Residents expressed concern at a meeting Thursday that the city was acting without their consent to implement an unwanted sidewalk project.

City officials met with community members to discuss the development of The Pedestrian Walkway Program.

Ames has 2,369 properties without sidewalks, said Public Works Director Paul Wiegand. The program had developed a set of guidelines to determine which of those properties would require an adjacent sidewalk.

Community members were angry that the matrix was developed without consulting property owners.

“Why not let us decide? Why should you decide?” said Ames resident Todd Zdorkowski. “Allow us who live near one another to meet and decide whether we want to do it.”

Residents asserted that the sidewalk issue should be a neighborhood decision. City Manager Steve Schainker said that could be one option.

“I doubt very much that too many people from Kellogg Street drive out to my neighborhood, crawl out of their car and say, ‘Oh my God, there’s no sidewalk.’ You know, we’re the ones who live without the sidewalks,” said Tom Scott.

Arguments against sidewalks included construction costs, destruction of landscaping, removal of trees and uprooting utility lines, among others. The current code states that the property owner is responsible for the adjacent sidewalk.

After receiving numerous complaints from residents, the City Council voted Tuesday to throw out the matrix.

The city is now starting over and looking at whether the program is possible before determining the structure.

“This is only the first step in the process,” Schainker said. “The matrix system is gone. There is no program before you; there has been no program adopted.”

Schainker said the meeting Thursday was to gather input from residents and then form smaller groups to develop the program.

“What we’re trying to get out of this is to try to find out if it’s possible to establish [a sidewalk] program that will be more acceptable than the one we offered before,” he said.

Ultimately, if a program is developed, the decision to implement it will be up the City Council.

Zdorkowski conducted his own poll based on the comments people made during the meeting. He said there were about 27 comments against a program to implement sidewalks and four in favor of it.

Lisa Schulte of Ames came to speak in favor of a sidewalk program.

“Traffic on Ross Road — the car traffic — moves too fast,” she said. “I walk or ride my bike down this road almost daily and frequently find myself jumping onto neighbors lawns for I fear for my safety.”

Schulte said there are many children who live on Ross Road who could live and play more safely if a sidewalk was put in.