The DeKalb City Council approved an $850,000 recommendation to proceed with improvements between Taylor Street and Barb Boulevard at its meeting Monday night.

The improvements, scheduled to open up paved shoulders and improve parking, will be subsidized with $500,000 of motor fuel taxes. The direct expense to the city is expected to total $350,000.

A June poll taken by the Public Works Department showed that the city residents preferred paved shoulders rather than rock shoulders.

“I think the people would rather see something done than nothing done. Fixing that road is important,” DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said.

In another capital-improvement plan and in response to local neighborhood feedback, the city council approved a recommendation to install sound buffering walls between Highpointe and Bellevue Drives.

This approval comes in the midst of the Annie Glidden expansion project, set to expand South Annie Glidden Road to four lanes.

The neighborhood consensus was that to buffer the increased noise, a 3-foot decorative block wall and a 4-foot wood fence behind that wall would be needed.

The council also welcomed the announcement by Target that it would move into Park 88 on the south side of DeKalb.

At its next meeting, the city council will consider the future application for a special-use permit for a Class A package liquor store at 1039 W. Hillcrest Drive.

Thirsty Liquors is looking to move from its current location at 930 Pappas Drive to the former Around the Clock Diner location.