The Peoria City Council and District 150 School board had a rare, joint meeting yesterday looking for ways to collaborate.
Sidewalks were a key topic.
The school district’s grade reconfiguration means more students will be within the state-determined one-and-a half-mile walking distance to school next year.
Trewyn School will have a large number of new walkers. Fixing the sidewalks in Trewyn’s perimeter alone would cost about $1 million; nearly four times what the city spends annually on sidewalks in need of repair.
“Due to the CSO, and due to the fact that we’ll being doing work in the public rights of way, we might be able to address some of the infrastructure need and actually kill two birds with one stone,” Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich said.
Trewyn is in the Combined Sewer Overflow area that must be addressed in Peoria’s multi-million dollar remediation plan. It’s unclear what it might cost to fix all of the sidewalks within walking distance of Peoria Public Schools. More than 6,000 families will receive letters this week about transportation changes next year.