Plans for Staircase pathway repairs not on immediate horizon for City Operations Department

Hopes of a reopening of the Staircase and pathway between Third Ave West
and Fourth west were dashed on Thursday by the City's Operations Director

The topic of the connecting stairs between Third Avenue West and Fourth Avenue West once again made for a City Council theme for discussion, with Councillor Cunningham returning to the topic to seek some guidance on the city's plans for the pathway which has been closed for a number of months.

"How long is the stairs and pathway from Fourth West down to Third West going to be closed.  Because that's a major thoroughfare for a lot of the people coming from different parts of town that are walking and coming down there to Third Avenue. 

And there's a considerable amount of older people living up in that area too that walk downtown all the time and now they have got to go down through Service Park or their actually driving and creating more o a parking problem." 

The Director of Operations Richard Pucci did not add much to his narrative from that which he delivered to Council at their April 11th meeting.

Mr. Pucci providing for a short synopsis and seemingly little in the way of  hope that the issue would be receiving any immediate attention.

"So at this point we don't have a timeline to open it up, we simply in the budget don't have the funds to be able do the geo technical assessment. I think we are doing some minor tree clearing in there just to saften up the area  and secure the slope.

We believe that once a geotechnical assessment is done and they look at the damage that it's going to be a far larger project than anyone really believes, because there is some issues with the pathway.

So I think that it is actually quite a bigger job than a lot of people think it is and we simply don't have the funds to do it right now"

The Mayor observed of some potential grant funding that the city could pursue, with the City Manager noting of the Active Transportation funding that could be available.

"So what might be bike lanes in other communities are probably these thoroughfares that are important connectors in our community, so I know staff is working on it. But fair question and a real concern" -- Mayor Herb Pond   

The overview of the pathway situation can be reviewed from the city's video archive at the 23 minute mark.

More notes on Civic Operations can be reviewed here.

A wider overview of the Thursday Special Session can be examined from our archive page.