By Richard Zowie
Leader Staff Writer

After much discussion and hearing comments from local residents, the Village of Oxford council voted 4-1 to use Federal Community Development Block Grant funds to create sidewalks only on Pontiac Street while discussing the possibility of more sidewalks on other streets at a future committee.
The decision was made at the council’s August 12 meeting. The area of Pontiac Street to receive the sidewalks is to the east side from the addresses 78 to 130.
The cost for the Pontiac sidewalks will be $9,057’all federal funds without any local charges.
A resident on Pontiac Stteet, who would have the sidewalk in front of his home, has been critical of the plan and said that seven of the nine residents affected signed a petition opposing it.
Bill Savage did not attend the Village Council meeting but has complained to village leaders about the sidewalk.
Savage penned a letter to the editor that is on Page 6 of The Leader about his objections and his neighbors? objections.
Other places in the village that would’ve received approval for sidewalks at the meeting include 115 Dennison to West Street, at $8,301; Division Street to Powell Street, at $6,211; and First Street to Willow Street, also at $6,211.
The village is receiving a total of $29,780 in federal CDBG funds for the sidewalk projects.
While the proposed sidewalks for Dennison, Divison and Dayton are on hold until further discussion, Village council president Chris Bishop stressed the urgency to approve the building of sidewalks for Pontiac Street. The 2005 funds must be used by December.
‘We’re really under the gun, and it could be November before we could reprogram funds,? he said. ‘With the rest of the funds we can take the time to form a committee and pick better places there are to use the funds for sidewalks.?
That decision set well with Dayton Street residents who attended the meeting and stated that they did not want sidewalks in their neighborhood. The proposal would’ve installed a sidewalk on Dayton between Maple and Willow.
For some, the concern was the amount of trees that would be displaced to make room for the sidewalks. Others were worried about what they perceived as the potentially-negative impact on their property values while others felt that sidewalks were unnecessary.
Clifford Wilkerson, who lives on Dayton Street (which turns into Chari Court’a dead-end street), said that his understanding when he and others bought homes there was that they would not have to have sidewalks. ‘I don’t see how the village can come in and force us to take away the landscaping and whatever else we had,? he said.
Rick Schwartz, who lives on the corner of Willow and Dayton Streets, showed the council photos of the trees that would potentially be displaced if sidewalks were installed on Dayton. Some of them have been there for 25 to 50 years, he said.
The council was unable to answer Schwartz? question how many trees would be removed.
Sidewalks are convenient for high-traffic roads, providing a place for people to walk and avoid the street. Schwartz told the council that because their area of the village is low-traffic, there is no need for sidewalks.
‘Like most of the other residents that live down this street, we bought our homes to live on a dead-end street where traffic won’t upset our everyday life or our safety,? he said.
Schwartz also told the council that there’s already a sidewalk on Dayton near the proposed new one from Maple to Pleasant, as well as a sidewalk on First Street that runs parallel to Dayton. ‘Due to the light vehicle traffic, [these sidewalks] are hardly ever used,? he said. ‘There are other places in the village with more traffic where these sidewalks would make more sense. But not on a place with a dead-end street.?
Schwartz, who presented a petition of 72 signers to the council, suggested that the council instead consider putting the sidewalks someplace closer to the Polly Ann Trail. He also suggested that the funds instead be used to repair existing sidewalks in the village.
While the council agreed that sidewalks in need of repair need to be fixed, the discussion of it was moot since the CDBG funds do not apply to repairs’only installation of new sidewalks.
Other questions that arose would be whose expense would it be to remove trees, would the trees be transplanted elsewhere and how the new sidewalks would be reflected on property taxes.
Bishop told Schwartz that, as far as he knew, there’s an effort to replant trees to keep Oxford forested and that doing so is a long-term vision.
‘We don’t go out of our way to take down trees,? he said.
The lone dissenter on the council vote to build the Pontiac sidewalks while shelving the others for a committee hearing was Teri Stiles.
‘I’m not in agreement that the people in the seven homes on Pontiac Street should be affected since we’re in a hurry to use CDBG funds,? Stiles said, explaining why she voted no. ‘There were seven people that contacted us that didn’t want that sidewalk on Pontiac street, and I feel it deserves further discussion.?
What about the notion that time is running out to use the 2005 funds? Stiles responded: ‘We are under the gun, as Chris said, but I think we should’ve looked at it a lot sooner to see what we could do. We’re just now getting responses from people who don’t want the sidewalks. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to explore what else to do with that.?