By JACQUELINE DURETT
Correspondent
EDISON — The township’s new sidewalk ordinance went over well with residents at the Sept. 14 council meeting.
The ordinance updates the township code to limit sidewalk-construction waivers associated with planning and zoning board applications. According to the ordinance, there has been an increase in requests for these waivers, and this ordinance would provide uniformity in the code.
According to the ordinance, waivers would not be granted if the site is within two miles of a school.
Resident Walter Stochel said the Edison Open Space Advisory Committee supports the ordinance, as it encourages making the township a walkable community.
“By mandating the sidewalks, it would create a safe place for students to walk to school, some who live close enough now, but don’t walk because there are no sidewalks,” he said. “In a way this is a health ordinance because it encourages healthy activities.”
Stochel said his research has shown that most of Edison would be covered by the ordinance.
He also said the township should go a step further with this ordinance and should fill in sidewalk gaps in front of existing properties so contiguous routes could be created.
However, at the business meeting two days prior, residents had been apprehensive about the wording of the ordinance.
Resident Esther Nemitz told the council that her interpretation of the ordinance was that exceptions could be made in many cases.
Council President Michael Lombardi said that was not how he interpreted the language. Councilman Leonard Sendelsky said his understanding behind the creation of the ordinance was to disallow waivers. It was Sendelsky who drafted the ordinance with Township Attorney William Northgrave.
As such, at the Sept. 14 meeting, Northgrave confirmed there would be no waivers permitted within the two-mile radius.
Lombardi clarified that outside the two-mile radius, decisions would be at the respective board’s discretion. According to the ordinance, waivers could be considered if the conditions of the property make constructing a sidewalk impractical and if opting not to construct a sidewalk does not create a detriment to the public good and does not conflict with the Master Plan or any redevelopment plan governing the site in question.
Just prior to the vote, Sendelsky, who made the motion to adopt, said he strongly supported the ordinance and added that in his capacity of council liaison to the Planning Board, he could confirm that the board has already been regularly rejecting waiver requests.
“I think it’s for the safety of our children and the safety of our community,” he said of the ordinance, which was unanimously approved.
