Developments in Grovetown are closer to having sidewalks

Grovetown leaders approved Monday the second reading of an ordinance that would require sidewalks in new residential developments.

The sidewalk ordinance, which was first publicly read Sept. 25, will require developers to install the paved walking paths on both sides of the roadways and along the perimeter of all residential districts bordering public or private roads.

Mayor Dennis Trudeau said city leaders have wanted to require sidewalks, especially along roads near schools, for years.

"We want them on both sides of the road," said Connie Smith, an assistant Planning and Zoning Department director.

Smith said the ordinance was derived after plans for one subdivision did not include them. On the urging of the city, the developer agreed to install the sidewalks on only one side of the street.

The ordinance will apply to any developer submitting plans for new residential neighborhoods, Smith said.

"We've got some that are already going to have sidewalks in it," Smith said, referring to several recently completed, under-construction or plan-approved neighborhoods such as Reynolds Pond, Arbor Spring, Garden Grove and the second part of Pepper Hill, in which developers have voluntarily included sidewalks in the building plans, despite no ordinance requiring them.

"The majority of them were approved with sidewalks already in," Smith said.

All completed residential areas, where ownership of the roads has already been turned over to the city, including some of the property and developments around Grovetown Middle School, will be exempt as long as the property zoning does not change, according to the ordinance.