With the idea of improving public safety and making it easier for local residents to walk around town, New Castle’s elected leaders have been discussing possible changes to the city’s sidewalk ordinance.
City council member Rex Peckinpaugh recently brought up the idea of requiring new construction projects in the city to install sidewalks as part of their building plans.
“Right now, if somebody comes to town and builds a new business or a new home on a vacant lot where there is no sidewalk, they don’t have to put a sidewalk in front of it,” Peckinpaugh said. “Requiring them to put in a sidewalk is a safety issue. It’s also about aesthetics. People notice nice sidewalks, and if you have broken down sidewalks or no sidewalks you’re going to have the potential for more weeds growing up.”
Peckinpaugh pointed out that a housing study done a couple of years ago identified New Castle with a higher than average number of senior citizens and disabled residents. He thinks sidewalks that are up to code would facilitate the elderly and disabled in their efforts to travel throughout the city.
“We’ve kind of fallen behind over the years in terms of keeping our sidewalks up and we really currently don’t have everything in our ordinance about sidewalks that we probably should in terms of the size and things like that,” he said.
At a recent meeting of the city council, Peckinpaugh also suggested investigating the possibility of constructing a sidewalk along at least one side of Memorial Drive on the city’s west side. Council member Jeff Hancock has previously suggested a sidewalk alongside Ind. 3 as it passes through town as well.
“That’s something we’ve been trying to work towards since Greg (York) got elected,” Peckinpaugh said. “We’ve talked about it and looked at it. The bike/ped plan suggests we should have a sidewalk out there and we’ve had meetings talking about how it could be done, but a lot of it has to do with INDOT. Because that’s along a state highway they have a lot of rules and regulations that complicate things.”
Funding is also an issue. Peckinpaugh said concrete isn’t cheap and noted the city coffers aren’t exactly flush with cash.
“The bottom line is that building sidewalks can get really expensive,” he said.
At the most recent city council meeting, Peckinpaugh suggested city attorney Dave Copenhaver draft an ordinance requiring those involved with new construction projects to install sidewalks that meet established minimum specifications.
Mayor Greg York suggested a short delay in considering such an ordinance. He said he was recently informed the state expects the city to spend at least $75,000 annually to make all sidewalks in town complaint with the Americans With Disabilities Act and suggested Peckinpaugh’s suggestion might be incorporated into a broader ordinance.
“There are some things we need to look at and address in our existing sidewalk ordinance anyway, so I’d suggest we table this to give us more time to get more comments and receive more input on this,” York said.
The council agreed and the matter was tabled, although the idea is expected to be revisited in the near future.
