Date: Fri 13-Nov-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

borough-sidewalks-

Full Text:

Borough Sidewalk Plan Shuffles Along

The Borough of Newtown still plans to build sidewalks in the center of town,

but the project is moving slowly.

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.

This past summer, the Legislative Council approved a $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.

Borough warden Joan Crick said engineers from the Center for Engineering, Inc,

of Wallingford have been surveying the area over the past couple of weeks.

Once the survey is complete, the borough is expected to go to the town

government for help in funding the estimated $200,000 project. About $125,000

of the cost could be paid through Local Capital Improvement (LoCIP) funds.

LoCIP funds are made up mostly of state sales taxes, so there is no added cost

to the local taxpayer, at least not directly.

The borough board has said it would contribute $15,000 to the cause, with the

remaining $60,000 expected to be raised through donations from shopping center

tenants, residents and organizations.

The project is not expected to be completed within the next year.

"Here it is almost 1999, so I don't think it will be done by 2000," Mrs Crick

said.

The sidewalk project has been headed by sidewalk co-chairs Jay Maher and Betsy

Kenyon.