Bristol Borough announced changes coming to the controversial sidewalk program it instituted last year after a number of complaints about the overall health of the sidewalks in the small, compacted locality.
Beginning last May, Borough code enforcement officials undertook an initiative to inspect sidewalks throughout the walkable community.
According to LevittownNow.com, borough officials completed walking inspections in 50 percent of the town finding 155 violations with 132 of those homeowners granted extensions to repair or replace the sidewalks.
The sidewalk violations and citations were met with intense push back in the community and on local social media pages. Several posters and dozens of commenters called for the firing of Inspector John Miller and the recently hired code enforcement staff.
The current incarnation of the effort is over, Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe said at Monday night’s council meeting.
“We started a sidewall program based on the course our inspectors went out and took. It’s very clear that if there is a sidewalk that can create a tripping problem …the homeowner has to fix them. It worked but it’s been a disaster.”
Going on, he said, we just finished surveying the entire borough last week, and we has a meeting with the solicitor prior to finishing, DiGuiseppe said, and now were going to change the whole program and handle it differently. If there is a sidewalk not in compliance – meaning a tripping problem or a danger to someone, the borough will send a letter to that resident whether it’s a rental property or homeowner, stating your sidewalk is not in compliance and that it should be repaired. For some reason you don’t repair it and for some reason someone gets hurt, Bristol Borough is putting you on notice.
“So, we’re not forcing you to do anything” he said, adding the Borough tried to work with everyone on the issue in any way possible.
“We did get a lot of lawsuits and we did get a lot of complaints from people that tripped and busted their face open. We asked people if they wanted to come to Council and talk about some of the things that happened to them. And they really didn’t want to get involved on TV. There were some serious injuries over sidewalks that people got hurt on,” DiGuiseppe said.
Borough Solicitor Jeff Garton said he was going to check and make sure the Borough sidewalk ordinance is consistent with what the council president laid out.
“We’re not walking the streets anymore, We did it one time, it’s over and we’re done with it,” DiGuiseppe said emphatically.
In related Council items:
August 6 will be the Bristol Borough’s National Night Out event at the Snyder-Girotti Elementary School fields off of Buckley and Beaver Streets, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
August 7 (a Wednesday) will be Kids Night at the St Ann /St Mark Carnival this year. Bristol Environmental will once again sponsor the event that is free to all Boro children. More details to be released coming soon.
Council tabled the motion to take over the property located at 636 Race Street due to redevelopment interest from Habitat for Humanity.
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