Traffic team gets 1st look at sidewalk betterment policy

By Mike Berger

Selectman Mark Porter, head of the Traffic Study Committee, has completed an initial draft of the town’s first
sidewalk betterment policy, which would allow for neighboring residents to request and collectively fund sidewalk improvements. In some cases, the town would pay for 50 percent of the cost.

The policy has been submitted for review and comment before the full Traffic Committee and Porter plans to submit it to selectmen, the Finance Committee and Planning Board. The goal is to have the policy finalized and ready for consideration at the 2020 annual town meeting.

Drafted much like the street betterment policy, it allows for residents who are in agreement over the need for a sidewalk to pay for one themselves without having to wait for the town to include it in its master plan and secure the necessary funding. A betterment request, per the first draft of the policy, would require the support of 75 percent of the residents in the target area.

Porter said he has sat in enough public meetings as a selectman and as Traffic Committee chairman to know that there is significant demand for new sidewalks throughout the town — far beyond the scope of what is achievable with state and local funding.

Porter outlined the betterment process at the most recent quarterly Traffic Committee meeting, held Monday night at Town Hall. Residents would first submit a formal request to the selectmen’s office identifying the street and cross streets and where the sidewalk should start and end. The application must also include the signatures of at least 50 percent of the landowners in the target area.

The next step is a review by the town’s engineering office. The engineer would determine if the section of road is considered a major road or identified in Canton’s Complete Streets Prioritization Plan, which would make the project eligible for state funding. The engineer would identify if the street is a public way, whether there are any significant issues such as steep grades, site constraints, or public safety issues, and whether the width of the road is adequate. The engineer would also determine the most appropriate side to install the sidewalk and prepare an estimate of the cost.

Selectmen, in concert with the DPW and neighboring residents, would agree to the sidewalk construction if it is deemed feasible and if 75 percent of the owners represent in writing that they support the project and would agree to share the cost.

Depending on the classification of the road, selectmen would require the benefitted landowners to pay either 100 or 50 percent of the project costs. For roads not designated as major roads or included in the Complete Streets Prioritization Plan, the town would make a best effort to fund at least 50 percent of the total cost.

Selectmen could order a betterment tax to be assessed equally against each of the benefitted residents. The property owners’ share could either be paid in full or an agreement would be drawn up to pay off the betterment over 10 years or another pre-determined period.

In other news from Monday night’s meeting, the Traffic Committee plans to recommend to selectmen a reduction in the posted speed limit …

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