References to the expansion have been made to the street width alone or the added sidewalks. However, requirements for placement of utilities outside the sidewalk areas will require additional property, effectively expanding the project an additional 10 feet on each side, making the needed space 150 feet wide.
When affected citizens raised concerns they were met with the following:
- Unreasonable response times (sometimes months)
- City defining the road to meet utility requirements of 10-foot placement from road
- Decision to place utilities outside sidewalk area even though there is room within the 130-foot proposed plan to include them because it is aesthetically unpleasing (like moving them over will make utility poles better looking)
- City not even bothering to establish the case for public use let alone justify it
- No effort to mitigate taking property to contain costs
- Expanded easements is a hidden cost that must be born by the property owners