Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman Wednesday vetoed the Board of Aldermen”s recent amendments to the city”s sidewalk ordinance, which exempted four streets south of Highway 12 from sidewalk construction requirements.
Wiseman waited to issue the veto until after the board approved the minutes of its Jan. 4 meeting, when the amendments were passed with a 4 to 3 vote, and the action was made official. Aldermen approved those minutes Tuesday night and exempted Industrial Park Road, between Pollard Road and Miley Drive; Airport Road, between Pollard Road and Miley Drive; Pollard Road, between Airport Road and Industrial Park Road; and Miley Drive, between Airport Road and Industrial Park Road.
“I believe there needs to be more flexibility in the sidewalk ordinance than there currently is and I think there is consensus on that point among the board,” Wiseman said Wednesday afternoon. “However, this particular amendment that picked four streets in the city and effectively wrote them into the ordinance does not provide for any sort of flexibility for how the ordinance is applied. In the long run, that”s what we need.”
The mayor wants to give the city”s transportation committee more time to devise a process that would allow the public to apply for exemptions or variances from sidewalk construction requirements. The committee is looking at the possibility of variances based on physical obstacles or financial hardships.
The Board of Aldermen would need a 2/3 vote, or five members, regardless of the number of aldermen present, to override Wiseman”s veto and reinstall the street exemptions.
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver, who led the street exemption effort, said he would like to attempt to override the veto, “but everyone seems to be set in their vote.”
The ordinance amendments passed with Carver, Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker, Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn Sr. in favor. Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk, Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey and Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas were against the amendments.
Carver emphasized the fact that he is not against sidewalk construction in residential areas, but the four streets exempted by the ordinance amendments are located in an industrial area, where there is little pedestrian traffic and sidewalks shouldn”t be required, he said.
“I hope and pray that the (transportation) committee can draft a variance process that is representative and realistic of the ideal that some areas of town are simply not suitable nor feasible for sidewalk construction at this time,” Carver said in an e-mailed statement. “Since the city is not financially able to install sidewalks in all areas in town, it passes the burden of installation on to the private sector … that is renovating or building an establishment.”
The Golden Triangle Planning and Development District has been at the center of the sidewalk debate. The GTPDD wants to construct a new building behind its existing facility on Miley Drive, but would be required by the city to also build a $25,000 sidewalk along Miley Drive and C.C. Clark Road, in accordance with the sidewalk ordinance.
While Carver says the GTPDD isn”t the only reason he pushed for the exemptions, the organization”s situation did play a factor. If the GTPDD were to build a sidewalk, it would end at property lines along Miley Drive and C.C. Clark Road.
“So, as far as I can tell, if the GTPDD was to install sidewalks, they would not connect to another sidewalk for some time (possibly 20-plus years),” Carver wrote. “Both from a practicality and an aesthetic standpoint, this is not what is best for the city. A scattered approach to sidewalk installation is both embarrassing and not the most feasible approach to planning. We should discover ways to place sidewalks in areas that they would serve as connectors and their efficiency and effectiveness could be well documented.”
The sidewalk nearest to the GTPDD is 1.6 miles away.
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