The City Council voted Wednesday to proceed with its original plan to improve a section of 400 North, despite near-unanimous opposition from residents.
"I propose we go with Plan 1 in the interest of safety," said Councilwoman Barbara Holt."Plan 1," which is what the City Council favored last month during a public hearing, would widen 400 North between 1250 East and Davis Boulevard to 38 feet. Sidewalks, with a 4-foot "buffer" strip from the roadway, would be installed on both sides.
The plan - prompted by concerned parents whose children use the busy street to walk to school - would cost $130,000 and require 14 property owners to donate to the city about 4 feet of their properties.
But 13 owners do not want to donate the property, citing significant landscaping losses. Instead, the owners, who have hired legal counsel, urged the city to consider "Plan 2."
That plan is similar to the first plan but would not include the buffer strips and, therefore, would not require property owners to lose 4 feet of their land.
But Councilman Leslie Foy said Plan 2 would make the sidewalks particularly dangerous during the winter because they would become inundated by snow from plows.
City Manager Tom Hardy told the council that if Plan 2 were chosen, taxpayer money could be spent to widen the road but should not be spent on sidewalks because it's a "substandard project" without the buffer strips.
Councilman Harold Shafter, who lost a child three years ago in an automobile accident, noted that the buffer strips make the sidewalks three times as safe.
"Three times greater safety makes a lot of difference to me."
But the property owners are not convinced.
"I think they are using an emotional issue to justify their position," said Bob Weddington, spokesman for the property owners. "(The City Council members) seem bent on having a particular configuration and are not sensitive to the impact it would have on residents.
Councilwoman Renee Coon was the only friend of the property owners, voting against Plan 1 because of the impact it would have on their yards. She moved to adopt Plan 2 but the motion died without a second.
Because the property owners will not deed the 4-foot strips of land, the city will be forced in the short term to widen the road only. A special improvement district would have to be created later to condemn the property required for the sidewalks and buffer strips. The residents would then be compensated for their land but would have to bear the cost of the improvements.