Date: Wed 04-Aug-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

borough-sidewalk

Full Text:

Borough Sidewalks Placed On Capital Improvement Plan

BY KAAREN VALENTA

Plans to build sidewalks in the center of town took another small step forward

Monday night when the Board of Selectmen voted to add the borough sidewalk

plan to the town's five-year capital improvement plan (CIP).

Jay Maher, a member of the Borough Board of Burgesses and co-chairman of the

project, presented the selectmen with the results of a study by The Center,

LLC, of Wallingford, which estimated the cost of the project at $205,315.

Members of the Borough Board of Burgesses hope to make the town's center more

pedestrian-friendly and are proposing the addition of 3,500 feet of sidewalk

within an inner-loop of the borough.

The proposal now goes to the Legislative Council for its approval.

Last summer the council approved the $10,500 engineering study to determine

the overall cost of the project. The new, five-foot wide concrete sidewalks

would be built along the southern part of the eastern side of Main Street,

along the northern side of Glover Avenue, the western side of Queen Street,

and then up Church Hill Road on the northern side. These added sidewalks would

connect with existing sidewalks on the upper part of Main Street.

The cost of the project was estimated by The Center, an engineering company,

at $186,650 plus a standard 10 percent contingency of $18,665.

"Our original estimate turned out to be within two percent of what the

engineering company said," Mr Maher said.

The proposed breakdown of funding, as submitted by the borough to the

selectmen, included $150,000 from town LoCip (Local Capital Improvement Plan)

funds; $35,000 from the borough's capital reserve fund; $3,000 from the

borough's LoCip funds; $5,000 from contributions by businesses; $5,000 from

residential contributions, and the remaining $7,315 from fund-raising.

LoCip funds are received by the town and the borough from state revenue.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said it is up to the Legislative Council to

decide how the project would be funded by the town. Putting the project on the

town's capital improvement plan does not guarantee when, or even if, the

project will be done.

"We have many big projects facing the town but we still have to take a look at

these smaller projects as well," Selectman Bill Brimmer said. "There's a lot

of interest in this project."

Mr Brimmer pointed out, however, that the borough originally asked the town

for $125,000 in LoCip funds and said another $60,000 could be raised by

donations from businesses and residents.

"This is really a town project," Mr Maher insisted. "The borough originally

said it would contribute $15,000 from its reserves, but has upped that to

$35,000, so I thought the town could go up another $25,000. It isn't really

town tax revenue, it's state (LoCip) money."

Mr Maher said it would be difficult to raise $60,000 through donations because

sidewalks are seen as a project that should be done by local government.

"Everyone realizes this is a project that should be done," he said. "We're

trying to pump some life into it."