How to define a block, how many property owners need or want a sidewalk to get one on their street and whether not responding to a survey asking whether the walkway is wanted should count as a ‘No’ vote are some of the issues keeping the Elmhurst City Council from endorsing a new sidewalk policy.

The council on Monday weighed two proposed policies, but ended up sending the issue back to the public works and building committee for more discussion.

Elmhurst has had a sidewalk policy since 2003. It enables property owners to split the cost of building a sidewalk with the city and participate in a special service area to pay their share of the project. There have been 10 sidewalks proposed over the decade and five were built. Three are pending. The ones that did not get built failed because there was not enough support for them among the owners living on the streets where the walks were requested.

After a proposal a couple years ago to add a sidewalk to Gladys Avenue turned hostile among neighbors, the council decided  to review the policy to make it more fair and less divisive.

Jim Kennedy, chairman of the public works committee, presented a proposed policy Monday that was favored by most committee members. It would define a block as one side of a street between two intersecting streets, would require a petition signed by at least tw0-thirds of homeowners to start the process, would require that an informational open house be held and a survey to create a special service area that has at least two-thirds of property owners saying they want a sidewalk for it to go forward.

He also said the proposed policy would require that anyone not answering the survey should be counted as a ‘No’ vote. He said it would encourage people not to ignore the survey, but to take a stand on whether they want a sidewalk on their street.

“We’re trying to drive people to make a decision and be part of the process,” he said.

But Ald. Dannee Polomsky objected to the idea that not responding to a survey should be counted as a ‘No’ vote. She said some people deliberately choose not to respond to a survey because they don’t want to get involved in a dispute with neighbors.

Ald. Bob Dunn presented another proposed policy that was discussed in committee. It contained many of the same requirements as Kennedy’s suggestion including a non-response to the survey as a ‘No’ vote.  Unlike the other proposal, it would set the percentage of property owners that need to sign a petition and respond to the survey at greater than 50 percent. He said putting it at two-thirds of homeowners is too high. Under that standard, he said none of the sidewalks that have been constructed over the last decade would have been built.

He said his proposed policy sets “criteria that is difficult but achievable.”

Ald. Norm Leader said he objected to the definition of a block as only one side of the street because it allows one side of the street to control the destiny of the other side of the street.

“As long was as identify a block as only one half of the street we’re going to have problems,” he said.