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(Omaha, NE) -- The Omaha City Council is rejecting a plan to improve two streets near a Westside district elementary school.
“It can be clunky and frustrating and I wish we could support all of them 100%. Frankly, I think the city should be paying that. But the cost would be astonishing, around $300 million,” said Omaha City Council Member Pete Festersen.
The city council discussed the street improvement plan during Tuesday's meeting. The consensus of the council isn't that the roads near Loveland Elementary don't need repairs, but that the city would pay too much for the repairs.
The proposed plan says the city would pay 60% of the project's cost, instead of the 50% the city has paid in the past for other road repairs. Adjacent landowners would pay 10% for the project and the school district would kick in the remaining 30%.
“Without your help, it will be twice as much for the property owners. And I wouldn’t blame them if they dissolved it and then we’re back to zero,” said Ryan Palmer.
Unfortunately for the drivers who frequent the roads surrounding Loveland Elementary, now that the plan has been rejected by the city council, no clear path for improvement exists for the road repairs.
Neighborhood leaders say the future of the roads are now in the hands of the landowners and the school district.