At the March 18, 2024 Culver City Council meeting, the council discussed financial options to improve the City’s 2.4 miles of unpaved alleys but declined to commit to taking any action. Instead, they discussed a cost-share option in which the adjacent property owners potentially would pay a percentage of the alleyway paving cost, and the city potentially would pay the remaining cost, predicated on the condition that the property owners form an assessment district to pay back their portion of the cost.
Residents living next to unpaved alleys are regularly impacted by blowing dust and the uneven driving, biking surfaces of these unpaved alleyways. The winter storms of last year and this year further drew attention to this issue, as the unpaved alleys can flood during heavy rains and become inaccessible to vehicles or pedestrians.
The Public Works Department Maintenance Operations Division re-grades the unpaved alleys once annually to allow for positive drainage and pumps stormwater from these unpaved alleyways as needed when resources are available.
The city has historically prioritized spending city general and gas tax funds for arterial and residential street paving projects. As a result, unpaved alleyways have not been funded for new asphalt construction through the annual capital improvement program. A few alleyways have been paved as part of development projects.
To pave the 2.4 miles of unpaved alleys would cost approximately $11.5 million. The item will likely return to a future City Council agenda.
City of Culver City
