Petition Hooked On Phoenix Street Sidewalks In Vernon

VERNON, CT — There's a movement afoot to have sidewalks installed in the western end of Vernon. Town officials, meanwhile, are saying a sidewalk study is on the radar as the next phase if municipal infrastructure improvements.

The subject of sidewalks came up at Tuesday's town council meeting when a petition was entered into the record urging municipal officials to add them on Phoenix Street and Washington Street. A petition was also submitted asking for crosswalk improvements along the Rails-to-Trails system.

According to the sidewalk petition, the request is to have them along Phoenix Street from the Manchester line to the rail trail crossing and on Washington Street from the existing sidewalks at Dobson Road to the rail trail crossing that connects to the existing sidewalks on Lake Street.

"These are areas of heavy pedestrian traffic, fast motor vehicle traffic and virtually no shoulder," according to the petition.

Vernon Town Administrator Michael Purcaro said in a phone interview with Patch that town officials, "always appreciate and like to hear from community community members and value community engagement."

Vernon is in the midst of finishing a multi-year, $27 million project to pave roads in town that originated with a referendum in 2014. Up next is a sidewalk study, he said.

"The process will include, "evaluating sidewalks throughout the town to ensure that it's maximizing the return on taxpayer investment.

He said "multiple factors" are involved in the sidewalk evaluation, including, "public safety," the volume of traffic, cost, the responsibility of neighbors to keep them clear and easement requirements that could lead to parts of front yards being seized to make room for the sidewalks.

Some residents spoke against sidewalks in the area.

Current town projects include the remaining 10 percent of roads designated for improvement and a $500,000 Safe Routes to School project that includes sidewalk work from Skinner Road to Loveland Hill Road. He said money started being being put in the budget beginning last year for a general sidewalk project.

"We want to make sure we do our due diligence with funding," Purcaro said.

With new crossing lights at the rail trail interchanges, factors like power sources and design have to be considered, he said.

That end of of town has been a focus of residents and authorities over the past week. Police are still investigating a fatal hit-and-run crash crash on Phoenix Street that took the life of a 44-year-old Vernon man who was walking his dog.

A vehicle has been taken into custody and an arrest has been made.

See more abut the crash here.

See the sidewalk petition here. As of noon Wednesday, more than 200 had signed it.