Watertown City Council Debates Sidewalk Policy, Homeowner Costs and Walkability Challenges
- Steve Jurrens
- Jun 30
- 5 min read
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - The seemingly simple concept of a walkable community has proven to be an engineering and political minefield for the Watertown City Council. During Monday’s work session, the council dove into the complexities of retrofitting sidewalks into established neighborhoods, debating inconsistent development policies and the controversial “Waiver of Right to Protest” that has left many property owners frustrated.
Led by City Manager Alan Stager and City Engineer Justin Petersen, the session highlighted two active community projects that perfectly illustrate why a “one-size-fits-all” ordinance does not work for Watertown’s older residential blocks.
The C Avenue Dilemma: Safety vs. Preservation
The first case study presented to the council was the C Avenue project, a proposed sidewalk intended to safely connect the local Boys and Girls Club to the high school and public library.
“You’d think it would make a lot of sense to have a sidewalk there, where kids would walk between the two,” Engineer Petersen told the council.
However, initial plans to place the sidewalk along the property line were quickly scrapped after meetings with landowners.
“What we noticed is that the setbacks for these homes are very close to the property line. So the sidewalk would be very, very close to these homes, and that’s not ideal,” Petersen explained.
An alternative to place the sidewalk adjacent to the roadway was also met with pushback due to snow removal concerns and the safety risks of children walking immediately next to traffic. The current “middle-of-the-road approach”—placing the sidewalk four feet away from the curb—requires the removal of mature trees, established landscaping, light poles, and fire hydrants.
Beyond the engineering hurdles, the financial burden placed on homeowners remains the most contentious issue.
“As we all look at sidewalks, I think the public purpose of walkable communities with sidewalks is something it’s really easy to say we support,” City Manager Stager noted. “Even if we get the public comfortable with a sidewalk that doesn’t diminish their property by cutting down their trees or forcing them to move their landscaping, we still have the hurdle of the argument that ‘I’ve been at this property for 30 years, why do I have to pay for a sidewalk now?’”
Stager emphasized that the city must remain open-minded. “One policy on sidewalks or one guideline on sidewalks is not going to fit all areas of the community as we try to infill with sidewalks,” he added, raising the question of whether the city should explore a broader funding mechanism to pool resources for sidewalks rather than assessing individual homeowners.
10th Avenue North: An Engineering Nightmare
The discussion then shifted to 10th Avenue North, a project riddled with topographical and infrastructural conflicts. Petersen presented photos to the council illustrating steep ditches, three-foot berms, and established drainage channels.
“If we put it on the hill... if we put it down below, it’s going to be flooded during run-off events,” Petersen warned. Compounding the issue are numerous fire hydrants, driveways, and trees blocking the proposed path.
The dirt work required to build a raised sidewalk led the council to debate alternative ideas, such as widening the shoulder of the road. Stager noted that similar considerations are being made for 14th Avenue, where the city is looking at redesigning the roadway to remove the center turn lane and replace it with strategically placed left-hand turn lanes, thereby freeing up space for a safer pedestrian path without the massive cost of traditional sidewalk installation.
“Waiver of Right to Protest”: A Political Time Bomb
As the council discussed how to handle sidewalks for new developments, Stager addressed an administrative concern: the city’s historical reliance on the “Waiver of Right to Protest.”
To help developers bypass immediate sidewalk installation, the city frequently allows property owners to sign a waiver agreeing to install a sidewalk at a later date. However, this creates severe political friction down the line.
“We are very quick to utilize the waiver of right to protest on developments where we will say, ‘yes, ordinance says you should have a sidewalk, but we realize your neighbor doesn’t have a sidewalk yet, so sign this waiver,’” Stager explained. “One of the issues we have with that, despite the fact that it’s a recordable document, people don’t know about it, they forget about it, they’re going to call their politician as soon as we ask them to put the sidewalk in, and it becomes a battle.”
Stager argued that it would be vastly more efficient to force the installation of sidewalks during the initial project phase, though he acknowledged the waiver still holds some localized applicability.
Inconsistencies in Dakota Commons
The friction over sidewalk policies was made personal by Councilman Allen, who pointed out inconsistencies in how the city has enforced sidewalk installation within the Dakota Commons neighborhood.
Allen noted that many homes in Dakota Commons rely entirely on the city’s rear trail systems in lieu of traditional sidewalks. However, his specific sector was recently forced to pay for a conventional street-facing sidewalk.
“I have a sidewalk that I was assessed for and had to put in... it goes nowhere,” Councilman Allen argued. “My argument was, why is it okay to have a path behind those houses in lieu of a sidewalk, but it wasn’t okay for me to do that? And what, going forward, is that going to look like?"
City staff clarified the discrepancy, explaining that the neighborhood was originally designed as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) meant to utilize trail systems. However, following a concept plan update by the Planning Commission in 2020 and 2021, the city transitioned the newer phases of the neighborhood into conventional development guidelines.
“Now where your properties are at is getting into more of the conventional type development, not so much the PUD with the direct access to the trails,” Community Development Manager Brandi Hanten explained to Allen.
Because the Parks Advisory Board opted for green space rather than expanding the trail system into that specific phase, the city fell back on its standard ordinance, mandating a traditional street-facing sidewalk.
Looking Forward
As the work session concluded, it became clear that whether that means abandoning the “one-size-fits-all” ordinance for established neighborhoods or rethinking how the city handles the controversial protest waivers, the council has its work cut out for it in the months ahead. Since this is a “work session,” no action is taken.
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