Alley Maintenance

The street division does not have maintenance responsibilities in alleys. Crews will, however, provide minimal maintenance on both paved and unpaved alleys, as long as certain criteria are met as indicated below.

Alleys

An alleyway behind a property may or may not be an alley. The city only provides the alley maintenance service in those alleyways that have been opened and set to established grades. There are, however, several alleyways in the city which have been maintained by the city as alleys over the course of the years. These areas are also eligible for the maintenance service.

Alley entrances

The street division does assume responsibility for potholes in alley entrances.

Gravel alley surfaces

Upon request, the street division will grade and shape gravel alleys. If additional gravel is needed, property owners shall pay for the gravel at one of the local quarries in the tonnage amounts requested by the street division supervisor in charge of alley maintenance. The street division will then pick up the gravel, haul it, spread it out, and compact it at no cost to the property owner for labor and equipment. However, the city will not haul less than eight (8) tons of gravel.

Dirt alley surfaces

The street division seldom blades dirt alleys because this disturbs the existing base and results in erosion problems. In order to gravel a dirt alley, property owners must first receive approval from the director of Public Works & Transportation (email the director of Public Works and Transportation). A supervisor will then survey the alley and estimate the amount of rock that must be purchased by property owners. Once this rock is purchased, city crews will pick up the gravel, haul it, spread it out, and compact it at no cost to the property owner for labor and equipment. Again, the city will not haul less than eight tons of gravel.

Concrete and Asphalt Alleys

The street division does provide the service of patching concrete and asphalt alleys using city staff and equipment if the following criteria are met:

  • Property owner(s) living adjacent to the alley must be willing to purchase the necessary material needed to make the repairs.
  • The minimum tonnage the street division will haul is one ton of hot asphalt mix.
  • The maximum amount for total repairs is sixteen tons.

The area of repairs needed over the entire alley surface cannot exceed 20% of the total alley pavement area.

Obtaining an estimate

A resident living adjacent to an alley or owns property adjacent to the alley in question must make a request for repairs to the street division by calling 816-271-4848. A street division supervisor will then inspect and assess the alley to determine needed repairs. If gravel or asphalt needs to be purchased, an estimate will be prepared (verbal or written) and submitted to the person(s) requesting the information. The supervisor will contact the resident and provide information on material vendors, and discuss the available options. Once an agreement is reached, the alley will be added to the repair list (if no material is needed), or if material is required, will be placed on the repair list once the property owner has purchased the material and notified the supervisor of this purchase.

NOTE: If an overlay of the entire alley surface is needed, it would be entirely at the property owners cost to hire a contractor directly or pay the cost for the city to contract for these services. The street division does not place overlays.