La Grange has a backlog of residents who want to participate in a program that splits the cost of repairing sidewalks between the resident and the village…
La Grange has a backlog of residents who want to participate in a program that splits the cost of repairing sidewalks adjacent to their homes between the property owners and the village.
The village and other nearby communities are working together to try to reduce the cost of replacing sidewalks in each of their communities.
La Grange public works director Ryan Gillingham said in a recent memo to the Village Board that there are 160 property owners who’ve requested to participate in the 50/50 sidewalk replacement program. The village has set aside $10,000 for the replacement of concrete sidewalk in residential areas and that means only about 10 property owners can participate this year. It also has budgeted $5,000 for sidewalk repairs in the central business district.
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Residential property owners who want broken or cracked sidewalks adjacent to their homes replaced are selected on a first-come, first-served basis. The property owners taking part this year in the 50/50 program have been on the list since 2011.
“It’s a popular program,” said Gillingham.
To try to address the demand, the village started a program in 2014 that lets residents who want to have their sidewalks repaired immediately to pay the full cost. Three residents this year are participating at 100 percent of cost, Gillingham said.
“This option allows residents an opportunity to replace public sidewalk at a competitive unit price without having to wait several years to participate in the 50/50 Sidewalk Program,” he said.
Because contractors are not interested in bidding for what is a limited amount of sidewalk replacement in front of a single home, La Grange began working two years ago with other nearby communities to bid as a group. Those communities include La Grange Park, Western Springs and Countryside. The low bid this year for the removal and replacement of about 1,800 square feet of sidewalk in La Grange is $12,870. The bid was provided by Globe Construction.
In Western Springs, public works director Matt Supert said his community participates in joint bidding for sidewalk replacement because it reduces the cost to bid as a group.
“Our first test of that process was the joint sidewalk bid, which was first done two years ago. We have done an annual renewal of the contract since that time,” he said.
He said the village typically replaces 300 5-by-5 foot squares of sidewalk a year.
The village budgets $50,000 for sidewalk replacement with about $20,000 of that for sidewalk shaving and about $5,000 for curb repair.
Shaving levels, but does replace, the concrete. It removes trip hazards.
In certain situations, resident of Western Springs pay a higher share than 50/50 to replace their sidewalks.
Western Springs will replace an existing sidewalk square with a trip hazard of 1 1/4 inches or more at no cost to the resident. Cracked sidewalks that do not meet the trip hazard requirement can be replaced with the resident paying 60 percent of the village’s contractor’s price, the village’s website states.
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