Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Which sidewalks in the Town of Farmville need repair? Which ones are in great shape and can be left alone? And where, based on what we know now about planned development, might some sidewalks be needed in the future? Those are questions the Farmville Town Council hopes to get answered by a proposed study. 

Town Manager Dr. Scott Davis brought in a proposal from Hurt & Proffitt during the council’s Wednesday, July 9 meeting, asking if everyone still wanted to move forward with the idea. This had been something brought up during budget discussions earlier in the year. The town staff could get a proposal from Hurt & Proffitt without it going out to bid because the concept had already gone out to bid once, through the Commonwealth Regional Council. 

The Hurt & Proffitt bid comes in at $87,400. That predicts $37,500 for a topographical survey of all sidewalks in town, $45,400 for data collection and $4,500 for the actual asset management report. However, in his proposal, Hurt & Proffitt Vice President Brian Cossman says that estimate does not include any review, inspection, permit or advertising fees. Also, he cautioned that the company would not be responsible for any utility damage based on bad information. 

“Private utility location or subsurface utility engineering (SUE) services are not included in the

scope of this proposal,” Cossman added. “H&P will not be held responsible for damage to property or utilities based on inaccurate information provided by others.” 

So that’s where the discussion started on Wednesday. 

How would it be used? 

The first question, raised by council member Adam Yoelin, is how would this report be used, if it was approved and funded. 

“They’ll do topographic surveys, sidewalk data collection and actually form the plan,” Davis said. “They will go out and look at the condition of the sidewalks. It would be a plan for us to go by, what’s most in need.” 

Yoelin followed that up by asking if this was a one-time cost and could Davis say no contractors would be needed. Davis responded that he couldn’t guarantee contractors would not be needed. It would depend on what the council decided. 

“So what you’re saying is that it would show all the existing sidewalks and their conditions and then we would be able to see from above the places we need to think about adding things so people don’t have to cross the street to get where they’re going?” Yoelin said. 

Davis indicated he was correct. 

All sections of walk in the Town will be studied and data points will be created for each piece of sidewalk that needs work, with coordinates, photos and details. That data would go into a database, with a dashboard showing all of the sidewalks color coded by condition. The group would also look at if there’s plenty of right-of-way for repairs or if the town would need to acquire an easement. 

Another option for Farmville

Council member Donald Hunter asked if they could add one more thing to the project, looking at places that currently don’t have sidewalks but may need them in the future. Taking the development data currently known, what sections of town may need to be included for future work. 

Davis said that would be a separate project and would increase the cost involved. He could ask, however. Also, during budget discussions, they had talked about an assets management plan, for the existing sidewalks. Davis said he couldn’t say if looking ahead was possible in this case. 

“I don’t know we can predict what the future (needs) and areas are going to be,” Davis said. 

It was also brought up by council member Dan Dwyer that the proposed cost from Hurt & Proffitt depended on starting the kickoff this month and finishing by November. What happens if the town waits too long, focusing on including that future project? How much would the price go up due to inflation? 

Moving forward 

In the end, Farmville council members asked Davis to check and see if it was feasible to look at potential needs and how much that would cost. They also asked Davis to check on if a grant of any kind could be found to help cover the cost of the work. This is set to be brought back to the council for discussion in August.