City Council - Regular Meeting

It is 7.10.

We'll call the meeting to order, and we'll rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thanks, Dave. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice,

here all right so for the consent agenda tonight i'm going to remove approval of the agenda from the consent package because i'd like to amend it so with that i'll look for a motion to approve the consent Okay. Chairman, Council Member Ritzma?

Yes.

Mayor DeBoer?

Yes.

Council Member Zalvido? Yes. Council Member Eric Barkas? Yes. Council Member Burrell-Barkas? Yes.

All right, so for the approval of the agenda, I would like to make a motion to amend it. I'd like to include an item right after this agenda approval. to consider suspending city council decisions and discussions regarding future development projects or agreements with the township. I would like that as number three, right after the approval. So I'll make that motion. I'll second. Any discussion or changes to the rest of the agenda? To not?

Okay. Mayor DeBoer?

Yes.

Councilmember Salisbury, though? Yes. Council Member Eric Barkas? Yes. Council Member Earl Barkas? Yes. Council Member Renspawn?

Yes. All right, back to me then. So here's what I wrote up, just some thoughts. It has become crystal clear throughout this year-long process, maybe longer, that the township boards are not acting in a transparent and good faith manner. The lack of a clear direction and actions and comments to that end has made it, in my opinion, impossible to continue further negotiations relating to amendments to the water and sewer agreements or any further discussion of future projects or cooperative development. I've attended and watched multiple township meetings and have followed the process very closely, so these comments I don't make lightly. Something as simple as allowing the city attorney to continue in her capacity as a member of the negotiations has now become an issue as well. I feel like simple things like that are causing stress and delays. It makes me have less faith that the more difficult things won't be even more convoluted. I don't think from our perspective there should be any concession or urgency in regard to future cooperative agreements or water and sewer agreements with the township. We are already bound by the current existing water and sewer agreements and will continue to operate under them and their terms for the time being. changes to the existing water and sewer agreements being proposed at all levels will impact our residents and our community for decades and there needs to be clear concise and honest communication and good faith to that end that has not been the case to this point and it is unfair to the community we were elected to represent to allow that to continue what i'm proposing to this city council is to hold a formal vote any city council or city staff discussion or decisions regarding future development projects or agreements with the township indefinitely. I believe it is time to take a significant break to allow these issues to be corrected and cleaned up before any further damage is done. So I will make that motion. I'll second. Any discussion on any of them? I will say, for the discussion part of it, that we will be back as a council to hold a formal vote and council comments before we re-engage, if we choose to re-engage down the road. So with that, Janelle. Thank you.

Council Member Salisbury? Yes. Council Member Aris Barkas?

Yes.

Council Member Burrell-Barkas? Yes. Council Member Richmont?

Yes.

And Mayor DeVore?

Yes. All right, now we will go to item number four, citizen comment for the four agenda items first.

Before you start, Perry, sorry.

We don't have a clock tonight, so I'll be letting everybody know. 30 seconds left. Your three minutes is almost as long.

I have 20 pages long.

I'm Perry Beecham. I reside at 924 Riverside Drive. I originally wanted speed tables to slow traffic, but have come to like the rerouting of Riverside Drive. Riverside was never intended to be a thoroughfare to leave Lowell. It doesn't have the infrastructure for 4,000 to 6,000 cars per week that was recorded by the study. I have heard it said Riverside Drive is the prettiest drive in Lowell, and I agree. Everyone can still drive Riverside Drive and see the beauty of the Flat River. It's not a race out of time. I do think it is unwise to spend $51,000 on the permanent diversion the current diversion allows the city to open riverside for special events like triathlon parades or whatever the future brings even with the diversion i continue to see vehicles moving faster than 25 miles an hour just fewer of them i'm afraid that once the resurfacing is complete travel speeds are going to increase I was traveling on North Shore Drive in Ferrisburg this last week, and they had three to four speed tables that kept vehicles in the 20 to 30 mile per hour range. They were synthetic rubber and removable. I assumed they removed them in the winter. I don't like the idea of stop signs. I watch cars every day sail through the stop sign at the end of Riverside. I haven't seen the rendering of what 51,000 diversion looks like, but how are you handling bike traffic? Are they going to have to be on the sidewalk? The city has an ordinance that restricts bikes on sidewalks. I think it is crazy to put a child on a bike and put them on the edge of the road with traffic, but that's a whole other topic. It has been stated that Lowell doesn't have the manpower to police all streets in the city in a timely manner, so I would still like to see several speed tables along Riverside Drive that allows traffic to flow, but at a reasonable speed. Lastly, the residents of Riverside Drive have to navigate Riverside Drive the same as everyone else. It is not exclusive to non-residents. Thank you. Yes.

Bruce Matthews, 326 Riverside. First, congratulations on the previous motion. It's just the kind of leadership that we like to see. Thank you for that. Just receiving this memo from Mike Hearns in the agenda for tonight. Late last week, Mike Stacey's been asked to place this on the agenda, the barrier issue on Riverside. And so my question, where does this come from? We spent an awful lot of time talking about Riverside and the problems and documenting the safety issues and safety concerns documenting the fact that the quiet Urban street is is not designed for the kind of traffic that is documented So I hope that this is being brought up again not to discuss whether or not there should be you know issues are addressing the issues of speeding on Riverside, but perhaps the issue has to do with the cost of the barrier or whatever. I don't think any of us that have been in favor of addressing the speed issues see that $50,000 needs to be spent on it. It's certainly, the barrier is working as it is right now. But I'd hate to see us reopen and re-examine what we'd already re-examined at Edmond Island last spring. I encourage us, if in fact the purpose of this agenda item is to reopen this whole case, I just encourage us not to do that. And if there's some discussion about the barrier itself, then I would like to go on record as being in favor of maintaining the barrier in some capacity. So thank you for that. I'd also like to say that despite furor on social media that is full of errors. Riverside Drive is not private. It is not the intent of anyone on Riverside Drive to do anything but share our beautiful drive with everyone. I invite anybody to come up and sit with me on my porch and have a cup of coffee and watch the river. There's no intent from our perspective to close or privatize or any of that sort of thing. is being battled around so long. We love our drive and we want to share it. We just want to share it safely.

Thank you. Hi, I'm Gina Ladner. I live at 1451 Bowes. I do have an issue with $51,000 spent on a barrier. I don't know how many bids were considered. Probably is a cheaper way to do that and still keep the integrity of Riverside Drive. And this may or may not be off course, but Riverside Drive, speed, traffic. What about Main Street? It's two lanes. I counted And I stopped at 30, and it was less than two hours. How many semi trucks drove past my store? That's just two hours, 30 trucks. And the speed, even the trucks aren't going 25. They're just flying down there. So if we're looking at safety, Main Street needs to be considered as well. Thank you.

Good evening, my name is Bruce Washburn.

I live at 517. I just have a few comments. I believe, as Barry mentioned and Bruce alluded to, I think the design, the current design, was decades ago. So I think we need to try to do the best solution to appease both the positive and the negative.

direction we take. And I would just like to step forward a bunch of steps and say I think it would be a good idea to just consider the way it currently is.

They moved this side of Elm. Maybe just do a simple curve which would reduce our 51,000 and put a green space, if you will, between that curve and the curve that would come naturally off Elm to the existing curve.

And it would be, I think, very inexpensive. I know a lot of the concern is, you know, it has to be something that looks good.

It's not just a big barrier, you know, magnetic signs and reflectors. And I get that. But the other thing I would consider, and I think of Perry Munch, too, the rubber, most beautiful street we have. So just maintain the traffic and speed to something that's safe, most importantly, and good for all.

So those are the two options I think we should consider.

And, you know, we're at the 11th hour. We can make a decision. So I just hope you all consider that.

My name's Nikki Sojka. I live at 1333 White's Bridge Road. And what my thoughts are as far as Riverside goes is it really should be open. It belongs to the town. It belongs to the people. It doesn't belong to just a select few. And as far as the speed limit, enforce the speed limit. And that isn't the only street in town that we're concerned about with people riding bikes or walking or even living on the street. I mean, on the east side of town, I lived over there for years, and speed was always an issue, but we never closed down any roads. But the best thing that you could do is perhaps put in a stop sign or two like you did around Bull, and try that, and see how that works with it being open. Because it actually is one of the most beautiful roads, along with several others in town, and I think we need to look at that, too, before we just decide to shut it down spend all this money on barriers and blockades and just really limit it. Thank you. Thank you.

Jared Schwartz, 420 Riverside. I just want to go on record. I agree with Bruce.

The question comes to mind as to why this issue is being revisited. I thought we had two rounds of public hearings, if I remember correctly, and voted on in May. But I'm assuming we'll hear more about that after the comments are closed. And I also want to go on record with saying that I think the road should remain closed in some way. Again, my concern is that section of parking that's at right, as soon as you come off M21, that you do a leave before you get onto more of a straightaway on Riverside. The traffic volumes have been cited anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 cars a week going through that weave. The moment you come off M21, you potentially have cars backing up right there where you're at. With that volume of traffic coming through what is essentially a glorified parking lot, you're going to have, it's not a question of when something awful happens, it's a question, excuse me, it's not a question of if something awful happens, it's just a question of when. solution there. Maybe the barrier at where it had been for the last few months isn't the best solution. Maybe it's something that needs to be further down in some way. I know there's issues with service trucks and other things being able to access the businesses. Again, out of my expertise. But if the road is left completely open without any, with the repaving done, without any or any speed reduction of any sort, that section is going to be awful, very, very dangerous.

Thank you. Rob Newman, 920 Riverside Drive, saw this coming. What you currently have in there has worked very well.

It may not be pretty to look at, but it has really made that road a lot safer. I'm not as worried as kids as they used to be about it. And I think to change anything, maybe if you want to improve the looks of the barriers, the barriers have worked. Traffic will never slow down because we don't have enough police enforcement. That's just the way it is. And until that changes, leave the barriers that are there now. You can look into ski tables. Get the road paved. And I want to address one other thing, too, to the people that know of the individuals that are out there that are threatened, city council mayor, the board, people on Riverside Drive. We have people driving down the road honking their horns and flipping my 81-year-old neighbor off. I think that's really gone overboard. And I blame social media. Thank God I'm not on it. So on a bright spot, thanks to the people that have helped, the friends of the flat, I'm allowed to say that. I believe the contributors, the people that sponsored us, there's some positive stuff happening here in Lowell. I think we need to redirect and look at positive things.

Thank you.

Kimberly Hale. I'm not reading that. No, you're good. Yeah, 101-91, 60th Street, Alto. We also own the house at 528 Lafayette. and we also are supporters of Friends of the Flat and Utilize the River. I am here speaking against the barrier and I am also against the $51,000 price tag that seemed to have come after it was approved on and how many bids were placed on this project. I did see the studies that were done on Riverside about, I think there was a study that said 909 cars per day during the week or 79 on the weekend when it was open. But with that being closed, that traffic is being diverted down Main Street and at the light. And that's a safety issue also. And people taking alternative routes to get over to Riverside or crossing. The road is a public road that everyone should be able to enjoy, to take, to actually get where they're going. Not have to go out of their way to see it. I know there are a lot of people that live on it, that like the barrier, and I get it. But over on the road, they have stop signs. I don't know how, in front of a retired teacher's A window. And I don't know that that was ever tried on Riverside. I don't know on Riverside if any tickets were ever issued. It sounded like the cars were counted, but I don't know if there was any action or accountability there. And I don't want to be disrespectful to our police force because I appreciate them. They do a great job. But were they ever directed to give it the attention and actually issue tickets? It's a small town. Word spreads. And I think that would have gone a long way. You've got Monroe also. People are still speeding down. You've got Washington. They're still speeding down. You have the extra traffic coming from...

Pardon? Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Well, I'm in free... death came after the fact. Yes.

I want to first express that I understand the issues with either barrier or speed tables, a lot of different options that are out there. I don't live on Riverside, so I probably wouldn't have an opinion on the same. What I am a little frustrated about is $51,000 for a barrier. We just put some plastic powders for probably a fraction of that cost. And use that money elsewhere in other ways that the city has a huge debt on fixing. So I would really encourage that the city council take a look at that since we have a lot of need to spend our money on. And also like to leave Main Street alone. We all don't get to live and work in the city. We have to go some places. We're not equal people because we drive. We have to go somewhere. And I would suggest you leave Main Street alone. Otherwise, and then we'll ask that you go bypass and they'll say you probably have to

I just wanted to say I saw the Riverside Drive topics mentioned and I was happy to see it come back through. I've been to previous meetings and I know safety on Riverside was an issue and I totally agree with that. It was never looked into on Hudson or the other streets where the people would have to alternate their route so it would be nice to kind of get other alternatives um also the price tag was a little concerning too i know the barrier was a temporary solution um so if there's other temporary things that we could try that might be more affordable like a couple of stop signs um and just try it and see how it goes because there's safety issues on many of the other roads too especially with how congested it's been after riverside isn't shut down but it's you know diverted, so it has been very congested in town, so it would be worth looking into other alternatives, but appreciate the time.

Thank you. Sharon Ellison, 407 North Division. First of all, I want to commend you for readdressing this because there's a lot of scuttle about this still. I know you've had lots of hearings, you've discussed it, you've done a lot of different things, but still people are complaining about it. It's very brave of you to step up and take one more look at them before anything is done. I live on Division Street. When I go through town about 5 o'clock, the line almost starts at the Methodist Church for the traffic light. So I do cut over to go by Riverside. I don't speak, but I always just cut over because it's the only way I can get to the other side of town because the traffic light is so congested. So I understand that and I understand the speeding and the safety on a small street like that. It's got to be terrifying. But closing the street isn't the only way to keep it safe. So maybe some of the rubber bumpers would be worth a try. I think people might be happier with that. There's a lot of places in town where people speed. So I don't know what you can do, but I can certainly see. For me, I never drive down Riverside anymore. It's kind of a hassle to zigzag around, and I used to like to go down it. I used to walk down it, but now I just don't even go there anymore. It's kind of sad, but it is beautiful. And I think we should keep closing streets. We closed Horatio. We closed Water Street. We shut down Lincoln Lake used to go through. Now that's all the zigzaggy things. And so we're just making our streets smaller, you know, the paths that we can take smaller and smaller. So we need to keep them safe, definitely. But closing them is probably not the best idea. I think the bunkers would, it's worth a try. It doesn't cost $51,000.

Hi, Robin Griggs, I live on 1004 Riverside Drive. Yes, people, it has gotten much nicer. It is a much nicer road to walk down, drive down, live by. What I'm not happy with is a $51,000 bill to block off the road. I still go around the corner, I still take Riverside, but 51,000 seems a lot of money. when there are extra stops on, we pulled out in a row that we could put on there. Try that versus blocking off the road completely first, then maybe rubber stoppers. There's gotta be a cheaper version to make that road safe. Especially after I, I am on social media, saw a report from somebody that put on it about going to visit their cemetery and got kicked off their spot because Oakwood doesn't have a fence to keep the people out of the private property. I think there was a failure on somebody's part, I don't know if it's the city council or whoever does the zoning, but when we sold that or said that they could build that there, they should have been automatically told to put a fence in. Let's block that off. Let's make that private and public and a dividing line perfectly there. I would like to see that 51,000 go towards that. and put it in, put a fence in that bullock. Put stop signs on our roads, see how that works. Doesn't work, go put something else in. Put that in. I think blocking the road should be the last thing. Sorry neighbors, but there's gotta be a cheaper way to do this than that.

Oakwood needs to be addressed, ladies and gentlemen. Yes.

Hi, Jackie Taylor, 9689. I just wanted it to be noted regarding the minutes for last, actually June, but everything that occurred after the from update was in violation of the Open Meeting Act because people were prevented from entering the room and participating in the meeting.

Thank you.

Hey there, Betsy Lopez Wagner, president tonight for Healthy World. I live in Merchants, but I have goals in the address. I just wanted to come up here, first of all, and just thank you all because the first action you took this evening was, you know, one of the most important. I think that when it comes to transparency in government, it's really the bedrock of our values, right, our democratic values. It was important that You know, Mayor, thank you for bringing that motion forward in suspending, you know, future development and making sure that the township understands there needs to be transparency and open government with you all, especially as it pertains to the proposed data center. Did want to go ahead just so and ask one clarifying question. I recognize you might not be able to answer it now, but still would love to put it on the record. which is just to understand that while that is suspending actions with the township, whether or not actions with Microsoft continue to move forward. I ask this recognizing that this summer there was due to be a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft in and around water agreement, being able to look at engineering and such, and just would like to know if that is suspended as well. Again, really thankful for the work that this council continues to do. Huge shout out to Eric, who has made himself very open and accessible to many in this community to be able to talk about water sewer agreements as well as the work that Mike has done. But again, this issue of Microsoft is one that would be a bit more helpful to understand what are those next connections and next steps.

We're getting the road going. That's awesome. That's been long overdue. I was also surprised on 51,000 for a barrier. I know at one point there was discussion about potentially putting a gate across so that for things like the parade or a bigger event or DPW or fire or at least needed it open, they could open it. I'm not sure what happened to that, if that's still being considered or not. Also, I just want to reiterate that a few of these folks here before brought it up, using stop signs and speed tables potentially only decreases the traffic by about 20%. If that's the case, then that's still way over what you would expect, say, in the road behind Creekside Kingdom or any of those local neighborhood roads. So thanks for all your work on this.

Good evening, Steve Doyle, 706 Riverside Drive. When the barriers went in a couple years ago, they pretty much solved the problem overnight. Speed count was 4,000 cars a week, and then actually a few months back, earlier in the year, another speed count was done. It was actually around 6,000 cars. And Riverside Drive is a local street. It's one of the only the only local street that actually you could leave Lowell and go on to a major road. So it's a local street. It's a very high traffic count. Any other speed bumps or stop signs is really kind of counterproductive. The street is not closed. Yes, you do have to drive up a block and go around the block, but you can drive 80, 5% of the road with no speed bumps or stop signs would be great. By doing that, speed bumps or stop signs, now we all have to contend with that.

Can we stop, please? We're not going to do that. We're going to let the public commenters make their comments, which you are all free to do. We are not going to shout from the audience. We're not going to interrupt. Please, thank you.

So anyway, I think the speed barrier has done a great job. The $51,000, yes, that's a lot of money. And maybe we can find solutions for that, too, to try to reduce that, another method. So thank you.

All right, well, let's move on to the Riverside Drive area. Let me answer Bruce's question. Where is he? I asked to bring it back, and here's why. I'm not asking for nothing to be done because I want Riverside Drive to be safe for everybody. I'd love to see some of Riverside Drive in the downtown, especially with a new restaurant coming. What I would like for us to discuss one last time before it goes in is are we being good stewards of your money? spending $51,000 on a, is there a more cost-effective way to create the same safe result? So I probably should have communicated that better before I just had it put on the agenda, so I'll take the responsibility for that. But am I being a good steward of taxpayer money, spending $51,000 on a problem, and then telling people we don't have money for other stuff that we need? So I hope that answers your question. I apologize for the way I communicated it to everyone. But it's time to do the work, and I want to have one last discussion before we spend that money on that problem. So I hope that answers your question.

Thank you, Mark. So real quick, I want to answer the change order question. So this project was bid. It's a federal project through the Community Development Block Grant Program. It's a 50% match by the federal government. When we move forward with this project, the county bids and approves it for us, meaning that if there's anything additional, it has to be done with a change order, meaning we have to go through the contractor to do it. We cannot go out for a bid, that's just the way it is. And so once I was directed to put the barrier in, we went and initiated the change order, because that's what had to be done to move the project forward. The project is actually at $46,000, that being said, Um, now is the time if you're going to not do that, um, is to, uh, to make the decision to change it. Um, the project I should add is still $200,000 below the engineer's estimate. So, uh, granted we have not had, we've had a horrible experience with TBD for construction, but basically as far as I'm concerned, they're pretty incompetent. But, um, but there is a savings there and the project is still $150,000 under budget. That being said, If the council wants to go into a different direction, we need to know today because they're about ready to start putting base gravel down and start pouring concrete. Once they pour concrete, that's when it's game over. So I've held off the concrete for a couple days, but we need to know what we're gonna do. The one thing I ask you to do, please do not put temporary barriers in the road to where we screw it in the road. We will regret that 15 years down the road. Please don't do that. All right, so.

Yeah, oh, that's right, you had public comment. I'm sorry, go ahead, yeah.

Can you guys hear me? Oh. I'm sorry.

There's two public comments I want to put into record. One from David Blanco. He said, dear city council, thank you for letting me express my opinion even though I can't attend the meeting tonight. We live at 804 Riverside. I have two young children. Since we've moved in, I've been very concerned about my children's safety due to the excessive speeding on Riverside. I expressed my concerns by calling the police station several times, met with the chief of police, and spoke at the city council meeting. Unfortunately, the police station does not have the resources to adequately enforce the speed limit, Although sometimes annoying, the barrier has drastically reduced the amount of traffic and speeding on Riverside. If the barrier is removed, I guarantee people will drive even faster than before now that the road is being repaved. Please consider leaving a barrier in place or some other permanent speed solutions such as the speed tables, David. And the second one to read into the meeting, from Janet, Jeannie Vander, excuse me,