Public commenters urge CCRPC to address sidewalk maintenance and truck route impacts on Lower Sand Hill Road

Two members of the public told the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission on Jan. 15 that municipalities lack funding to maintain sidewalks and bike paths, and one resident asked elected officials to revisit a town decision permitting heavy-truck traffic on a residential route.

Lisa Sheffieldana, a Milton resident, told the commission she has worked in public works for nearly 17 years and said municipalities can find funding to build sidewalks and bike paths but struggle to find ongoing maintenance money. "We are allowed to apply for funding to build sidewalks and bike paths...but we are never able to find money to maintain them," Sheffieldana said. She urged that regional planning and the UPWP committee consider funding for maintenance rather than just new construction.

Patty Davis (Essex) described safety and equity concerns on Lower Sand Hill Road in Essex after the town placed an overweight-permit sign on that highway. Davis said the route now carries semi trucks through a medium-density residential area where newly arrived immigrant families — she identified several families who recently moved into nearby apartments — must walk or use strollers on narrow paved shoulders and deteriorating sidewalks. "This decision by our town officials has imposed an environmental burden on our families disrupting our peaceful environment, increasing harmful air pollution and creating safety hazards," she said.

Davis detailed specific problems: unplowed sidewalks in winter, crumbling sidewalk segments, two crosswalks that "lead to nowhere," and narrow roadway shoulders that force pedestrians into traffic. She told the commission she walked the stretch herself and plans to collect letters from neighbors to press for a change. Chair (board chair reference in discussion) and staff noted the board had previously discussed nearby Lower Sand Hill Road; Charlie (CCRPC staff member) and other staff told Davis the Lower Sand Hill Road Truck Traffic Study is on the commission’s spreadsheet (row 64) and that a consultant has been hired and the project is about to launch.

Why it matters: sidewalks and bikeways are used daily by schoolchildren, older residents and families; the commenters framed maintenance shortfalls as an equity issue when maintenance gaps disproportionately affect non-English-speaking and lower-income residents.

The commission did not take formal action on the comments but staff said they will include maintenance concerns in UPWP committee conversations and that the Sand Hill Road study (funded at about $64,000 total, per staff) will begin work soon; the project had been funded earlier in the UPWP (roughly $50,000 CCRPC allocation and $10,000 town match reported in discussion).