Thursday, December 3, 2009

Narrowing sidewalks

Walking back from dropping my daughter off this morning, it occurred to me that fences and walls hard up against the sidewalk effectively narrow the sidewalk. There's probably a good foot to eighteen inches of sidewalk that becomes unusable.

Time to adjust the fence/wall rule. Nothing taller than a foot within two feet of the sidewalk. Anything more constructively encroaches on the sidewalk.

6 comments:

John Sisson said...

Glad to see you posting again, Sean. Missed your voice in my reader.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, missed it like a hole in the head. You can't dictate bumpouts, now you're setting your sights on what people do with their property. You need to move to a gated community and be on the board to try to dictate colors, styles, flowers, etc. Giving people the open option of agreeing with you or moving seems like the best for everyone. Maybe then you can get this attitude out of your system. Until then, why you don't try living agreeably with people and stop trying to impose your rules. At least your post on tailgating is backed up by established rules. I'd advise everyone to drive the speed limit and keep the crazys going slower. But let people do what they want on their properties. What's the problem, was it necessary for you to turn a little to let someone pass you on the sidewalk?

Eric Miller said...

Aside from issues that directly impact public safety, if it is my property, it should be my decision as to how it is used. Of course, if the town wanted to pro-rate my taxes for the area where my use is being restricted (and keep up that area or pay me for doing so) then perhaps we have something to discuss.

Anonymous said...

No. We have nothing to discuss. You must build fences or not the way I order you to. We have nothing to discuss, Eric. You will listen to me or else.

Anonymous said...

Shy Distance http://tinyurl.com/yfdswcy

Anonymous said...

Fine. Additional junior traffic engineer references. So, because people tend to travel down the center of the sidewalk, you want to enforce a law that says homeowners have to prune back everything to a significant distance on their side of the property line? Do you think people aren't using the sidewalks now because they're too narrow? So what if it would make it feel a bit wider? I don't know any reasonable person that has a problem turning a bit and saying hello to someone else. Or getting out of the way of a baby carriage, or a kid on a bicycle. Anyone ever complain about this other than the usual traffic obsessed "Church-ladies" - SNL reference? Are you going to be self-righteous enough to turn someone in for not pruning their bushes? Oh, that's right, you already did that. Good reference on the traffic book though, it mentions that the width of a "collector" travel lane should be 11 feet. Good info to have. Narrowing down Daniel St. might be a definite no-no.