Contracts OK'd for 3 new sidewalks in the Bonita area

Lee County commissioners approved contracts Tuesday for three new sidewalks in and near the city.

That's pretty much the extent of the county's involvement, at least for two of the jobs. Those two links, one on Childers Street and one on Ragsdale Street, are being funded directly by the city. The other, along the south side of Bonita Beach Road between Bonita Grande Drive and the Palmira subdivision, is being funded through road impact fees.

The fees were collected in the Bonita district and must be spent there. Five percent of road fees are set aside for bike paths and sidewalks. The Bonita Beach Road work is budgeted at $61,397.

"That one's outside the city limits, and it's in the county sidewalk program," said city public works director Daryl Walk. "I know it's been talked about for a long time."

The other two projects are holdovers from last year's city budget. The city has a line item for sidewalk construction every year.

The Ragsdale job will build a sidewalk from Old 41 to Matheson Avenue. The sidewalk on Childers will run from Old 41 to Horne Avenue.

The two projects are holdovers from last year because city staff wanted to upgrade the planned work. The work now will include eliminating some driveway cuts and installing some closed drainage instead of open swales. The projects are expected to cost $145,000.

Councilmen David Piper and Ben Nelson have long pushed for sidewalks on streets near Bonita Elementary School, including Ragsdale and Childers.

"Anywhere between Old 41 and Matheson (Avenue) we need to be doing all we can to bring sidewalks to the area," Piper said. "Those are older neighborhoods and there are a lot of families with children living there. It's one of those life, safety, health issues we should always have as a priority."

Walk said the next big sidewalk project for the city will be the long-awaited Pennsylvania Avenue project. The county actually had looked at addressing that glaring need before incorporation, but the complexity and expense of the project got it shelved.

"We're still having trouble getting the final route," Walk said. "We had a consultant do a preliminary study probably close to a year ago, and, frankly, I didn't agree with some of the recommendations."

Walk said you don't typically relocate power lines or other utilities for a sidewalk project, and the city is doing additional survey work in an effort to avoid that. He said the project will probably be designed in-house, with work starting in the spring.

"That's my goal," he said.

The Pennsylvania project is longer and more complex than either the Childers or the Ragsdale project, Walk said. It likely will cost around $250,000.

County commissioners approved all three current projects on Tuesday.

Contact Staff Writer Charlie Whitehead at 463-9664 or at ckwhitehead@naplesnews.com