Elmhurst Neighborhoods Want To Pay For Sidewalks: City

ELMHURST, IL – Residents on Glade and Glenview avenues in Elmhurst recently submitted petitions for the city's sidewalk cost-sharing program.

Under the longtime program, residents and the city each cover half the costs. At previous City Council meetings, officials have said it's been well over a decade since a neighborhood has taken advantage of the program.

In an email to Patch last week, Ward 6 Alderwoman Emily Bastedo confirmed the petitions are complete. She had mentioned them at a council meeting a couple of days earlier.

Running two blocks long, Glade and Glenview are north-south streets next to each other in Ward 2. They are southeast of Route 83 and North Avenue.

The southern half of Glenview has a sidewalk on one side, while a part of the southern block of Glade has a sidewalk on one side. For Glade, the petition is for sidewalks on both sides on the northern block, between Second and Third streets. For Glenview, it is for the west side only on the northern block.

In September, the City Council changed its sidewalk strategy. It enacted a fee for builders of homes in neighborhoods without sidewalks. That money is to be spent in areas where the city sees the greatest need for sidewalks, such as school routes.

The city originally considered requiring builders to install sidewalks where none exist.

But officials determined building sidewalks a block at a time was more efficient, rather than builders installing sidewalks to nowhere.

At the September meeting, Ward 2 Alderman Jacob Hill said no neighborhood had taken advantage of the cost-share program for 15 years. With cost-sharing, he said, it would take well over 300 years to complete the sidewalk network.

Most Elmhurst neighborhoods have sidewalks, but pockets such as Glenview and Glade are without them.

Many northeast Elmhurst streets, which are in Ward 3, have no sidewalks.