Rye Brook Trustees: More Talks Needed on Repairing Sidewalks

Residents gathered at Tuesday's Rye Brook Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting to share their opinions on the village's sidewalk policies. The general consensus that emerged seemed to raise opposition to putting in new sidewalks and mixed opinions surrounding removing decrepit sidewalks.

After receiving a request from a resident to remove the sidewalk in front of their house due to the belief that it served no purpose, the BOT said the resident raised an important point.

After beginning to discuss the matter, the board agreed that they valued the opinions of the people living in the village. They sent out letters to people in areas that pertained to the issue explaining the matter and inviting them to last night’s meeting.

“We felt it was important that we had a discussion,” explained Mayor Joan Feinstein. “This is your community. We want you to have a say.”

As the Village Code stands, it is the responsibility of the homeowner to maintain the sidewalk. Multiple people spoke about their concerns for building new sidewalks during such a fragile time in the economy. 

One concerned resident remarked, “I don’t know if I could even afford to live here, let alone have sidewalks put in.” 

Other residents said that new sidewalks would beautify the community and increase safety, most people agreed that the timing is not right.  Additionally, there was discussion of the insufficient purpose new sidewalks would serve. Villagers expressed that the existing sidewalks are used only minimally and that children are driving to school rather than walking.

As the discussion came to a close, Mayor Feinstein said, “It seems like everyone is of the same mind.”

There seemed to be board consensus on the fact that there was no need for more discussion on installing new sidewalks. However, they did decide to further discuss repairing the damaged and incongruent sidewalks that do exist in the village.

“Safety sometimes overrides expense," said Trustee Jeffery Rednick, expressing concern for sidewalks in need of repair.