After residents declined to even discuss a regulation requiring property owners to clear their sidewalks after a snowstorm, the town will continue to service the village center and add the newly constructed Maple Avenue walkway.
“We will see how we can maintain the walks through the public works department for now,” First Selectman Matt Riiska said. “That regulation was basically to see which way the wind was blowing.”
The town was sued last year for an accident that occurred when a pedestrian slipped and fell on a walk near the United Church of Christ, even though the walk did not belong to the town. Riiska has been advised by the town’s attorney that an ordinance can be crafted absolving the town of liability and placing the responsibility on property owners. “But we will see how we can maintain the walks through the public works department for now,” he said.
The town already clears sidewalks in Station Place, and along Route 44 and John Curtiss Road after it has finished maintaining its roads. Maple Avenue will have to be sealed every couple of years to protect it.
Requests have been made to have the walks around the village green cleared, but Riiska fears damaging the granite sidewalks if the town plows them.
An ordinance is already on the books prohibiting homeowners from pushing snow out into roads or clogging sidewalks that the town has cleared.