Community Corner
Kings Road Poll Favors Sidewalk, 14-8
Traffic Safety Committee applied for grants to improve safety, including one to construct sidewalk.
The Traffic Safety Committee announced at its meeting on Tuesday evening that it applied for a pair of grants to . The first grant is for $292,000 while the other is for $90,000.
The $292,000 grant is for the reconstruction of the actual roadway and the other is for safety devices , according to council member Jim Collander, who serves as the borough council liaison to the Traffic Safety Committee.
"We are contemplating one sidewalk on the north side of Kings Road to run the full length of the road and we have a number of safety devices that are included in the grant application," Collander said.
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Some of the safety devices include local law enforcement parked on the street with a radar gun, crosswalks, permanent radar, speed tables and signage to dissuade aggressive drivers.
"We usually put in two roads a year and we'll get anywhere from $150,000 to $225,000 on each of our grant applications," Borough Engineer Vincent J. DeNave said. "As long as we do all our paperwork they'll give you one the next year. The sidewalk was included in that $292,000, so I feel comfortable we're going to get money for the roadway and sidewalk.
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"The other monies usually falls under discretionary aide, they have a little money left over and they'll start to give out to the smaller projects. That may take a little longer to find out about, (we'll probably hear in) December or January," DeNave said.
In preparation of receiving the grant money, the committee sent out a poll to residents of Kings Road regarding the sidewalk. Out of the 45 surveys distributed, 22 responses were received, according to Collander. Fourteen people said they were in favor of a sidewalk while eight said they did not care for the idea.
"The first line of funding is going to be the grant and the second line of funding will be the capital budget," Collander said. "If we just did the sidewalk on one side of the road and didn't have any money from the grant it would probably consume 15 percent of our capital budget."
Collander urged all residents of Kings Road to reply to the survey and to send their email address to DeNave at vdenave@chathamborough.org so he can set up a group email that will keep all residents in the loop and get them up to speed on the latest happenings.
