Street Construction Ordinance
SUBMITTED BY DAVID KNUDSEN

Progress on the proposed revision of the Street Construction Ordinance has not been as rapid as was hoped. The Ordinance Review Committee has been trying to finish the work to have the proposal ready for the Town Council with the hope that it could be enacted in time for the building season that is about to begin. The Committee met for three hours at its usual time on Thursday evening March 7, but decided that going until 10:00 PM was long enough. It was apparent that several contentious issues were not likely to be resolved in a short time.
The Members of the Ordinance Review Committee agreed to request that the Town Council hold a Workshop with the Committee, the Planning Board, and any other interested people for the specific purpose of discussing some of these contentious issues. Some of these issues are:

Sidewalks:
Where should sidewalks be required?
Some citizens want more sidewalks for considerations of the safety of schoolchildren in particular as well as pedestrian safety in general.
How should sidewalks be constructed ?
Should some sidewalks be paved shoulders outside of an edge stripe to separate them from traffic?
Should all sidewalks be physically separated from paved travel ways ?
Should all sidewalks be raised relative to travel ways?

Turn-arounds at the ends of dead-end streets:
The primary concern with turn-arounds at the ends of dead-end streets appears to be how to make provision for the deposition of snow. Space must be provided for plows to safely deposit snow at the ends of the travel ways. A large amount of snow can build up during a heavy snow Winter. A secondary concern is whether or not private driveways should be allowed off of turn-arounds. Driveways must not cause a conflict with snow removal in the special cases of turn-arounds.

Construction specifications for private streets and driveways: There are questions to be resolved about widths, grades, and other technical matters.

Requiring more than one street connection for a subdivision. Where deemed necessary by the Planning Board, or for any subdivision containing more than fourteen (14) lots, there shall be at least two (2) street connections with existing public streets or streets shown on the Official map if such exists, or streets on an approved Subdivision Plan for which a bond has been filed. This requirement needs to be debated.

It is hoped that the Council will be able to arrange for the requested Workshop before the next regular meeting of the Ordinance Review Committee which is scheduled for April 4. Interested persons should watch for an announcement of the Workshop.
Some revisions were agreed upon at the meeting of the Committee. The latest version of the proposed revision of the Street Construction Ordinance will be dated March 12, 2002 and will be available at no cost from Debby Parks at the Town Office or a copy can be obtained as an e-mail attachment from me.

David Knudsen, 23 Summit Rd., Gray, ME 04039, tel: 657-4479, dwknudsen@earthlink.net