Who Should Pay for Curbs in Trappe?

At the Feb. 5 Trappe Borough Council meeting, Councilman Marshall Stomel proposed including curb repair in the road maintenance program, thereby relieving property owners of the burden of repairing and replacing curbs when the borough does road rehabilitation.

Currently, under Borough Code 286, council is required to give property owners 30 days' notice to repair or replace curbs at the owner's expense. Property owners are also responsible to pay for borough permits prior to doing curb work. If property owners do not comply within the prescribed time limit, the borough may order the repair work and bill the property owner for the cost, plus 10% for the owner in default.

Councilman Paul Edwards expressed concern over the current law, stating that the snow plow has damaged his curb on several occasions and as the law stands, he needs to make repairs as a result of that damage.

“What do other communities do?” asked Councilman Nevin Scholl. He further stated that he was in favor of tabling this discussion until Council had the opportunity to explore the issue.

Borough manager Jacqui Guenther said that she would need some direction from Council as she has already prepared letters to be sent out to Borough Line Road property owners ahead of the planned road project.  When asked how much notice she would need, she said that if a decision was made at the March 5 council meeting, she could send out letters the following day, if needed, to give homeowners a couple of months to do the curb work.

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Borough Line Road is the second project in the Road Program. Work on College Avenue was completed this fall. Property owners along that road were informed that they needed to replace and repair curbs at their own expense. Senior citizen and College Avenue homeowner, Sue Leighton, spent $5800 this fall to replace her curbs, with additional expenses for attorney fees and borough permits.

The public is invited to attend the next monthly borough hall meeting to comment on this topic, or any other, on March 5, 2013.