After Monday night’s spring snowstorm, the sidewalk on Interstate 393 was dotted with salt crystals but passable.
After a man in a wheelchair was killed next to the icy sidewalk this past winter, the Friendly Kitchen on South Commercial Street agreed to clear off snow and ice for the rest of the spring.
But after its commitment ends June 30, it’s unclear who will remove snow along the well-traveled sidewalk next winter.
Susan Buxton, chairwoman of the Friendly Kitchen’s board, expects the nonprofit to work with the city and state to come up with a permanent plan.
But the city and state remained at a stalemate during the winter, with the state saying it doesn’t plow sidewalks and city officials saying it’s not their sidewalk to maintain.
Concord City Manager Tom Aspell said the future of the sidewalk is in the hands of the Friendly Kitchen and the state, and there are no plans for the city to participate in discussions about future sidewalk maintenance.
“There’s nothing right now going forward,” said Aspell, speaking about the city’s future involvement. “This is between those two parties and they seem focused.”
The Friendly Kitchen’s temporary agreement with the Department of Transportation to maintain the state-owned I-393 sidewalk was approved by its board of directors March 15.
“We appreciate the cooperation and focused work of the state in helping to forge an interim agreement as well as its commitment to reach a permanent solution to the issue of safe pedestrian access from North Main Street to Constitution Avenue,” Buxton said. “We also appreciate the continued engagement of the city as we forge a permanent solution to safe pedestrian access along the Route 202-9 corridor.”
There are scarce details about what a long-term agreement would look like.
“The NHDOT is still in discussions with The Friendly Kitchen and the City of Concord regarding the long-term winter maintenance of the sidewalk,” department spokesman Bill Boynton wrote in an email Tuesday.
Yet, the city is taking a hands-off approach.
Aspell said the city would help the Friendly Kitchen and the state work out an agreement, but only in an advisory way, such as helping connect them with contractors.
“They were going to keep talking about all of that,” Aspell said. “We’ll assist both parties in discussions if they request it.”
With this year’s mild winter, the snow removal costs to the Friendly Kitchen, which provides meals to the hungry and homeless in the city, have been negligible.
The mild weather has “been helpful for everybody, it hasn’t been that bad of a winter,” said Friendly Kitchen Director Jennifer Lombardo.
Lombardo said she’s hopeful that a long-term agreement will be reached before June 30 and well before snow falls in the fall or winter.
“I think it’s going to happen very soon,” she said.