For Smaller Towns, Paying for Sidewalks Isn't Always Simple

For decades, the city of Missoula, Mont., had a pretty simple rule concerning sidewalks: if you want one, you pay for it. Property owners would be assessed the construction fee of building sidewalk in front of their property, which in Missoula’s early days was not very common. But as the city has grown and the community has called for a more walkable public realm, relying on property owners to cough up the thousands of dollars to build publicly accessible sidewalks has become less than ideal. So city leaders are considering a new process that would shift much of the cost to the taxpayers of the city at large.

“We want to have accessible streets that are safe to drive, walk, and bike on,” says Steve King, director of Missoula’s Public Works Department. He says some of the city’s streets can have a broken teeth sort of look, with sidewalks in front of some houses, but none right next door. But that’s gradually changing. The city passed a Complete Streets Resolution in 2009 that calls for the creation of walkable streets, complete with sidewalks and curb cuts. In recent years, the policy of making property owners bear the costs of bringing that policy into reality has become a major concern. “It’s something that’s become a hot topic around Montana.”