10A | OCTOBER 21, 2021 |
ORDER
from A7
Regardless of the city’s
rights, however, in Taylor
Avenue residents’ eyes,
there have been at least
two opportunities in recent
years for the sidewalk to be
addressed and upgraded.
The first came with the
construction of the new
Harrison
Elementary
School, which began in
2017. Directly across the
from the sidewalk in ques-
tion, South Lane School
District installed new side-
walks and ramps along
the entire frontage of the
school’s property.
There were, however,
no requirements for the
school district to commit
to construction projects
not abutting its property
and the opposite side of
the street was not included
in the upgrade.
Another chance came
with the sprawling Safe
Routes to School project,
which started in 2019.
The nearly $1.7 project
addressed key safety con-
cerns on five routes to Har-
rison Elementary and Lin-
coln Middle schools: East
Harrison Avenue from
South River Road to South
Third Street; South Fourth
Street from Central Pacific
Railroad to Grant Avenue;
Grant Avenue from South
Fourth Street to South
Sixth Street; Fillmore Av-
enue from South Fourth
Street to South Sixth
Street; and Taylor Avenue
from South Fourth Street
to South Eighth Street.
Previously, these loca-
tions had been identified
as areas of concern in
street analyses by city staff.
Taylor Avenue residents
across from Harrison El-
ementary School have ex-
pressed confusion as to
why their sidewalk was not
included in the project.
Miller even received a
project update notice from
the city in August 2019
which stated that her prop-
erty was “within the proj-
ect area.”
In a letter to Miller ad-
dressing this, City Man-
ager Richard Meyers ex-
plained that “in order to
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
prepare a grant that would
be eligible for funding, the
application for the project
had to be specifically tied
to projects that improve
safety of children walking
to school. One of the ma-
jor criteria for funding is
demonstrated
incidents
or crashes associated with
children.”
Indeed, the Safe Routes
to School project was in
part prompted by testimo-
ny about safety issues.
Initial concerns about
the safety of routes to Lin-
coln Middle School were
raised in public testimony
in October 2015 by a city
police officer who advised
the city to pay attention to
the corner of South Fourth
Street and Fillmore Av-
enue, a high-traffic area
next to the middle school
with no crosswalk.
In a subsequent public
hearing in 2018 regarding
the project, a resident men-
tioned seeing a student hit
by a car at that very inter-
section, though the stu-
dent reportedly continued
walking from the incident.
But because this specif-
ic portion of Taylor Ave-
nue by Harrison was not
brought up as an area of
concern during city coun-
cil meetings or public com-
ment, it was not included
in the project, Meyers went
on to explain.
While a route with safety
signs and a crosswalk does
exist to help navigate chil-
dren to the school’s side of
the street, residents have
stated that children regu-
larly use their side of the
street when traveling to
and from school and that
the city should not wait for
a child to be hurt before
taking action.
Unfortunately, getting
another Safe Routes to
School grant for this side-
walk is not a secure option.
The next chance to apply
may be up to a year and a
half away and the grant is
increasingly competitive.
Though grants may be
hard to come by, sidewalk
orders aren’t the only way
to get citizens to take care
of their sidewalks. The city
can, for instance, notify
a property owner of their
sidewalk being out of com-
pliance and provide solu-
tions – a more common
strategy which has been
used in the past.
Currently, there is no set
method for determining
how to prioritize pedes-
trian walkways. The city’s
Transportation
System
Plan, a 2015 document,
outlines needs for pedes-
trians and, while it iden-
tifies connectivity gaps in
the city, it does not provide
insight into safety con-
cerns.
Cottage Grove city en-
gineers told The Sentinel
that a prioritization mech-
anism would go a long way
in the city council and staff
being able to make more
informed decisions.
As luck would have it,
the city has recently re-
ceived a grant from Ore-
gon Department of Trans-
portation to create a Bike
DENTAL Insurance
and Pedestrian Master
Plan for the entire city.
The plan will help estab-
lish a prioritized list of
trouble spots and provide
a reference point for future
construction decisions —
information which may
influence whether to issue
sidewalk orders.
As it’s a lengthy process,
Stewart estimated the plan
may not be ready until the
end of next year.
Until its completion,
then, residents on Taylor
Avenue are keen on hav-
ing more dialogue with the
city about the reasonable-
ness of issuing an order,
finding solutions or at least
being part of the bidding
process.
Some residents still wor-
ry that the city’s order as a
response to their concerns
sends the message that cit-
izens should not appeal to
their city for help or they
might suffer financial con-
sequences.
With half a year left on
the clock, residents re-
main hopeful the coming
months will yield viable
solutions.
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