City address alley maintenance with increased funding

A downtown alley near Victoria and Dougall avenues in Windsor, Ont., on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (Rich Garton / CTV Windsor)

The City of Windsor plans to tackle alley maintenance by doubling funding this year.

City council approved a report during Tuesday’s meeting recommending the current alley maintenance budget be doubled for the rest of the year, AM800 reports.

The city spends about $200,000 annually to maintain paved alleys, which only allows for one or two to be repaired each year.

Ward 4 Coun. Mark McKenzie told AM800 it’s one of the main complaints he receives from people in his ward, and has been pushing for improvements to the city’s paved alleyways.

He said people shared concerns over potholes, lack of lighting or necessary safety improvements.

According to the report, the city maintains 147 km of paved and unpaved alleyways.

AM800 reports council also asked administration to develop a permanent funding model to increase spending on maintaining alleys that could be considered during next year’s budget talks.