The Fayette city council finally came mostly together last week to support a project by Central Methodist University to replace the cracked and broken sidewalk along the western border of its campus along Church Street. 

The council had been unable even to agree to vote on the matter in the months leading up to the latest meeting on Tuesday, August 27.

The university won a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) that will pay for 80% of the $548,000 project. Central will fund the remaining 20%. The plan is to rebuild the sidewalk to ADA standards at zero cost to the city or its taxpayers.

The council acknowledged its support for the project in a 5-1 vote. The lone dissenting vote came from East Ward Alderwoman Ronda Gerlt, who had been critical of the university since before she was appointed to the council on July 11, 2023, by the previous mayor, Jeremy Dawson.

Northwest Ward Alderwoman Michelle Ishmael expressed apprehension about supporting the project but ultimately voted in the affirmative. 

“With much respect and appreciation to both parties, I vote yes for safety reasons,” she said.

Much of the dissension for the project among some council members surrounds the removal of nearly a dozen mature trees that grow along a strip of grass between the current sidewalk and the street. However, several of the trees are either dead or dying because of the emerald ash borer. Several others are caught in the overhead power lines and will also need to be removed.

University president Roger Drake has repeatedly pledged to plant back “at least” as many trees as will be cut down. The university already has a fairly wooded campus, and Central says tree management is a part of its ongoing maintenance.

In the future, the university also hopes to improve parking along Church Street, next to where some of the new sidewalk will be laid. Currently, cars park along the side of the street, often driving over the angled curb and onto the strip of grass, which has caused deep, ugly ruts. As part of a long-term plan for campus beautification, it hopes to one day widen that side of the street by about four feet to allow for better and safer parking.

The initial knee-jerk reaction among the community to the plan to remove the trees was presentiment. But after more details of the project were disseminated, and the fact that other large, mature trees on the campus side of the sidewalk will be left unhindered in their growth toward the walkway, public panic quickly cooled. In later council meetings, several community leaders have since given support to both projects.

Last June, the council came close to passing a parking ban along Church Street in front of the college as a retaliatory measure for the proposed tree removals. The university had requested a letter of support from the city to include in its grant proposal. The council took no action, thereby denying any support.

Somehow, it was considered satisfactory by some councilwomen to still allow church parking along Church Street, just not for parking by anyone working or attending the university. The farcicality of the idea was soon revealed amid opposition from community members. Even the pastor of Linn Memorial United Methodist Church, which lies in the center of campus along Church Street, voiced his disapproval of the measure to the council.

During an appearance before the Board of Aldermen on June 13, 2023, Dr. Drake said that any ban on parking on North Church Street would damage the relationship between the college and the city and would be seen as discriminatory against the university.

Considering the university’s long-term plan to improve parking along the west side of the university, the matter could very well be bandied about once again by council members.

For now, the university plans to solicit bids to begin construction of the sidewalk early next year. The grant stipulates that the project must be completed by October 1, 2025.

The Fayette Board of Aldermen meets regularly at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in City Hall. Meetings are open, agendas are published in advance, and the public is invited.