The Medford Town Council has recently been receiving emails from residents about issues with sidewalks.
Scott Lattimer has been at the center of this issue, voicing his opinions for about a year. He is particularly displeased about the sidewalks in the Muirfield development where he resides.
The sidewalks are rising because of the shade trees that were required to be put in by the township, and, according to Lattimer, they are creating tripping hazards.
“They are becoming uneven and could cause, or eventually will cause, a problem with the young kids or anybody walking on the sidewalks,” Lattimer said.
Lattimer was told by the township that it was going to be taken care of during the spring, and it has yet to be handled.
The property lines in this neighborhood do not stretch past the sidewalks, so they are not to be considered the owner’s property.
While the township ordinance reads that it is the property owner’s responsibility to shovel snow on the sidewalks adjacent to their house, it does not say anything about replacing or fixing the sidewalk.
Right now, as it is written, this problem is the township’s responsibility.
“It needs to be fixed soon,” Lattimer said. “I don’t want to see some little toddler running around out there and knock their teeth out because the sidewalks are uneven.”
Neighboring township Evesham is removing most of its shade trees and replacing sidewalks because these trees are known to be fast growing but terrible for the long term.
Medford council made it a point to say having a sidewalk should be considered a luxury not a nuisance.
“Since 1981, when I bought a house that had a sidewalk, I had to fix my sidewalks, I had to cut the grass on the other side, when a tree died between the sidewalk and the street, I had to cut it down and replant and that wasn’t my property either,” Mayor Charles Watson said. “From my understanding, people have always repaired their sidewalks adjacent to their property.”
“That is what I have always heard as long as I have worked at the township,” Township Administrator Kathy Berger said.
Councilman Chris Buoni said that, ultimately, it is the entire town’s responsibility, because if the township were to be responsible, the funding needed to fix the sidewalks would come from residents’ taxes.
The issue Buoni had with this is the fact that he and many others do not have sidewalks outside of their house.
“It’s a nice upgrade that you are lucky to have in your neighborhood,” Buoni said. “I don’t know why I should ask someone who doesn’t have that benefit to now pay to maintain that benefit for someone else,” Buoni said.
Joseph McGowan, who also lives in Muirfield Court, argued that Medford is liable for anything that happens within the borders of the township, and if someone were to get hurt because of these dangerous sidewalks, there could be lawsuits filed against the township.
“Keep in mind, if the township gets sued, we all get sued,” Buoni said. “Bear in mind that we’re all in this together. What we’re trying to do is create the most fair scenario for all of the residents in Medford.”
Berger pointed out that these folks brought this safety hazard to their attention, and the ordinance reads the township is responsible for maintaining the sidewalks, so that’s what it needs to plan to do moving forward. The council also agreed it needs to plan on addressing this ordinance in the future so it reads how everyone feels it should and is not convoluted.
Berger said there would be caution tape put around these sidewalks as early as late last week. However, she warned residents that this problem had not been budgeted for, so the township cannot promise when the tape will come down.
“It will come down as we get funding to fix it, so you could be looking at caution tape for months,” Berger said.
The township will look at what funding is available, keeping in mind it has not had a capital program since 2010, so there is not old funding for these types of things.
Council members said they would “scrub some accounts” and see if there were any money available for repairs and improvements, and agreed the township needs to address this ordinance further.
