Funding for Bicycle, Pedestrian and ADA Ramp Facilities
The purpose of this memorandum is to confirm the staff’s interpretation of the will of the Commission for the use of the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funding for bicycle, pedestrian and ADA ramp facilities. The 2017 CIP includes $450,000 ($200,000 sales tax and $250,000 debt) for this project. The City Manager’s recommended 2018 CIP includes the same level of funding, with that amount increasing to $600,000 in 2019, $750,00 in 2020, and $1 million in years 2020, 2021 and 2022. Funding in years 2019 through 2022 is planned entirely through the 0.30% infrastructure sales tax.
At the March 21, 2017 Commission meeting, city staff presented a sidewalk hazard maintenance policy that include an income-based subsidy program for owner-occupied residential properties as well as owner-occupied properties on which sidewalks are located along two or more edges. Staff recommended funding the subsidy program with the CIP funding budgeted in 2017 CIP #CI09, Bike / Ped Improvements / ADA Ramps ($45,000). As recommended, this funding would also be used to address existing sidewalk and ADA ramp defects that are the city’s responsibility. The Commission deferred action on the policy and on the use of this funding for a subsidy program and for city-owned maintenance requirements.
At the June 13, 2017 City Commission work session, commissioners received information about the staff’s revised plan for the CIP funding dedicated to bicycle, pedestrian and ADA ramp facilities. The staff recommended using these funds to construct new pedestrian and bicycle facilities (e.g. bike lanes and multi-use paths) in conjunction with street reconstruction projects such as those along Kasold Drive, Queens Road and 9th Street. Additionally, the staff recommended using this funding to repair known defects in existing sidewalks, ADA ramps and bike facilities. For context, the Commission had previously declined to use this funding to construct a new bike lane and multi-use path as part of the upcoming Kasold Drive project.
This project budget was recommended as the funding source to construct the new bike lane and half of the new multi-use path planned for the Queens Road project between 6th Street and Eisenhower. These facilities will cost an estimated $348,500, consisting of $226,000 for half of the multi-use path and $122,500 for the bike lane. The staff planned to use the remaining funding for maintenance of known defects in the sidewalk network and ADA ramps. In the absence of a revised sidewalk maintenance policy and program, use of those funds was going to focus on repair of certain known defects that are the City’s responsibility. City staff identified approximately 4,100 linear feet of sidewalk that has settled or heaved adjacent to storm sewer inlets and manholes that need to be repaired or replaced. The estimated cost of these repairs is approximately $180,000 and use of the Ped/Bike/ADA CIP funding would enable the City to address approximately $100,000 of that need. This is the estimated cost for only one small segment of the city.
The Commission did express support for using some of the funding to address sidewalk and ADA ramp maintenance needs that are the City’s responsibility. The Commission did not express support for staff’s plan to use this funding in conjunction with street construction projects and instead requested that a spending plan be developed that allocates this funding to stand alone pedestrian and bicycle projects.
At the Commission’s request, the staff is now preparing a spending plan for the multi-year ped/bike/ADA ramp CIP project based on multiple planning sources, including recommendations prioritized in the Pedestrian Bicycle Issues Task Force Report, the Regional Pedestrian Plan which includes Safe Routes to Schools, the County-wide Bikeway Plan, and the known inventory of sidewalk and ADA ramp defects. Additionally, the staff will continue to attempt to leverage this funding by using it as matching funds for grant opportunities, including the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Transportation Alternatives (TA) grant program. The TA grant application on this week’s consent agenda serves as an example of the potential to leverage this funding to make progress on Safe Routes and dedicated ped/bike projects that contribute to the connectivity of the bicycle network.
Proceeding in this direction may result in faster progress on pedestrian and bicycle facility plans, and it will still enable progress on ADA and sidewalk maintenance needs that are the City’s responsibility. This approach will, however, impact the City’s ability to complete pedestrian and bicycle improvements coinciding with street construction projects. As only one example, the ped/bike facilities planned for the Queens Road project are to remain in the project, the City will need to find an additional $348,500 in funding. This cost is not budgeted. The same would be true for other street projects that include new bike lanes and/or ped/bike facilities.
Debt financing would be the most likely source of additional funding for these ped/bike facilities, but one reason why the infrastructure sales tax exists is to mitigate the amount of debt issued for street projects, so additional debt financing may not work in all cases. Another option would be to reduce the number of future street maintenance and construction projects. A third option would be to reduce the scope of ped/bike improvements included in street projects to reduce the costs without sacrificing the needed street improvements. Reducing the scope of street projects so that they do not include ped/bike improvements may contradict the complete streets policy in some cases.
Infrastructure Sales Tax Funding and Sidewalk Maintenance
In the absence of a policy change, city staff has continued to apply the existing policy to sidewalk maintenance issues. The staff continues to recommend that property owners retain responsibility for maintenance of adjacent sidewalks.
The proposed 2019-2029 infrastructure sales tax plan (0.30%) does not include funding for a sidewalk maintenance program or for a program to subsidize private property owners’ sidewalk maintenance responsibilities. As proposed though, the sales tax plan includes $10.35 million for sidewalk, bicycle and ADA ramp improvements over the 10-year period. The staff recommends using a portion of this funding each year for the maintenance and repair of sidewalk and ADA ramp defects that are known to be the City’s responsibility. The remainder of the funding would go towards the ped/bike spending plan that staff is developing and will present to the Commission at a later date. Due to the absence of a policy establishing a private property sidewalk maintenance subsidy, infrastructure sales tax funding is not planned for maintenance of private sidewalks.
Understanding of Funding Priorities
The Commission will be asked to establish and authorize publication of the 2018 budget maximum expenditure levels at its July 11, 2017 meeting. Subsequently, the Commission will be asked to consider approving a resolution to place the infrastructure sales tax issue on the November 7, 2017 general election ballot. The sales tax ballot resolution will need to be adopted no later than August 1, 2017.
The current iterations of the 2018 budget, the 5-year CIP and the 10-year Infrastructure Sales Tax spending plan lay out funding priorities for sidewalk, bicycle and ADA issues. Progress on bicycle facilities is a funding priority. Progress on sidewalk and ADA ramp improvements that are the City’s responsibility are funding priorities. Funding for construction of new ped/bike facilities related to street construction/maintenance projects is not prioritized and progress would be limited by the lack of future alternative funding sources. Finally, progress on private property sidewalk maintenance is not a funding priority due to the lack of a policy establishing a subsidy program and the lack of resources to fund a subsidy program.
The Commission will have another opportunity to discuss these issues at the July 11th meeting when it considers establishing the maximum expenditures for the 2018 budget.