Petition Submitted for Liberty Street Sidewalk Extension

A group of residents is seeking an extension of the concrete sidewalk on Liberty Street between West Arch and West Vine Streets in Pawcatuck.

A petition was submitted last July with the signatures of 30 neighborhood residents asking the town to extend the sidewalk for safety reasons, citing the number of pedestrians who walk from the neighborhood into downtown Pawcatuck.

Tom Fiore, an abutting property owner whose father, attorney Samuel J. Fiore, who owns the property at 149 Liberty Street on the corner of West Vine that would be most impacted by new sidewalks, said he's concerned about having to clear snow from the much of the new walkway.

"Snow removal is a big concern. ... The very area we're talking about is where the state highway department dumps the maximum amount of snow in the gutter, so it wouldn't be necessarily easy to clear that snow," Fiore said.

Fiore also said that based on his years of living there, he believes that even with a sidewalk, people will continue to cut across his father's property whether there's a sidewalk skirting the property or not.

"In my years of living there, I rarely see people go around the perimeter of my father's property and go all the way around that island out front," he said. "I think they're going to naturally cut across the property. The sidewalk will be there, and I'll be responsible for clearing it, but very few people are going to use it."

Petitioners contended that if the sidewalk was there, they'd use it because it would be a level, safe surface.

Joseph J. Bragaw, the town's director of public works, presented three sidewalk plans to the Board of Selectmen at its meeting Wednesday night.

Selectwoman Glee McAnanly requested that the board push the issue to its next meeting so she could study the issue further.

The board heard public comment then tabled the issue until its next meeting in two weeks.

What's your take? Do the sidewalks on Liberty Street need to be extended from West Arch Street to West Vine Street?