PORT ANGELES — The city of Port Angeles is making a change to how it requires sidewalk construction.
Port Angeles City Council members heard a presentation Tuesday night about the city’s sidewalks before they conducted the first reading of an ordinance for a sidewalk fee-in-lieu program. If approved, the program will allow developers to either pay a fee instead of constructing a sidewalk on the property they’re on or to construct the sidewalk in a different, more strategic part of the city.
City Engineer Jonathan Boehme started the presentation with a bit of history on the city’s Complete Streets Policy, which was adopted in 2018. He said it was meant to balance access, mobility, health and safety for all.
The city’s comprehensive plan also addresses sidewalks in policy P-8A.12, according to Boehme’s presentation.
“Require sidewalks to be included in all development and redevelopment proposals where sidewalks do not exist at the time of application for development,” the policy states. “Permeable materials are preferred for sidewalk construction where feasible.”
In 2021, the city adopted a transition plan to address Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues.
“Of the 83 miles of sidewalk across the city, 98 percent of the blocks across the city have compliance issues,” Boehme said. “Ninety-six percent of the 2,758 existing curb ramps in the city are non-compliant.”
The city has made progress during the past four years by correcting more than 100 curb ramps.
But the problem doesn’t stop there. The city has about 8 miles of sidewalk gaps.
“In addition to that, we have places that just don’t have sidewalk at all,” Boehme said. “One of the important next steps that we have in our work plan is to prioritize these sidewalk gaps. As you can imagine, the need is great. There’s a lot for us to do.”
Fixing ADA deficiences also will be a costly endeavor. In 2021, the estimated cost to fix sidewalks, ramps, signals and obstacles was $61.2 million. Now, it has increased to just more than $71 million, according to Boehme’s presentation.
“We’re really seeing here there’s a tremendous need for correcting these barriers,” Boehme said. “One of the recommendations was to look for opportunities to increase existing barrier removal funding. One benefit of this proposed sidewalk program is finding additional revenue sources to help supplement grants and other funds that are going into this very large to-do list of sidewalks and barriers.”
A sidewalk fee-in-lieu program is a long-awaited update to the Port Angeles Municipal Code, which will normalize the code requirements for sidewalk, according to the agenda memo, and the program will “give developers additional options, and provide the city a revenue stream for addressing priority pedestrian infrastructure improvements.”
“In addition to being for pedestrian improvements, this is also intended to address things like bicycle safety, street trees, lighting, etc.” said Timothy Hayes, transportation engineer.
The fee-in-lieu program will, according to the presentation, require sidewalk for all development with substantial improvements (which was defined as improvements worth 50 percent of the total value or at $200,000); create a voluntary program to allow applicants to request to pay a fee rather than construct required sidewalk improvements or construct equivalent off-site improvements; be at the city’s discretion; provide a fixed dollar per linear foot of frontage; and collect fees for pedestrian improvements within a 2-mile radius of the development site.
The parameters for what defines substantial improvements can be changed if the city council chooses to do so, council members were told. The suggested fees currently are $100 per linear foot with no curb, $200 per linear foot with curb and gutter, and $3,500 per curb ramp. Those fees also can be adjusted if the city council chooses to do so.
“The direction I provided was to create a program that was reasonable, understandable and that provided options,” said Scott Curtin, the city’s director of public works and utilities. “We didn’t want to force an issue down. I believe the program you have before you tonight has accomplished all three of those things. I’m comfortable if you wanted to lower those initial rates. I think that’s reasonable.”
The council took no action, since it was just the first reading of the ordinance. The plan is to bring the ordinance back for a second reading and authorization at the city council’s Oct. 21 meeting.
If approved, the program would go into effect 10 days after adoption.
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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
