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Councilman Walter Bernacki responded to two citizen inquiries by asking during the June 10 Windsor Town Council meeting if a gap in the sidewalk that exists between two housing developments on Shiloh Drive will be filled in. 

Bernacki noted that the inquiries came as the new Windsor Station subdivision is being built on Shiloh Drive. A gap in a sidewalk exists in front of a residence that is located between the Holland Meadows and Windsor Station housing developments on that drive.

“Is there any consideration to complete that section?” Bernacki said, noting that more families with children will be coming to that area and navigating the sidewalk there.

Windsor Town Manager William Saunders said, “The developer made a proffer to complete that section of the sidewalk if there was sufficient right of way. The developer is still researching his answer, but based on the way things look on the ground, I’m thinking he’s feeling that there’s not sufficient right of way. 

“So we’ve initiated a conversation with him to talk about it, but as you know, proffers are voluntary, and it was one of those (where) it was made during a meeting, so it had the caveat — ‘if there’s sufficient right of way,’” Saunders continued. “The reason he’s got room, sufficient right of way in front of the actual development, is because he’s dedicated 10 feet of right of way as part of the project, because there’s only a 30-foot right of way there … But that one house in between the two developments, there was no additional dedication there. 

“So it may fall on the town to approach those folks (living in that house) to see if there’s something that we can work out, because people are going to be walking through their yard either way, unfortunately …,” Saunders added. “(The sidewalk completion) was going to be part of the development, but it may not be.”

Councilman Jake Redd said, “But is he still willing to do it if given an easement?”

Saunders said, “I don’t have a solid answer for that.”

In a Thursday, June 19, interview, Bernacki explained what he was aiming to accomplish by bringing up the matter of the sidewalk gap at the council meeting.

“I was just trying to get a conversation going to have a discussion, because if there was sufficient right of way, then obviously maybe the developer would step up and (complete the sidewalk) to meet up with the other one so that that covered both those developments and (established) a sidewalk that would go all the way into town,” he said. “But if not, then obviously it’s maybe something we have to approach the property owner as a town and say, ‘Can we have a discussion?’ and see what happens.”

He later added that with the presence of families and the influx of new families coming, “I would hate to see kids having to walk around that property in the street and someone get hurt.”