Residents sound off about council decision to pay for curb repairs

LANSDALE » As Lansdale moves ahead with the town’s planned road repaving project, residents are sounding off about their decision to start covering the costs of including curb repairs too.

“The sidewalks are a public thoroughfare, and I think that the borough, our taxes, should also pay for sidewalk repairs, replacement, cleaning, snow removal, whatever,” said resident Ed Scheuring.

“I have the ability to say ‘I want to do mine, the way I want it done, and I want to do it right, and have it done that way.’ And I don’t have to, frankly, pay for my neighbor who has chosen not to maintain his for all of these years, and now gets it done with other people paying for it,” resident Bill Allen said.

Those two comments stand on opposite sides of a debate that’s been ongoing over the past

two years, as council and its Public Works committee have discussed the ongoing and planned road repair and repaving projects around town, and how to keep costs down and speed up the work. Slated for repairs in 2020 are several roads in the Pennbrook section of the borough, in the area of Hancock Street bounded by Cherry Street and Pennbrook Avenue. In December, residents there complained about dozens of markings on their curbs and sidewalks indicating needed repairs, which would have been paid for by the homeowners, and in February council voted to include the costs of those curb repairs, but not the sidewalks, in the contract, spending tax dollars, for that project.

Scheuring asked why not include the sidewalks also?

“I’m willing to forfeit my rights to the easement in front of my house, so the borough can provide that service. As well as the curbs, I think the sidewalks should be included in that taxpayer bill,” Scheuring said.

“Every taxpayer should bear the expense, because every taxpayer is walking on my pavement. And I’m walking on their pavement when I walk. So I think the taxpayers should pick up the bill for it, just like the roads,” he said.

Council President Denton Burnell suggested a different tactic: instead of requiring curb and sidewalk repairs when road projects are planned, should the borough change policies to require curb and sidewalk repairs, if necessary, when a house is sold?

“When you’re going to buy a house, now that issue can be baked into the transfer of that property. If they say, ‘Hey, you need to fix your roof, we’ll take $10,000 off (the sale price),’ it doesn’t feel as painful to a homeowner at that point,” he said.

Councilwoman Carrie Hawkins Charlton pointed out that certain houses may turn over more often than the curbs and sidewalks need repairs, while others may stay in families for generations, and Burnell said warnings or notices could be issued by borough staff if safety hazards arise.

If the borough takes on the sidewalk repairs, borough Manager John Ernst said, doing so could add additional and even more costly responsibilities.

“We could be responsible for the underground laterals, and also the utility lines, that homeowners are now responsible for. From the curb line, to the house, the homeowner is responsible for,” he said.

“Once plumbing issues start, we would be responsible from wherever that line is, to the house,” Ernst said.

Council’s Code committee held similar talks roughly a year and a half ago, Ernst told the committee, and said another issue that could raise would be if properties change hands during winter weather when those repairs can’t be done.

For the 2020 paving projects, councilman B. J. Breish announced that a contract has been received with a bid price of $1.58 million to do the work, with curbs but not sidewalks included, and council could vote to award that contract on March 18.

“Alternative four is an amount of $163,700. This represents the additional curb work that we decided to do,” Breish said.

“It’s my understanding that this came out to $65 per linear foot, which, it’s also my understanding, that price is phenomenal. The average homeowner, were they to go out to get a bid, they would probably be looking at somewhere around $100 per linear foot,” he said.

Not necessarily, Allen said: when he bought a house in the town in 2012, he received one quote to repair roughly 2400 linear feet of curbs for $2500, and another for just $900, far below the rate quoted for the borough. Another question to consider: what if not all of a residents’ curbs need repairs at the same time?

“If I’m a homeowner, and looking at my curbs, and I’m supposed to get three pieces out of four or five done, how do I address and handle the other one or two?” Allen said.

“I could have, in front of my house, old and new, and different colors and different finishes. How are we handling the same thing with sidewalks?” he said.

Ernst and borough Building Code Official Jason Van Dame said, under the new policy, residents would get notices that the resident would be able to opt into using the borough’s contractor if they choose.

“You will also be able to use the borough contractor to do that work, if you choose. You’ll have a rate to compare to,” Van Dame said.

Burnell said one of the main reasons council chose to absorb the costs of the curbs was to prevent lengthy delays on the paving, waiting for residents to finish their curbs before contractors can proceed.

“We start, and then we stop, and wait, and then we have to restart and do everything all over again, and then we end up with this haphazard problem,” Burnell said.

“This solution, perhaps is not perfect, but it will invariably end up with a more consistent, better product, for the road and the curbs, the same contractor doing all of the work,” he said.

Borough Solicitor Patrick Hitchens said the notices from the borough could allow residents to cover the costs of only those curbs that do not need repairs, but the owner chooses to include for cosmetic or timing reasons.

“Homeowners will have the opportunity, if they would prefer, to do the whole curb if they want, but the borough would only pick up the tab for those portions that actually need to be replaced,” he said. Ernst said talks will continue at the committee level, and staff will keep council members and residents updated as the projects proceed. “We’ll learn from that, and

this will always be an ongoing process. Things we learn will be looked at, changed, and adapted, to make it easier and more beneficial for everybody

involved,” Ernst said.

Staff also announced Wednesday night a pre-construction meeting for residents in the Pennbrook neighborhood, to ask officials from the borough, contractor and North Penn Water Authority any questions or warn of any issues in the

area. That meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on March 12.

Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on March 18, both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine St.

For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.