Batavia weighs new sidewalk policy

Safe strolling may get a boost in Batavia, as the city is considering a policy that would call for sidewalks on all streets.

And, if possible, on both sides of those streets.

The city services committee discussed the matter Wednesday night.

It grew out of a Dec. 5 meeting where a request for a variance on sidewalk construction was discussed.

The city’s Comprehensive Plan set a goal, under transportation issues, to “Encourage connection of new and existing neighborhoods with interconnecting sidewalks and multiuse trails.”

Alderman Victor Dietz noted that in 2007, when the city proposed to install sidewalks on Republic Road, the neighborhood protested en masse. “I don’t want to be unresponsive to that kind of united neighborhood feeling,” he said.

City administrator Bill McGrath said, however, that residents of Woodland Hills Road also didn’t want sidewalks years back. But then traffic increased on the road, and houses turned over with younger families moving in, and then the neighborhood wanted sidewalks for safety.

“The people who happen to live there then, I think they naturally feel some kind of right, But these sidewalks are a system to last 100 years in this community,” McGrath said.

A sidewalk policy would likely give higher priority to streets that are routes people use to get to schools and parks, as well as to attractions such as the downtown, according to building Commissioner Jeff Albertson, who presented the memo on the proposed policy.

“I support connecting our community,” said Alderman Dawn Tenuta. “This is for the whole community.”

But Alderman Janet Jungels wants any policy to take in to consideration that “there might be some areas that just aren’t feasible for a sidewalk.”

The proposal does call for winding sidewalks around trees and other significant landscaping, which the city already does.

Having a policy would help the city’s engineer develop a construction plan and apply for state and federal grants to pay for sidewalks, McGrath said.

Committee chairman Jim Volk, who often walks to city council meetings from his house, supports the idea in general.

“I think they should just be everywhere,” he said.