A meeting of the Starkville transportation committee Thursday night drew approximately 40 people and a host of opinions on the city”s heavily-debated sidewalk ordinance.
Some, like Jim Turner, Whitney Hilton and Mark Duncan, felt the city is on the right track with the 11-month-old ordinance, which requires sidewalks in all new subdivisions, along all newly constructed roads and when major improvements are made to a property, among other triggers. Sidewalks and bicycle paths improve quality of life, and quality of life is one of the factors companies consider when deciding whether to open in a new city, Duncan said.
Critics of the ordinance said the city shouldn”t force developers and property owners to install sidewalks at their own expense. Others feared the city will have to raise taxes to install all of the sidewalks needed to make Starkville a more pedestrian-friendly town. Still others urged the committee to use “common sense” in drafting ordinance amendments and a variance and appeals process.
“I would like the committee to go back to the Board of Aldermen and say we need to use some common sense …” Judge Jim Mills said.
Builder Clayton Richardson said the city”s sidewalk and storm water ordinances are driving away businesses that find the regulations too restrictive. Contractors and businesses from out of town also find provisions of the ordinances difficult to meet, he said.
“This (sidewalk ordinance) and the storm water ordinance make us look dumb,” Richardson said.
The city first should “identify the problem” and then devise a solution, he said.
Duncan, however, said the city already has identified the problem: a lack of sidewalks around town. Duncan said he supports the ordinance as it exists. He also wondered why Sturgis residents Robert J. Allen and Barbara James, both members of the Starkville Tea Party, spoke out against an ordinance that regulates a town in which they don”t live.
Allen had expressed concerns about “vague” language and definitions in the ordinance while James was afraid the city”s effort to build more sidewalks would lead to an increase in property or sales taxes. James also said members of the seven-person transportation committee should “listen to some of this gray hair out here,” in reference to several senior citizens in the audience opposed to the ordinance.
Ron Cossman, a member of Starkville In Motion, said the sidewalk ordinance “is about consistency” as the city tries to encourage citizens to walk and ride bicycles. He also urged the committee to look at sidewalk ordinances in cities with similar populations around the country when devising a variance and appeal process.
The transportation committee”s next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m. The location of the meeting is yet to be determined.
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