Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the West School Street Assessment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Columbus residents press council over West School Street assessments; council defers action
Summary
At a public hearing on April 8, residents raised concerns about sidewalk costs, tree-removal accounting, lead-service replacement and address accuracy in the draft West School Street assessment; staff explained unit pricing and credit procedures and council withdrew the motion to approve the preliminary assessment pending revisions and grant paperwork.
Columbus councilors heard more than a dozen residents at a public hearing April 8 about the city's preliminary assessment report for the 2026 West School Street reconstruction project.
Residents urged the council to reduce or rework the special assessments attached to the project. "I fully support this project," said Sarah Motive, who lives at 344 South Charles Street, "but expecting a single resident to pay approximately $17,000 towards this project is a little extravagant." Several other neighbors told the council their sidewalks appear to be in good condition and questioned why the city would replace entire runs instead of doing targeted repairs.
Jason, the project engineer with Ricker Milke, told the hearing the city's assessment policy (adopted in 2016) generally requires residents to pay half the cost of new sidewalks while the city pays the other half; driveway aprons are an exception. He explained some confusing line items on the assessment spreadsheet: the figure that looked like "600" for tree removals represents cumulative trunk inches rather than individual trees — a handful of large trees can total hundreds of inches — and the $40 unit is per inch of trunk diameter. Jason also said the project will replace the public-side water main (upsizing from 4 inches to 8 inches) and water services to the curb stop; if lead service is exposed on the private side residents will be notified, but the city cannot legally replace private-side plumbing.
Council members and staff discussed credits for recently replaced sidewalks, corner-lot adjustments used on prior projects, and repayment options. Multiple councilors asked staff to draft a formal credit policy that would allow residents to provide receipts for recent sidewalk or apron work and seek a partial credit. Council member discussion also included the option to offer extended repayment terms for large assessments and to consider hardship applications for individual residents.
After the hearing and subsequent council discussion, the motion to approve the preliminary assessment report was withdrawn so staff could revise the draft, incorporate credit-policy language and bring the item back to the April 21 council meeting. Staff also said they were awaiting a state DOT local road improvement grant agreement that could affect the project funding before awarding the reconstruction contract.
