in disrepair, is too narrow — keeping people in wheelchairs or pushing strollers from using them comfortably — or hasn’t been built out.
Councilman Paul Kashmann sits on the stakeholder committee that has worked since August to adjust the sidewalk program and its fee structure before quarterly bills start hitting residents’ mailboxes and online accounts.
That group largely has concluded its work, he told fellow council members Tuesday, but the proposed changes will take time to be finalized.
“The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure,” Kashmann said, “needs additional time to get the billing system together, up and running … and begin to do additional work on what the layout and what the rollout of the program will actually look like.”
When voters passed the Denver Deserves Sidewalks initiative in late 2022, the ballot language called for billing to begin in January of this year. But last fall, the council voted to delay those collections at least until July 1.
In February, the city sought community feedback on a proposal to do away with the original framework of fees that vary widely based on how much sidewalk runs alongside a home’s street frontage, including two sides on corner lots. The city would switch from that linear fee approach to a flat fee of $148.64 per year for homeowners.
But Jill Locantore, the executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership, said the stakeholder committee heard about a new problem from the city attorney’s office. She led the campaign for the sidewalk fee program and now serves on that committee.
City lawyers’ advice was to create a similar flat fee for commercial property owners, she said — or else the city risked opening itself up to legal liability, including potential violations of Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR.
“This is new for many of us and an unprecedented program for the city, so it just takes time to work through all the details and make sure we are setting the program up for success,” Locantore said. “The reality is just logistically (that) there is no way the city could start collecting fees on July 1.”
Beyond the start of the billing cycle, amendments to the ordinance — such as changes to the fee structure — will take council hearings and votes to enact.
For some council members, the wait is growing tiresome.
Councilman Chris Hinds, whose downtown-centric District 10 is among the most pedestrian-friendly parts of the city, said he was routinely hearing from residents who reported damaged sidewalks through the city’s 311 customer service platform. They received a “case closed” notification, he said, even when the city was not fixing those sidewalks.
Nick Williams, a deputy manager with the city’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, said 311 data about damaged sidewalks is important for informing the city’s long-term plans. He told council members he would talk to city technology staff about potentially adjusting 311 response language to reflect the status of the sidewalk program.
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