Sidewalk Petition Program

Is your street eligible for the program? Let’s find out.

Is your street:

• Publicly maintained;
• Inside the City limits;
• Have curb and gutter; and,
• Not part of the City’s Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan-Pedestrian Priority List, Sidewalk Microgap List or the Capital Improvement Plan, then you might be able to have the City build a sidewalk on your street.

How to get started

• Contact a member of the petition staff, or you can use the Online Petition Request Form

The Sidewalk Petition Process

If eligible to proceed with the petition process, staff conduct a review and prepare a recommendation. They will contact you to discuss the Engineer’s recommendations and if Petitioner agrees to continue with the petition process prepare and issue the petition.

A sidewalk petition letter is mailed out to property owners along the street. This letter includes:

• The proposed sidewalk recommendation;
• A sidewalk petition map illustrating the likely location, width and setback of the proposed sidewalk; and,
• A petition response form.

The letter will have instructions on how to complete electronic voting via the online voting portal. If property owners prefer they may complete the paper ballot included in the letter, and mail it back to the City.

Property owners are given 45 days to respond to either the online or paper ballot. Once the deadline has passed, we will review the returned ballot forms, and property owners will be notified of the results.

If 50 percent plus one of the property owners who responded to the ballot are in favor of a sidewalk, the petition will be presented to City Council for approval.

Note: You must respond to the sidewalk petition in order for your vote to be counted. Non-responses are not considered, therefore, property owners who do not return their ballots are not counted in the official petition results. No vote received after the petition deadline will be considered.

How long will it take to build?

If authorized and approved by City Council, the petition will become a Petitioned Sidewalk Project. Projects are considered among other successful petitions and completed with funding allocated through the Capital Improvement Program. Sidewalk projects are a multi-step process and can take several years to complete. This time may vary depending on project complexity, the availability of funding, staff resources, and the number of preceding petitioned sidewalks.

Sidewalk petition projects are ranked using criteria related to connectivity, safety, equity, and cost-effectiveness . The highest-ranking projects are included in the annual Capital Improvement Program.

Design and Construction Process

The City’s steps to building a petitioned sidewalk include:

• Conducting a land survey that will be used in the design process; (We will send survey notification letters to property owners.)
• Engineering staff will begin the design process;
• A public meeting will be held to present preliminary plans and get public input from area property owners and residents;
• City Engineers will finalize the sidewalk designs, incorporating the public input;
• The City’s Real Estate Department will contact property owners if we need to purchase easements to build the sidewalk;
• The project will go out for construction bids;
• A construction contractor is awarded the project;
• A pre-construction public meeting will be held to discuss the construction schedule with affected property owners; (depending on size of project)
• Construction starts; and,
• The project is complete, and you have a new sidewalk.

After the project is complete, property owners will be sent an End of Construction notification letter so they may notify the City of any construction-related issues along their property.

Sidewalk Microgap Projects

The City of Raleigh Sidewalk Microgap Program was created to address gaps in the sidewalk network that were too small to be standalone projects. They are generally small lengths of missing sidewalk between two existing sidewalks. Microgaps are installed along with other nearby projects or along with maintenance activity.

Sidewalk Microgap List