Before Saxonburg Borough Council requires businesses, residents or anyone else to install sidewalks, the borough's sidewalk ordinance should have specifications for those walkways, including what type of materials are acceptable.

Last month, the council told the president and chief executive officer of Friedman's Supermarkets that the company's new store would have to have a sidewalk around the business. Now, the council seems bent on requiring Dr. Robert Cetnar, a dentist, to install a sidewalk around a new two-story building that he plans to build at the corner of Water and Rebecca streets.

Cetnar is rightfully concerned because he doesn't know if the sidewalk he would install would be consistent with the kind of sidewalks the Saxonburg Historical Main Street Commission will decide upon as part of its revitalization plan. He is concerned about the possibility of having to redo his sidewalk to make it consistent.

Sidewalk installation can be an expensive undertaking.

Meanwhile, the council last month refused to waive the sidewalk requirement for Friedman's new supermarket, which is in the process of being rebuilt after being destroyed by fire in May. Borough councils in the past reportedly have issued waivers to the sidewalk requirement.

While the council should stand firm on enforcement of ordinances that are on the books, it should first ensure that the ordinances being enforced spell out requirements clearly. The problem in Saxonburg is that its sidewalk ordinance isn't clear, opening up the borough to a patchwork of sidewalk styles, which could, in the end, produce an ugly result - bituminous material, then concrete, then inlays, then more bituminous material, etc.

For now, the council should rescind its decision regarding Friedman's, postpone the requirement that Cetnar install a sidewalk at the time his building is constructed - the council ought to be happy that Cetnar has chosen to build new in the borough, rather than opting for a close-by location in a neighboring township - and either amend the existing ordinance or enact a new one that provides full specifications.

The current situation is tantamount to enacting an ordinance requiring borough households to dispose of trash, without specifying that the trash go to a proper disposal area, not in a neighbor's yard or over a hillside along a road.

The council doesn't have the right to be hard-line, considering the shoddy law that's now on the books.