Council Favors Eliminating Sidewalk Project

In response to residents living along South Hudson Court and a portion of South Hudson Avenue who objected to the installation of a sidewalk along their streets to connect portions of the Ahnapee State Trail to the north and south, Sturgeon Bay’s Common Council passed a motion Tuesday that the city now not put in that sidewalk.

The sidewalk project had been approved last December as part of the city’s 2024 capital roadway improvements the council considered when it met as the Board of Public Works.

The residents subsequently received letters about the possibility they could face having to pay thousands of dollars in special assessments for the sidewalk, and several of them appeared earlier this year before the Local Transportation Board to state their objections, which also include not seeing a need for the sidewalk based on the amount of vehicle and foot traffic.

Repaving the road segment of South Hudson Avenue where the residents objecting to the sidewalk live was also included in the capital roadway improvements for this year. City Engineer Chad Shefchik said it’s not the city’s policy to charge special assessments when replacing existing infrastructure, such as repaving roads, but the sidewalk could be subject to special assessment charges because one currently doesn’t exist there.