BonnerSprings.com

The lack of sidewalks and streetlights in an Edwardsville subdivision has one resident so worried for the safety of his family that he's bringing the issue to the attention of city officials.

Gregg Scott spoke June 25 at the city's monthly town hall meeting asking why streetlights and sidewalks were not required by the city at the time of development for Williamson Farms, located north of Kansas Highway 32 off Edwardsville Drive.

"I'm just concerned about the safety in our subdivision," Scott said in a later interview. "Why was that not our developer's responsibility in the beginning? It makes it safer for families coming in here who do have children."

Scott, who has lived in Williamson Farms since 2001, said he wouldn't allow his children and wife to jog in the area after dark for fear of them being hit by a car or attacked. This is especially difficult in the summer, he added, when it's often too hot to do activities during the day, yet too dark in the subdivision to do any activities at night.

City Administrator Michael Webb responded to Scott's concerns later by saying the city had no ordinance that requires any developer to install streetlights. In 1994 when the first phase of the subdivision was being constructed, Webb said the Planning Commission requested streetlights be included in the plans but could not make it an official requirement.

"If it's not part of a platting ordinance, then we can't require it," Webb said.

At the time, Webb said the developer argued to get the streetlight request waived because it was felt the cost of installing streetlights would make sale of the lots cost-prohibitive. Webb said when a developer pays for the installation of streetlights, that cost is traditionally recouped by increasing the price of each lot.

After hearing why the lights weren't originally installed, Scott asked if the city would be willing to cover the costs involved in bringing streetlights to the subdivision.

"There are 148 residents in our subdivision and we pay a lot of taxes like everyone else does in our community," he said. "But unfortunately we don't have sidewalks or streetlights, as many do."

Mayor William "Heinz" Rodgers said the city's involvement in installing streetlights in subdivisions was not a typical procedure. Despite believing that streetlights "should be required of any new subdivision," Rodgers said, the fact that there is no ordinance and that the cost of project would be too great, he suggested the subdivision look internally for other options.

"You have to keep in mind it's a large city and that's just one part of it," he said. "The city is not currently investigating putting streetlights anywhere."

While Scott said he believed that safety was on the forefront of many of his neighbors' minds, cost was the issue holding back progress.

"The city didn't act too interested in buying streetlights," he said. "Likewise with us, we really don't want to have to pay for that either."

For now, Scott plans to meet with Webb to discuss possibilities for the future of streetlights in his subdivision. He said if the city would come back with a final "no" decision about covering the cost, he wasn't entirely sure what his next move would be.

He doesn't plan to give up, however. He said he would search for other avenues of funding either from within the neighborhood or even at the state level.

For now, Webb has suggested a series of steps he would take - short of paying for the lights - to help with the process. Webb said he would like meet with Scott and any other residents of the subdivision for further discussion.

The first step, he said, would be to pull plans of the plat out to see if there are easements or right-of-ways at the edge of each property. This would allow for light poles to be installed without getting permission from every single resident.

If the easements exist, Webb said the next step would be to determine where and how many streetlights would be needed. He said the best places are at street intersections and the ends of cul-de-sacs but said they could also be placed midblock and spaced anywhere from 300 to 500 feet apart. Once that is decided, Westar can put together an estimate to determine the total cost including any additional transformers that would be needed to support the additional power.

Webb said he couldn't estimate a total cost, but from experience, he said, "it's a fairly expensive project."