The Starkville Board of Aldermen Tuesday will consider calling for another public hearing to amend the city”s sidewalk ordinance, only this time the board intends to exempt specific streets from the controversial walkway construction requirements.
Aldermen will consider holding a public hearing Dec. 21 to hear public feedback on exempting Industrial Park Road, Pollard Road, Miley Road and Airport Road from the city”s sidewalk ordinance. The ordinance as it stands requires sidewalks to be constructed when a new building is erected or when significant improvements are made to an existing structure.
The area being considered for exemption is on the west side of the city, just south of Highway 12, near the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, Gulf States Manufacturers, George M. Bryan Field and the Coca Cola bottling plant, among other businesses. Industrial Park Road would be exempt from Pollard Road to Miley Road; Miley Road would be exempt from Industrial Park Road to Airport Road; Airport Road would be exempt from Miley Road to Pollard Road; and Pollard Road would be exempt from Airport Road to Industrial Park Road.
Aldermen expect to hold a second public hearing after the start of the new year before voting on the proposed exemption areas.
While the board will consider new exemptions, the city”s transportation committee also is working on possible exemptions. The committee, however, only wants the city to provide exemptions if geography does not allow the construction of a sidewalk or if sidewalk construction would cause an undue financial hardship. It is unclear what impact the city”s newly proposed exemption areas will have on the transportation committee”s exemption proposal.
Aldermen have been pressured in recent months to allow exemptions for the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, which wants to construct a senior center behind its existing facility on Miley Road, but would be required to install a $25,000 sidewalk, as well. GTPDD Executive Director Rudy Johnson has threatened to move the organization out of Starkville if he is required to pay for a new sidewalk. The area is industrial, he argues, and very rarely has pedestrians. But people do walk and jog in the area for exercise, the transportation committee has said, and some employees walk along those roads to get to and from work.
Ward I Alderman Ben Carver said he could be swayed to grant exemptions for the areas, one of the reasons being “overwhelming constituency requests.
“Also it would be good to entice industrial-type businesses in that area,” Carver said. “I”m afraid we”d lose some of these businesses if they have to come in and deal with these sidewalk requirements and they didn”t have to deal with them in Columbus or other areas.”
The Starkville Board of Aldermen meet Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.
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