Sidewalk work underway around courthouse, probation office

Fulton County officials have contracted with Weitzel Construction for the replacement of sidewalks around the courthouse and probation office, with additional curb work tacked on as of Friday morning.

Fulton County Maintenance Director Kerry Fear is asking the public to avoid newly poured sidewalks around the courthouse and probation office for the next week.

The work, contracted to Weitzel Construction, began Thursday and includes the north side sidewalk of the courthouse and sidewalks on the west and south sides of the probation office. On Friday morning, with concrete being poured, county officials decided to add curb work to the project.

“Where they poured already to the northwest corner, they’re going to come back and pull that curb out, too, like they did on the south part and make it look better,” Fear said.

He noted the project cost is roughly $56,000 without the additional curb work, which will add another $5,000 to $10,000. He anticipates the work to be complete by the end of next week.

“They started yesterday morning, and they’ve actually been going pretty fast at it,” Fear said.

He added that the condition of sidewalks before the work was less than desirable.

“There were some sections you could not get a wheelchair across at all,” he said, adding certain areas certainly could have resulted in a fall and a possible lawsuit against the county. “It was in pretty bad condition in two really heavy-duty places, and it was worth the cost just to get it all redone and look nice together.”

The project is being paid for out of the maintenance department’s budget, but Fear hopes the city will come forward to chip in.

In addition to sidewalk and curb work, landscaping has been underway at the probation office and Fulton County Office Building to be more uniform with that of the courthouse.

Also, Fear notes electricity is now available at the former jail property in the 800 block of Madison Street, now referred to as the Fulton County Community Lot. It is available as an alternative for those requesting use of the courthouse lawn for downtown events.

“That lot, they can park on it, they can drive on it,” Fear said. “It's not going to hurt anything."