SOUTHWICK – At Tuesday night’s Select Board meeting, the board discussed a sidewalk waiver.
Under the subdivision rules and regulations for the town of Southwick, when a developer is putting in a subdivision, they can request a waiver for certain requirements. For instance, the developer can request a waiver to have no sewer line where their building since there aren’t sewers at that specific location.
According to Select Board Chairman Doug Moglin, the same thing could be done with sidewalks.
Southwick Town Hall. (WNG File Photo)
“The planning board has the authority to waive sidewalks on one side of the street,” said Moglin.
In some cases, there might not be a need to have sidewalks on both sides of the street and the waiver would come in handy.
“That can be excessive in certain cases,” said Moglin. “It imposes a burden on the homeowner, it imposes a burden on the town.”
The other part to this is that the Select Board was looking at having a revolving account for sidewalks. A developer could make a deposit into that account with the money that wouldn’t be used for sidewalks if they were waived for a specific project. That money could then be utilized to maintain other sidewalks in town.
After speaking with town counsel, the Select Board decided not to act on whether to adopt a sidewalk waiver and bank account.
“We didn’t want to push the issue and find out we couldn’t do it,” said Moglin.
The Select Board is still interested in the topic and will be continuing the conversation at a future meeting.
