Sidewalk headaches in the Estates

One Sherwood Park resident who is upset that some households are paying for sidewalk replacement, while others arent, will be taking his complaints to a future council meeting.

The issue for William Kidd, a resident of Village Estates, began in February 2011, when a paperboy for the Sherwood Park News slipped on the curb of the sidewalk out front of Kidds home, hitting his head quite hard.

The grater had taken out part of the stones there it was slippery, it was jagged and thats where he went down, he said, noting his sidewalk hasnt been replaced in its 32 year existence.

While the boy was eventually fine, Kidd said he phoned Ward 1 councillor Vic Bidzinski and voiced his concerns. In turn, Bidzinski and Ian Gray, director of Transportation and Agriculture Services with the county, visited the Kidd household and inspected the area in question.

Mr. Gray said to me, We cant do your whole curb driveway right now, we just dont have the funds, Kidd recalled.

He said to me, Were going to do your whole area in two years. That was in 2011.

Two years following the meeting, Kidd said Strathcona County and Devlin Construction returned to pull and repair sidewalks in the area.

While Kidd had been told by the inspector on duty that the sidewalk in front of his home was a hazard and needed to be removed, he said crews had pulled out nearly all of the sidewalk on his side of the block, except for a section along his property line and along a neighbours property line.

I was left with five sets of sidewalk, Kidd said. They did pull out the curb area where the young fellow had fallen, which I was very grateful for, but my argument was that if youre going to come into an area and do this, at least pull out everybodys treat everybody equally.

Strathcona Countys residential paving program is one that combines spot concrete removal and replacement, and asphalt rehabilitation.

More here:
Sidewalk headaches in the Estates