It is done, said Esther Miller after the Casper City Council approved a sidewalk and sewer reconstruction project in her neighborhood.

After months of meetings, discussions, petitions and arguments, Miller and more than half of the other landowners in the Fort Casper area will have the streets, sewers and sidewalks they've wanted - for a price.

The project, called a Local Assessment District, asks land owners to pay the portion of the project on their property and the city will pay the portion on city land.

"We worked really hard to get people to realize how much it was needed," Miller said. "I think many people knew it was needed, but it was the cost that was upsetting them."

Before the council approved the plan, scores of residents in the area signed a petition protesting the project. Ultimately, the land owned by people who protested added to less than 50 percent of the total project area.

Fort Casper resident Lyle Bothel pleaded with the city council to make sure the work is done properly, with high standards and a guarantee that it will survive for many years.

Bothel said the sidewalks in the first of the three-phase process, finished in 2002, are cracking and the streets have potholes. The streets, sidewalks and sewers need help, he said, and the work needs to be done.

"If I am going to pay $8,700," he said, "I want it done right."

Council woman Lynne Whalen guaranteed Bothel that the city contracts only the best work in Casper, and the work in his area will be done to the highest standards.

All things going as planned, construction may start in April 2009 and finish by the end of 2009, said City Engineer Hal Hutchinson.

Contact city reporter Christine Robinson at (307) 266-0639 or christine.robinson@trib.com