Ordinance 25-02, an ordinance about sidewalk zoning was presented to the Argos Town Council for approval.
Town Attorney Derek Jones explained to the council that the Plan Commission met and had a public hearing on Feb. 4.
“They passed a resolution after the public hearing giving a favorable recommendation to the modifications in this zoning ordinance that you have in this ordinance in front of you,” Town Attorney Derek Jones said adding that there were a few changes that were made. Originally, Jones had drafted the ordinance to read that discretion was going to be with the Utility Superintendent. “But they also wanted to see approval of the town council.”
That resolution was passed with that amendment. “I guess the pro to that is, okay you guys do have the oversight. But, I guess the con to that is that it may delay some of this stuff getting done.”
Jones informed the council that the ordinance was “good to go.” “And it will help, basically, provide a little, I guess, definition in terms of who’s responsible of taking care of some of the sidewalks and what the standards are,” Jones said.
Council Member Robert Byers asked Jones about a part of the ordinance that dealt with sidewalk right-of-ways. “What is our right-of-way from the street? How many feet?”
“They’re all different,” Utility Superintendent Jamie Lindstrom said.
“And I think Jamie can tell you places in town that you can’t that we do have a right-of-way. And so, if somebody comes along and says ‘hey there’s a vacant lot that I want to build’, put up a house, great. You knock yourself out. But, even if we don’t have a right-of-way, there’s still going to be a requirement that they put in a sidewalk,” said Jones.
Byers said that he was alright with that, but still had a question about right-of-ways. “If there’s no right-of-way, we’re now telling them that they have to take 16 feet, no excuse me, up to somewhere between 11 and 15 feet of their property to put the sidewalk in. The sidewalk will sit somewhere between 11 and 15 feet in from the street. But yet we don’t have a right-of-way. So, how can we tell them they have to do that?”
Jones replied that it is a developmental standard in the zoning ordinance.
After a little discussion on the matter, Jones brought up a section of the ordinance.
“Bob (Byers), when I look at this again, I read that last sentence. It says if no right-of-way exists then the sidewalk shall be constructed as located and directed by the Town of Argos Utilities Superintendent with approval from the Town Council,” said Jones.
Clerk-Treasurer Lisa Mullaney explained the reason why the Plan Commission wanted that amendment in the ordinance. “The reason that the Plan Commission wanted it to come back to the Town Council has nothing to do with Jamie. We all like Jamie, Jamie’s our superintendent right now. But what happens when you get the next person? And that is what the Plan Commission was looking at during that meeting. That is what they stated.”
The council approved the ordinance unanimously.
Jones then informed the council that the next step in the process was to draft a sidewalk matching grant fund and program.
“There’s an application that goes hand in hand with that, and I’ve got a rough draft of that I haven’t even reviewed that since I put it together. But that’s kind of step two in this process,” Jones said.
“That’s something that helps with our town’s liability, believe it or not, talking with the insurance guy with our current situations and the past situations.”
He said that will be coming to the council in the future.
“You’re going to hear more about sidewalks, is all I’m saying,” Jones said.
