09/15/09
Council endorses Shore Road path in concept, agrees to fund initial permitting, surveying and design
The Town Council has endorsed a concept plan for a 5-foot wide pedestrian/bicycle path for Shore Road. It has also authorized up to $110,000 to be spent from town funds to prepare necessary permits, for surveying and final design of the project, but sources of funding for actual construction remains to be seen.
The Town Council voted 6-1 on Sept. 14, 2009 to endorse the concept plan for the path submitted by the Shore Road Pathway Committee. It also voted to complete the path in phases, as funds become available, and to endorse the purpose statement and principles of design as presented by the committee.
The council reached its decision following an hour and a half of public testimony, where approximately two-thirds of speakers supported the proposed pathway. The topic has also been the subject of hundreds of e-mails sent to town councilors this past month.
Voting against the concept plan was Councilor Penny Jordan. She, along with councilors Jim Rowe and David Backer, also voted against spending the $110,000 from town funds for preliminary work, but the motion to spend the money from a 2008 bond issue for town center improvements and infrastructure passed 4-3.
Jordan also voted against the separate motions for phasing, allowance of private fund-raising, and on the purpose and design principles of the project.
"I'm not 100-percent sold on the concept as a solution," Jordan said. "My biggest conern is when we get to the cost of the whole thing."
The cost, said Town Manager Michael McGovern, is at last estimate $979,000, including $677,000 for construction and a $123,000 contingency. The remainder is the cost for estimate engineering and design.
The need, in the opinion of the majority of speakers at the hearing, is for the town to provide a safe place for pedestrians and cyclists who use Shore Road, along with motorists, every day.
"I do think there's a safety issue that outweighs the cost," said Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta.
Safety, as well as the health benefits a path would offer those who use it, was the primary reason cited by speakers who supported the path plan.
One speaker, Olde Colony Lane resident Mary Ann Lynch, told of times when she had to jump in the bushes to avoid being hit by a car on her daily walks. Others spoke from the perspective of drivers, having to swerve to avoid packs of runners or cyclists.
"I don't care if you call it a path or a sidewalk, this will take some of those people off of Shore Road," said Glen Avenue resident Harvey Rosenfeld.
Opponents of the path also commented on safety, but did not see the path as the solution.
"I think it's going to cause more problems than we have," said Starboard Drive resident Betty Crane. Different users - cyclists, joggers, walkers - traveling in different directions on a 5-foot wide path is going to be "chaotic", she said.
Crane, along with some other opponents of the path, said she disagreed that having a path available would increase activity levels of townspeople, and that the cost was prohibitive. "It's a beautiful road, I'd hate to see it destroyed," she added.
While most councilors agreed with the concept of the plan, some of them diverted when it came to funding the initial work of surveying, permitting and final design.
Council Chairman Jim Rowe said he believed the council needed to discuss overall funding priorities before committing bond money to a specific use. Backer said, "I'm hesitent to dole out money piecemeal without realizing priorities." He said he would like to give private groups who support the path an opportunity to raise those initial funds. Jordan also said the town needs to "back up a bit and look at the big picture" of funding needs. "I really can't support allocating money at this time," she said.
The majority of councilors, however, believed that using town funds for permitting, survey and final design showed a commitment on the part of the town government that would help in securing future grants and private funding for construction costs as the path begins to come to fruition.
David Sherman, a member of the council, said "I think it's important for the town to show its support," and Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta said, "I do think this is a long term, important project for the town, and I think it's important to do it right." Swift-Kayatta said that apart from final design, surveying and permitting, which should all be done at once, the path itself could be constructed over time, much as the town's greenbelt has been, as funding becomes available.
Councilors also emphasized that the bond money is already available and that the vote would not involve a tax increase.
The concept plan involves building an 10,200 foot long asphalt path, 5 feet in width, along Shore Road from the old entrance to Fort Williams to the town center. In some places there would be a 3- to 5-foot wide esplanade between the path and the road.
According to the committee's report, about 2,000 square feet of wetland would need to be altered to construct the path. The path would also require the removal of 26 trees, the report says. More than 90 percent of existing trees along the route would be saved.
The plan uses existing right of way for the most part, and involves no plans for taking of property by eminent domain.
Some who spoke in support of the path praised the work of the committee. Mike Mahoney, a resident of Lawson Road, said he thought the committee did a "wonderful job" of balancing the need for aesthetics with the need for an off-road path. "The opportunity the council has tonight is a rare one," he said.
Another resident, Paul Bulger of Lydon Lane, said he was concerned that the plan had no provisions for grading easements from neighboring residents during construction.
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