Photo by Judy WileyThe Colleyville City Council listened to a staff proposal Tuesday to do away with a sidewalk map in use now and require either sidewalks to be built or money placed in escrow before a building permit can be issued for new residential construction.
Under the current policy, a sidewalk map drawn up by the city's Sidewalk Committee dictated what would happen. No sidewalk was required in some cases. In others a sidewalk was required. In others, homeowners could either put in a sidewalk or ask for an exception to put money in escrow instead.
The escrowed money would then be used in the same neighborhood as the property—to improve connectivity in the area—but not necessarily on the exact property in question. (The city divides Colleyville into six large neighborhoods for planning, water restrictions and other purposes.)
Homeowners and developers came to several city council meetings last year to complain about the policy, which sometimes required sidewalks in places where they were impossible or extremely difficult to build—for example, in one of Colleyville's many bar ditches.
