You can read about how the 2024 Dalton Sidewalk petition and Town Warrant Article came to be on this page. The latest news is that the sidewalk petition was halted at Town Meeting by a procedural vote, and "tabled" indefinitely. This was disappointing for all of the folks who were involved in helping raise awareness about the petition, but the result is that the Planning Committee is where things must now move forward. I am working on understanding that process, and how folks can participate in it, and will update this website once I learn more….

In the meantime, here is a PDF of the PowerPoint presented at the Town Meeting: Preserving Dalton Sidewalks

Till next,
—Todd Logan

The challenge: Maintaining aging concrete sidewalk infrastructure in the Town has become a priority – especially in light of more vocal concerns from Dalton residents the state of our sidewalks.

Dalton's Department of Public Works proposed solution for Fiscal Year 2025: At the 2/26/2024 Select Board meeting, DPW Superintendent Bud Hall proposed purchasing a mini-asphalt track paver as part of his FY25 budget, indicating he would use this machine to replace failing concrete sidewalks around Dalton with asphalt ones. Bud’s reasoning, when asked, was that he believed this approach would save the Town money and time. (Please note that, since that meeting, I have also learned from Bud that he has other road-related projects he wants to use the mini-paver for, such as narrow patching).

This approach to maintaining Dalton's sidewalks inspired me to take a closer look at municipal sidewalks and their construction methods and costs in general. After many hours of research, I uncovered some interesting surprises. These include:

• In terms of both labor and materials, concrete sidewalks actually cost the same or less over the long term than asphalt, due to concrete’s very long service life (we still have some serviceable concrete sidewalks in Dalton that are more than 80 years old).
• Concrete sidewalks provide better safety, walkability, and year-round accessibility than asphalt.
• Concrete is superior to asphalt in terms of its environmental sustainability and human health impacts.
• Old concrete slabs that are still intact can be lifted and leveled instead of replaced, saving on repair costs and speeding up repairs (in comparison to replacing the entire sidewalk).
• Damaged concrete slabs can be individually replaced, also saving on repair costs and speeding up repairs (in comparison to replacing the entire sidewalk).
• Installing new concrete sidewalks can take slightly longer to complete than asphalt, as they can be more labor-intensive.

You can read my detailed report that covers all of these points in depth, and which includes plenty of references, in this downloadable document: Dalton-Sidewalks.PDF

I then wondered: What do the Town of Dalton's building codes say about sidewalks? And how do other Massachusetts towns address this issue?

Well, it turns out that Dalton's sidewalk regulations, which you can read on this ecode360,com link, do not specify what materials should be used for sidewalk construction. However, the majority of existing sidewalks in Dalton are already concrete. In fact, according to our most recent inventory, in total miles some 88% of Dalton's current sidewalks are currently concrete.

Some other Massachusetts towns also do not specify materials — or they allow both concrete and asphalt to be used — while other towns clearly indicate that only concrete may be used.

And, as the DPW's budget for purchasing an asphalt paver (again to be used in part for replacing damaged concrete sidewalks with asphalt) was going to proceed to Dalton's 2024 Town Meeting (at 7:00 p.m. on May 6th at Wahconah High school) for a vote, I thought it was time to check with my neighbors in Dalton to see what they thought about that, and encourage them to make their voices heard at the May 6th Town Meeting.

As it turned out, no one I spoke with wanted to have more asphalt sidewalks in Dalton like the one pictured above. And most everyone agreed that changing out concrete sidewalks for asphalt would change the character of the town.

After I explained some of the advantages of concrete, and that concrete sidewalks were a long-term investment that ended up costing the same or less than asphalt over the long term, the responses were nearly unanimous: Dalton should choose concrete as its standard.

I then initiated consultation with Bud Hall and three members the Select Board to discuss this option, and began those efforts via phone and email on March 3rd and 4th. I further requested to make a sidewalk presentation at the March 11th Select Board meeting. At the same time, I asked the Town Clerk's office about the deadline for submitting a citizen's petition — assuming I had a month or more to pursue a petition, if it was needed. Unfortunately, I then learned that the deadline to submit a signed petition to the Town Clerk's office was March 7th, fully two months before the May 6th Town Meeting! And that meant I had just over 48 hours to act on the petition, if it was going to happen in time.

And that's how I arrived at the decision to submit a warrant item for everyone to vote on at Dalton's 2024 Town Meeting (at 7:00 p.m. on May 6th at Wahconah High School). The aim of this petition, and the resulting Article on the Town Meeting Warrant, is to preserve and maintain the 88% of sidewalks in Dalton that are already concrete.

You can read more about the petition below, and about answers to some questions that have come up about the sidewalk petition on this Sidewalk Q&A page.

A WARRANT ITEM TO AMEND DALTON SIDEWALK REGULATIONS

Without a clear indication in the Dalton building codes that concrete should be used for sidewalks, there is no way to ensure that will happen — now or in the future. And, if I hadn't attended the February 26th Select Board meeting, I wouldn't have known that the DPW was planning to replace aging concrete sidewalks with asphalt around town.

So, after some additional research and consultation on how to best word a warrant item to change Dalton's sidewalk regulations, I used the wording below in a public petition:

To see if the Town will amend current regulations for the Town of Dalton by adding the following sidewalk materials specification into all appropriate sections (for example §501-19 Curbing and Sidewalks): "The Town of Dalton, its Highway Department, and all contractors working under the Town's direction, shall utilize cement concrete pavement, or a material with equivalent service life and appearance, rather than less durable materials such as bituminous asphalt, as the specified standard building material for all permanent public sidewalk repairs, replacements, and new installations, in all zones of the Town. Dalton sidewalk work standards shall conform to the requirements of subsection 701 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Transportation Standard Specifications for Highways and Bridges, 2022 Edition, or any amendment thereof, addition thereto, or substitution therefor."

As stated earlier, in order for this issue to make it onto this year's Town Warrant, all signatures would have to be submitted to the Town Clerk's office by Thursday, March 7th for certification. And thanks to signatures from 22 of Dalton's residents in just 24 hours, that deadline was met! We did it.

I very much appreciate all the help I've received along the way to move this process forward. There are several next steps in the works…so stay tuned.

The future of Dalton's sidewalks is in our hands. Please email me at [email protected] with the subject "Dalton Sidewalks" if you would like to be included in updates on my research, some proposed next steps, and our progress on repairing sidewalks here in Dalton.

I will also keep all interested folks up-to-date on the May 6th Town Meeting, at 7 p.m. at Wahconah High School, and how we can prepare to vote on this issue.