9 Investigates: Neighbors concerned after sidewalk connecting school, subdivision removed

CONCORD, N.C. — The City of Concord now plans to replace a sidewalk leading to an elementary school after Channel 9 reached out to officials.

Wolf Meadow Elementary sits at the back of the Old South Subdivision. Farmwood Boulevard is the neighborhood’s main road, and the only way to get to and from the school.

Wade Nesbit has lived in Old South since 1995 and reached out to Channel 9 with concerns about student safety after the City of Concord removed a portion of the sidewalk from Farmwood Boulevard.

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“I’d say it’s about 300 feet [of sidewalk],” Nesbit said. “I’m just scared with the school buses coming and going, there’s going to be a child out here in the road and somebody gets run over by a bus.”

It was that fear that led him to reach out to city officials, but he said while they were always polite, he couldn’t get a clear answer on if or when the sidewalk would be replaced.

“This project here is just on the back burner, but I think with your help, you can get some action,” Nesbit said.

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Channel 9 reached out to Concord’s city manager to learn why the sidewalk was removed in the first place.

Through a written statement, he explained that the city’s sewer department took the sidewalk out in 2017 to service new homes. When the work was being done, the Stormwater Department let him know that they planned to replace culverts within the next year, and asked him to leave the sidewalk out since it would have to be removed within a year of being installed.

The timeline for that work changed and still hasn’t been completed. Now, he tells Channel 9 the city plans to replace the sidewalk within a couple of weeks, pending weather conditions.

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