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Councilman urges sidewalks for new development
"The kids had to walk in the road to reach their school buses," he said.
Many people apparently don't realize the white line on the outside of each lane marks the area set aside for pedestrians, Boynton said. The councilman has proposed an ordinance that would require all new development in the borough to include sidewalks.
"I think that all new (subdivision) plans should have sidewalks, and I think any new business should have a sidewalk," he said.
In addition to kids meeting their bus, the sidewalks also would benefit people exercising, walking their dogs or just heading to a neighbor's house, Boynton said.
Plum Council has referred Boynton's proposal to the Planning and Economic Development Committee, which plans to discuss the idea April 17.
So far, Boynton hasn't discussed the ordinance with developers and contractors, but he has looked at the homes they're building.
"When you look at the homes going into Plum, you're talking $300,000 to $400,000 homes," he said.
The additional cost of a sidewalk won't have much effect on their selling price, Boynton said.
Greg Bachy, Plum's planning director, said the borough has few sidewalks. Boynton said it would take the borough a long time to develop a sidewalk system if it only requires them for new development. The ordinance wouldn't require property owners to add sidewalks to existing development.
"I have thought about that, but that would be a burden on the homeowners, and we have a lot of senior citizens who couldn't afford it," Boynton said.
Howard Davidson, Penn Hills' planning director, said Plum should consider setting aside some money to fill in the gaps between the new developments.
"They should be prepared to invest some money in their capital budget to install sidewalks in the missing links," he said.
State law would allow the borough to put in sidewalks in the right of way bordering developed properties, then charge adjacent property owners for part or all of the cost, Davidson said.
Penn Hills has required sidewalks for new developments since 1980. After a quarter of century, there are still parts of the municipality that don't have sidewalks and probably never will, such as Allegheny River Boulevard.
When a new business goes into that area, Penn Hills waives the sidewalk requirement on the condition that the property owner will add it if the adjacent properties ever install sidewalks, he said.
Sidewalks were a top priority for residents when Davidson started working for Penn Hills in 1976. Even developers who originally complained about sidewalks and landscaping requirements later took pictures that highlighted those amenities, he said with a laugh.
"After it's all over, they're glad," Davidson said.
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