The New Canaan Town Council held a public hearing on September 17 about proposed revisions to the sidewalk ordinances (Town Code Article III sections 54-43 to 54-49). Not surprisingly, owners of downtown business properties expressed concerns about the new paragraphs which impact them. Three groups of homeowners spoke – those who came because they supported the ordinance change, those who came to lobby for the proposed Main Street sidewalks, and those who already had sidewalks who commented that the plows push the road snow mix up on their sidewalks after they finish shoveling.
At their regular meeting which followed, the Council approved the ordinance change, with a minor amendment in lettering to clarify the application of several new paragraphs that impact the downtown business district. According the the Town Charter (IV C4-13), a summary of the ordinance changes are to be published and (IV C4-14) would take effect 8 days after publication unless a petition for referendum is filed.
Print copies were available at the meeting; no electronic copy has been made available to date. When available, we will post a link on this blog.
Basically, the changes will relieve abutting property owners outside the business district of financial responsibility for installation and maintenance of sidewalks installed on the Town’s initiative. The Town assumes responsibility for snow removal from public sidewalks in the residential zones.
Business owners, as well as residents who construct their own sidewalks or ask the Town to build sidewalks abutting their property will fall under a different set of rules.
We thank the Town Council for hearing and responding to this concern. We anticipate it will facilitate homeowner acceptance of new sidewalks as they are proposed in other parts of Town.
UPDATE 9/25/08 – We have received an electronic copy of the ordinance changes approved by Town Council on 9/17/08 and published in the New Canaan Advertiser today. A page with these changes has been added for our readers’ convenience – Click here to link to it.