BLOOMINGTON -- Local lore has it the first brick street in the country was laid in the block just south of the courthouse square in the late 1870s, and it was a great source of civic pride when most streets were dirt.

Almost 140 years later, Bloomington still has 3.5 miles of brick pavement among its 320 miles of streets, but there are no official city policies or procedures for maintaining them. City officials hope to change that with the proposed Brick Streets Strategic Plan, however, and a meeting on Thursday to collect public opinion is an early step in that process, said Jim Karch, public works administrator.

"This plan is a draft right now," he said. "Even in this fiscally challenging time, Bloomington needs to have an objective and strategic way of evaluating how to preserve this valuable community asset."

Letters have been sent to more than 400 residents who live on brick streets, but Karch said he's received no response as of Monday.

Each street was evaluated on the condition of the bricks, drainage problems, number of potholes, whether it is in an historic neighborhood and how hard it was to drive on it. Streets were divided into three categories based on the number of structural problems they had.

A detailed report is on the city's Web site under the engineering department heading.

It costs about $250 a square yard to remove and replace brick, Karch said. "It's very labor intensive," he said.

Concrete or asphalt costs about $60 a square yard but can cost less with larger projects.

Under the plan, the city would pay for repairs on streets with few or some problems. Streets that fell in the third, worst category would be resurfaced unless property owners on the street would be willing to pay a special property tax for keeping the brick street.