NE 40th sidewalk repair expands scope; staff to remove 49 street trees and propose mitigation

City staff outlined changes to the Northeast 40th Street sidewalk repair project and said the scope expansion is intended to deliver a continuous ADA‑compliant route to transit.

Steve Gibbs, Capital Construction, told the committee the north‑side sidewalk between 156th Avenue and Belle Red Road requires curb and gutter replacement and has significant existing tree impacts. He said design adjustments saved 10 trees from an earlier memo estimate, reducing the planned removals from 59 to 49. Because there is little planting space along that stretch, the project will contribute roughly $31,000 to the city's tree‑mitigation fund to plant trees elsewhere.

Gibbs said staff will open bids on Thursday and, barring issues, will email bid results to council early next week and seek consent on Nov. 4. Council members asked about the project cost increase (roughly $1.1 million in one estimate, staff referred to a delta of about $1.5 million) and whether it was more economical to split the work into two contracts; staff said two jobs can increase costs because of duplicate mobilization and other lump‑sum items.

Councilmember Fields and others pressed whether funding was drawn from the 2023–24 budget and whether other projects (notably Cleveland Street) had been deferred to free resources. Staff said interim ADA improvements would be done on Cleveland Street using in‑house crews while a full rebuild remains a future CIP project. Council President Kritzker asked that public communications (mailers, postcards, site signage and a project website) be shared with council ahead of broad distribution; staff agreed and said they had already been meeting one‑on‑one with property owners in the corridor.

For transparency and time to review contract language, the committee agreed to place the NE 40th contract on new business for the Nov. 4 meeting rather than on consent.