West Cook News

The Elmhurst City Council recently celebrated a resolution to a long-standing issue of sidewalks in the city.

“The result is that for the first time since the Crestview neighborhood became part of Elmhurst proper 58 years ago, the city will fund 100% of the cost of installation of some sidewalks, those that act as safe routes to school," Alderman Christopher Jensen said during the meeting. "With the new sidewalks, children will be able to walk or ride to school safely as children and most other parts of Elmhurst. By providing these safe routes to school, more children will be able to safely enjoy the significant health benefits of walking around a school by reducing traffic congestion around their schools. While this project is focused on one neighborhood in particular, it benefits Elmhurst as a whole.”

The council uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the city’s YouTube channel.

At their March 20 council meeting, the city council discussed their sidewalk replacement and installation policy. The city’s current policy requires a majority support from neighbors in the area in question, as well as a cost-sharing program between residents and the city for any sidewalk work. After some surveys of residents across the city and multiple council and committee discussions since the topic was brought up in late 2021, city officials realized that the majority of residents consistently supported sidewalk work in their areas unless they were required to pay for it. They also realized a lack of sidewalks was focused in specific areas of Elmhurst, mostly the northeast and northwest sections. The northeast section of Elmhurst also has a lot of elementary schools without connecting sidewalks.

Because residents will not likely be willing to pay to help fund installing sidewalks in these areas, but the city has identified them as high priority, it was determined that the city would put sidewalks in on only one side of the street. The priority locations were determined to be one side of Crestview Avenue from York to Van Auken, one side of Indiana Street from Crestview to Wrightwood and one side of Van Auken Street from Crestview to Wrightwood. These areas will provide major connections between neighborhoods and two of the local schools. The city is proposing the pay for these projects through local TIF funds and/or state or federal grants for the Safe Routes to School. They will start applying for these grants with approval from the council as the timeline for such funding can stretch into multiple years.

The council members discussed the proposal from city staff at their council meeting, and they were all greatly appreciative of the sidewalk survey and review and depth of information brought forward by the committee. They had questions about how this worked since it differed from their existing city policy regarding sidewalks, and it was explained that while this did not comply with city policy, it was being presented as a separate project due to the priority nature and potential funding for the project. Council members approved the motion and will proceed with the project.

The council will meet again at 7:30 p.m. on April 3 at the City Hall at 209 North York St.