DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona Beach city commissioners are set to vote Wednesday night on a more than $1 million contract to repair sidewalks in a newly built neighborhood where residents say dozens of people have fallen.
The issues are centered in the Mosaic neighborhood off LPGA Boulevard, where residents say the sidewalks were not properly sloped to allow water to drain — leaving them slippery and dangerous.
News 6 first reported the problem in the fall after residents began sounding the alarm.
[WATCH: Flooded sidewalks cause concern in Daytona Beach’s Mosaic neighborhood]
Over a six-month period, residents recorded more than 40 falls on the sidewalks and presented that data to the city to demonstrate the severity of the problem. Resident Brenda Pruiett-Fouser said the financial burden of fixing the problem falls squarely on the city.
“We paid when we built our house to have the sidewalks put in. The city is having to pay for the mistake of their own,” said Pruiett-Fouser.
Pruiett-Fouser said residents doubted the city would follow through but continued pushing for a resolution.
“The residents were very skeptical that it was actually going to get done. They kept saying oh it’s never going to get done, it’s never going to get done, and we kept pushing for it,” said Pruiett-Fouser.
News 6 first reported the problem in September. The city later admitted it had signed off on the sidewalks during development without conducting proper inspections. Under the proposed contract, the city would pay $1.2 million to replace the sidewalks, while the developer would contribute $300,000 to redo pavers.
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Resident Dave Fouser said accountability rests with the city.
“The city dropped the ball on this. Yes, it was the developer’s responsibility initially because they were the ones who put it in, but once the city signed off on those bonds, the city owned it,” said Dave Fouser.
The first phase of the Mosaic neighborhood was built in 2018, and residents say the sidewalk problems surfaced shortly after. They argue earlier action could have saved the city significant money.
“Had they addressed it in the beginning there would have only been about 250 homes at the time — now there’s 600 homes, so this exponentially made it more expensive,” said Pruiett-Fouser.
The project is expected to take more than a year to complete. A construction start date will be set following Wednesday night’s commission vote.