A Plan For Sidewalks On All Elmhurst Streets

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst is hammering out a 40-year plan to get sidewalks on every street, another step away from a past policy that seemed to make little progress.

The overwhelming majority of streets south of North Avenue have sidewalks. But the city's northeast corner is almost entirely without them. The same goes for parts of northwest Elmhurst.

On the northeast side, the city is aiming to get sidewalks for Crestview Avenue, Indiana Street and Van Auken Street by as early as next year.

Under the proposed policy, the city would focus on installing sidewalks on one side of streets where none exist now. It would be at no direct cost to residents.

The city plans to set up a rating system establishing priorities for the 40-year plan. Routes to school, for instance, would be at the top of the list.

The policy also calls for the city's public safety committee to check progress against the plan every three years.

"This guarantees to the cynic that come hell or high water, we're going to revisit this every three years," Alderman Guido Nardini said Monday at a public safety committee meeting.

Alderman Jacob Hill, whose Ward 2 includes the northwest neighborhoods without sidewalks, said he was comfortable signing the policy right away.

"This is what I was looking for," Hill said. "I don't want the perfect to be the enemy of good enough."

The committee has discussed the topic during seven meetings over the last year. Members agreed Monday to hold off on a possible vote until the next meeting in a couple of weeks.

Last summer, the City Council voted to replace a two-decade-old policy that Alderman Hill said failed and created a lot of animosity.

Under the new policy, the city would cover three-quarters of the costs, with residents paying the rest. Previously, the city offered to pay half.