OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Public Works Committee – Sidewalk Study Review – August 25, 2026

City Council Committee Meetings — Tuesday, August 25, 2026
BodyFrederick, Maryland
SessionCity Council Committee Meetings
DateTuesday, August 25, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:01:28

Transcript — Verbatim
0:58

Congratulations to the flag of the United States of America.

1:02

And to the Republic for which it stands.

1:05

One nation, another God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

1:11

Great.

1:12

Well, we have one item today.

1:14

I am grateful for Tracy and her team for having us be able to hear this report.

1:21

Very exciting.

1:22

So uh Tracy.

1:31

Good afternoon.

1:32

My name is Nicole Harshman.

1:36

Good afternoon.

1:36

My name is Nicole Harshman.

1:38

I'm the manager of projects and inspections at DPW.

1:41

We have completed the sidewalk ADA ramp condition assessment.

1:46

And our reports finished.

1:48

And I'm gonna hand it over to O'Connell and Lawrence.

1:51

This is Paul.

1:52

This is Sean, and this is Zayn.

1:55

They uh they worked on the assessment for us and put together the presentation, and I'll let them take it from here.

2:03

Well, thank you very much.

2:04

Uh my name's Paul, and uh I'm with O'Connell and Lawrence, and we performed an assessment of the city sidewalks and ADA ramps conditions, uh, and we put together a report uh that kind of outlines and details our process for that and the outcomes of that, and and so here we are today to kind of give you the uh a presentation of what those outcomes were, uh what our findings were and how we kind of went about doing that.

2:34

Um so with me I have some colleagues of mine.

2:37

We I've got Sean O'Connell with me, uh and and we also have uh Zaynab with us, O'Kinasamoyan, Zaynabinisamoyan, and uh Sean was our engineer on this project, and Zaynab was our analyst on this project, and she did all the number crunching.

2:54

And Sean helped me noodle it out.

2:57

So uh we uh here's a quick project overview.

3:04

So the why of this project is that uh that we engaged on this uh RFP twenty-five Q in order to perform an objective inventory of the sidewalks in the city and the ADA ramps.

3:18

Uh there were uh the uh miles that we surveyed were three hundred and forty-three miles of sidewalk, and that sidewalk on both sides of the road, if there was sidewalk on both sides of the road, or or just one, it's it's either side, whatever sidewalk uh center line in a GIS system that was present, and we would we would survey it.

3:38

And and we also um inventoried accidentally some uh areas that we weren't supposed to, uh, but we've got that data too.

3:46

Um we've we've narrowed it down to just the um sidewalks that uh the city uh and is responsible for.

3:56

So um we went to take a look at the uh sidewalk segments, which I just mentioned are part of this GIS system.

4:05

Uh and a segment could be a small part of a larger road, an entire road when we kind of have it broken down into segments, and they could be a varying size.

4:14

There were four thousand six hundred and forty-nine segments that we looked at.

4:18

Do you are you okay with questions as you go?

4:21

Sure, that's perfectly fine.

4:22

So first, that means no HOA sidewalks are included.

4:26

So that's correct.

4:27

Okay.

4:28

And then the second is uh again, a segment.

4:30

I that's my little brain didn't quite think.

4:37

So an entire, maybe it's uh a block, a block.

4:41

They're not necessarily it's not a set distance.

4:43

So when we say a segment, we base our segments on the GIS center line that Nikki and Tracy's group maintains.

4:52

So they have a GIS center line of all the sidewalks that the City of Frederick maintains.

5:00

And some of those segments, they might be a hundred feet long if it's a short street or a short segment between two intersections.

5:05

It could also be 1,500 feet long if it's, you know, say out like Routson's way or something that goes, you know, way in between two intersections.

5:14

So a segment is not a defined distance.

5:17

Um it's a it's a unit of measure, but it's not a defined distance.

5:21

Sure.

5:23

Sure.

5:24

Hi, Tracy Coleman, Director of Public Works.

5:26

Um, one thing I wanted to clarify, Peter, you asked if it was if we looked at HOA sidewalks.

5:35

The sidewalks we looked at were sidewalks in city right-of-way, so they are along a public way.

5:42

We did not look at sidewalks that are, say, between that are not in a public right-of-way, say like um walks along the back of a parking aisle of a townhouse development that is that is fully owned and operated completely by the homeowners association.

6:01

And just to use an example, because that's how I think East Church development, which is brand new, are are the who maintains those sidewalks?

6:07

It it depends.

6:09

So there as long again, as long as it is a public city public street, um, those are the sidewalks that we look at.

6:18

If it is a private street or private alley or a private parking aisle of a townhouse development, those are typically where they have, then those are we did not survey those.

6:30

Okay, great.

6:31

Okay.

6:31

And and Tracy, uh just again, what's what's the purpose of knowing segments if they have different units of length?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Sidewalk Maintenance██████████████████████████████████████████42%
Public Works█████████████████████████████29%
Budget Equity Analysis████████████12%
Accessibility█████████9%
Procedural█████5%
Tree Planting███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Public Works Committee – Sidewalk Study Review – August 25, 2026

The Public Works Committee of the City of Frederick met on August 25, 2026, to receive a presentation on the completed Sidewalk and ADA Ramp Condition Assessment. The study, performed by O'Connell and Lawrence, inventoried 343 miles of sidewalk (4,649 segments) and 6,196 ADA ramps within city right-of-way. The citywide sidewalk condition index averaged 78 (satisfactory), while 62% of ADA ramps failed inspection, predominantly due to missing tactile warning pads. The committee discussed findings, repair costs, prioritization, and next steps for funding and policy changes.

Discussion Items

  • Sidewalk Condition Findings: The overall sidewalk condition score for the city is 78 (satisfactory). 74% of sidewalk segments fell into good or satisfactory categories; 12% fair; 14% poor or very poor (740 segments totaling 20.46 miles). The most common distress was grade differentials (223,643 identified), with 96% under 1 inch and 8,905 over 1 inch. Downtown historic areas and Whittier/Walnut Ridge showed higher concentrations of poor-condition segments.
  • ADA Ramp Findings: Of 6,196 ramps, 2,002 passed and 3,841 failed (62% failure). 85% of failures (3,282 ramps) were due to missing tactile warning pads. Historic district ramps have exemptions; alternative treatments exist.
  • Prioritization Scoring: A prioritization score combined sidewalk condition index (50 points) with proximity to transit stops (5 points), school zones (15 points), equity emphasis areas (15 points), and downtown historic district (15 points). The highest priority concentrations were in the south downtown historic area.
  • Cost Estimates: Planning-level cost estimates: priority grade differential repairs (poor/very poor segments) at $6 million (precision cut) to $53 million (full replacement); citywide grade differential program $11.2 million (precision cut under 1/2 inch) to $53.4 million (replace all); ADA ramp compliance $20.4 million (full reconstruction) with lower options via tactile paver retrofits.
  • Policy and Funding Considerations: Current sidewalk repair program is complaint-driven with a $2 million expenditure in FY26 (467 repairs, 2.4 miles), partially funded by property owner contributions (50% or 100% for tree-related). The committee discussed shifting to a city-funded, proactive program. Challenges include charter and code changes (property owner responsibility), potential grandfathering issues, and the need for consistent multi-year funding.
  • Tree and Downtown Streetscape: Discussion noted tree root damage to sidewalks, especially downtown, and the Downtown Frederick Partnership’s streetscape redesign grant as a potential concurrent effort.

Key Outcomes

  • Next Steps: Staff will develop a five-year plan for sidewalk and ADA ramp repairs, incorporating the prioritization list and considering both cost-share and fully city-funded scenarios.
  • Funding: The current FY27 budget includes $500,000 more for complaint-driven repairs; a shift to proactive segmental repairs would be presented during the FY28 budget cycle.
  • Policy Review: The Government Operations Committee will begin discussions on modifying the city code and charter regarding sidewalk ownership and repair responsibility.
  • No Formal Votes: The committee directed staff to return with options for a phased, funded approach, including efficiency comparisons between complaint-based and programmatic repairs.

Meeting Transcript

Congratulations to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation, another God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Great. Well, we have one item today. I am grateful for Tracy and her team for having us be able to hear this report. Very exciting. So uh Tracy. Good afternoon. My name is Nicole Harshman. Good afternoon. My name is Nicole Harshman. I'm the manager of projects and inspections at DPW. We have completed the sidewalk ADA ramp condition assessment. And our reports finished. And I'm gonna hand it over to O'Connell and Lawrence. This is Paul. This is Sean, and this is Zayn. They uh they worked on the assessment for us and put together the presentation, and I'll let them take it from here. Well, thank you very much. Uh my name's Paul, and uh I'm with O'Connell and Lawrence, and we performed an assessment of the city sidewalks and ADA ramps conditions, uh, and we put together a report uh that kind of outlines and details our process for that and the outcomes of that, and and so here we are today to kind of give you the uh a presentation of what those outcomes were, uh what our findings were and how we kind of went about doing that. Um so with me I have some colleagues of mine. We I've got Sean O'Connell with me, uh and and we also have uh Zaynab with us, O'Kinasamoyan, Zaynabinisamoyan, and uh Sean was our engineer on this project, and Zaynab was our analyst on this project, and she did all the number crunching. And Sean helped me noodle it out. So uh we uh here's a quick project overview. So the why of this project is that uh that we engaged on this uh RFP twenty-five Q in order to perform an objective inventory of the sidewalks in the city and the ADA ramps. Uh there were uh the uh miles that we surveyed were three hundred and forty-three miles of sidewalk, and that sidewalk on both sides of the road, if there was sidewalk on both sides of the road, or or just one, it's it's either side, whatever sidewalk uh center line in a GIS system that was present, and we would we would survey it. And and we also um inventoried accidentally some uh areas that we weren't supposed to, uh, but we've got that data too. Um we've we've narrowed it down to just the um sidewalks that uh the city uh and is responsible for. So um we went to take a look at the uh sidewalk segments, which I just mentioned are part of this GIS system. Uh and a segment could be a small part of a larger road, an entire road when we kind of have it broken down into segments, and they could be a varying size. There were four thousand six hundred and forty-nine segments that we looked at. Do you are you okay with questions as you go? Sure, that's perfectly fine. So first, that means no HOA sidewalks are included. So that's correct. Okay. And then the second is uh again, a segment. I that's my little brain didn't quite think. So an entire, maybe it's uh a block, a block. They're not necessarily it's not a set distance. So when we say a segment, we base our segments on the GIS center line that Nikki and Tracy's group maintains. So they have a GIS center line of all the sidewalks that the City of Frederick maintains. And some of those segments, they might be a hundred feet long if it's a short street or a short segment between two intersections. It could also be 1,500 feet long if it's, you know, say out like Routson's way or something that goes, you know, way in between two intersections. So a segment is not a defined distance. Um it's a it's a unit of measure, but it's not a defined distance. Sure. Sure. Hi, Tracy Coleman, Director of Public Works.

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