City Council - Regular Meeting

We don't have agenda.

So you should turn agenda. Forgive us. Just one more later. Some places have that. Okay. When you're ready, let me know. That's true. Yeah, we're live and ready. Ready. Ready. Ready. I call to order for the city of Paskki city council meeting for April 20th, 2026. And I ask that you rise with me for pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

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 for all. If you look at the agenda tonight, there's one change that I need to point out. It's under the consent agenda number six. It states March 2, 2026 regular session, and that should read April 6th. So, if you'll correct that. I go to Miss Beck for roll. Gore present. Wilmont

present. Knock and present. Walker present. Murphy

present. We have a quorum of five. Now this is uh normally we do close session at the end but I felt it would be important for city council members to uh meet with our city attorney to get clarification on two uh legal matters that we are working on. We'll be working on after we come back. I expect that this will not be a real long time. Uh, and I think you'll you'll see we'll be back short order. For the first one, I'm going to ask for adoption of a proposed resolution that would authorize to adjourn to close session pursuant MCL 15. 268E to consult with city attorneys regarding trial and uh settlement strategies in connection with the pending litigation in Low versus City of Bataski, US District Court to the Western District of Michigan, which is court number one 250 C 01027 for the reason that an open meeting would have a detrimental financial effects on the litigation or settlement position of the city. I ask for a motion for that.

So moved. I have a motion from Mr. Wilmont. Do I have a second? Support. I have a second from Miss uh Deore. Uh I'll go to Miss Beck for roll on that. Wilmont I. De Moore. I Nocttra I. Walker. Hi. Murphy.

I. And the second one we'll be doing regarding um city of Paskki with Powell and I will read that one. It's adoption of a proposed resolution that would authorize to adjourn in close session pursuant MCL 15280 268E to consult with the city's attorney regarding trial and settlement strategies in connection with the pending litigation in Powell uh versus city of Bataski. It's in EMTT corner EMTT County Circuit Court case number 2400 0 1 08 431A for the reason that an open meeting would be detrimental financial effect on a litigation and settlement position of the city and to consider materials exempt from discussion or disclosure by statute of under Michigan law 15.266 266H specifically identified as a client attorney privilege written legal opt opinion. So I ask city council for a motion for that.

So move support. I have a motion from Mr. Knobra, a second from Mr. Wilmont. Any other discussion council? I go to Miss Beck for roll. Knocktrab. Hi. Wilmont. Hi Deore. Hi Walker. Hi Murphy.

Hi. As I said, for those that got here late walking in, uh we are going to normally we put close session at the end. I felt it was vitally important for the city council prior to have discussions on these two matters which will be following new business type uh under new business action to close session low action close session results. Uh Powell, we'll be coming back and taking on those at when we return. I do not and feel that it's going to be a really a long time. Um if you I hope you wait uh and you'll also understand where we're at with this. Uh so we will be right back. Thank you.

going live. Yeah, we're good. ready. Yes,

we're back in session for the city council for the April 20th, 2026 uh city council minute meeting. And uh I have a statement I'd like to read regarding our first thing which is uh regarding the lows uh that we went into close session. It's the city council's intentions to preserve the easements of the trail. The city council has authorized the city attorney to continue discussions with the Lowe's with the goal with the intent of to preserve existing uh easements while addressing the lows concerns. I don't know if we have any other city council comments at this point. Uh I guess at this point if you would like to speak to council, you've heard where we are where we're taking this and where we're at. If you wish to address council, it's your opportunity to come forward. Give us your full name. You address city council. You're not talking to the audience. You're talking to city council. Is there anybody who wish to speak at this time?

I'm online. But if you lady stand lady with her hand up. What about first come first? Maggie Crom. Good evening, mayor and members of the Paskki City Council. The microphone on. I'm sorry. There you go. Maggie Crom.

Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here regarding the proposed settlement affecting the Little Traverse Wheelway. And it sounds like you've made some decisions, but I agree and urge you not to agree to any terms that risk the permanent loss of trail easements of future public access. This is not just about a one-year funding window. It's about whether we preserve or surrender a long-term community asset. If the city is unable to secure the necessary funds or permissions within that time frame, we risk losing access to a portion of the trail permanently. That is the con that is a consequence that far outweighs the short-term pressures of this decision. The wheelway is more than a path. Is a defining feature of our region. It connects communities, supports local businesses, and offers safe, accessible recreation for residents and visitors alike. The so-called Miracle Mile is not just scenic. It represents the kind of place that draws people here and keeps them coming back. We know the damage section presents real challenges. But relishing easements closes the door on future solutions. Whether that's repair, rerouting, or long-term investment. Preserving the easement keeps options alive. Once it's gone, we don't get that opportunity back. I respectfully ask that you prioritize protecting public access and maintaining control of this corridor for future generations. Please do not agree to any settlement that puts that at risk. Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration.

As I repeat, the city council is intent on preserving the easement of the trail. Who would like to repeat that to us again? Anybody else wish to talk? You have a option. Full name and address council. Please come up. Thank you. I'm Kate Scolin. I am a volunteer with the top of Michigan Trails Council and I want to thank you for your action this evening. Thank you very much. Thank you, Kate. Anyone else wish to speak to council? Is anybody online wish to speak?

Okay, Mr. Ro. Thank you, Mayor. Are you able to hear me, Mayor? Yes, sir.

Thank you. I cannot tell you how grateful I am uh to what the council has said here tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh it's been over probably 40 years ago that that I I was uh at MDOT talking to people regularly and they they gave a commitment. They get it in in 20 years. They did. Uh I don't know that it's stretched out there, but uh for you to say that speaks so much to the people of this community, the state uh and I I don't want to repeat what you what you have just said, but you have to know how much gratitude there is. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Anyone else wish to speak to council? Anyone else? Emily had her hand up.

There is one. There's Emily on there. I know there's Please thank the council for their support. Yeah, Emily.

Hi there. I I too just want to thank you for Please give us your full name. Emily Meyerson, 520 Cherry Street in Paskki. I just want to briefly just say thank you for listening to the public. You can I think you all heard how important this corridor is to all of us. So just thank you. Thank you very much, Emily. Anybody else wish to speak to council?

There's one more. Okay, move on to the next is item. It's the action we resulting in the Powell um close session council. Um anyone wish to make a motion or discussion at this point? I'm happy to make a motion. Mayor,

please. What would you like to motion? Uh, I would make a motion to authorize the city attorney to appeal by right the decision uh in the EMTT County Circuit Court case number 24-0000108431- AAA to the Michigan Court of Appeals. Do I have a second? Prior to discussion, I second. I support.

Have a motion. and a second council. Any discussions on that? Does the public wish to weigh in on the city council's uh action with this lawsuit? Anybody online? Mayor, I just indicate for the record that the name of this pending litigation is Powell at all versus the city of Paski. That's the number that I referenced. Thank you. Anybody online? Sarah, nobody in public wish to speak. Ma'am, you wish to speak?

Um, I just had so Kate Marshall Paskki. So, you're making a motion on the action with the Powels, but there was no motion on the action with the lows. Is there a reason for that? It's a technical question. Go ahead. I know, but you you want to say Yep. The agenda contemplated action after close session, and that can include a motion. I I missed that. Uh Laura, would you address that the difference between the two for me?

The difference. So if the question was why is there a motion? Um city council can make an a motion any time during a meeting and the agenda did have um action after close session on the agenda. Oh, is the question why why low wasn't a motion? Yes. Yeah. Um this is a specific filing that's being authorized with low. It's a it's settlement discussions. It's not actually approving anything tonight. Whereas for the appeal, it is authorizing a specific external action. Okay. All right. Sorry for I misunderstood your question at first, Kate. No, that's all right, Laura. Thank you. Thank you.

Two different two different horses. I go to Miss Beck. Uh we have a motion uh from Miss Deore and a second from uh Mr. Wilmont and I go to Miss Bet for roll. Deore I. Wilmont I. Nocttra I. Walker. No. Murphy I. Motion passes 41.

Okay. Now we're going to the consent agenda. In April 6, 2026 regular session city council meeting minutes acknowledge a receipt of certain administrative transactions that have occurred since April 6, 2026, as well as acknowledge a receipt from the March 2026 revenue and expenditures report and also acknowledge the receipt of a 2026 first quarter investment report. Council, do you have questions for the city manager this time on any of these? Mr. Wilmont.

Yes. I just have a uh a short question on uh the uh revenue and expenditure reports. I'll refer you to page page 36 and page 40. The page 36 is the downtown management fund and page 40 is the downtown parking fund. both of which uh shows uh year-to- date uh deficits from the budgeted number. And I'm curious to know is that a timing issue or are there other explanations? Mrs. I'd ask city manager if he knows.

Likely it's timing issues. I I'd have to do some research and get back with you on that. Walker. Um, normally the special assessment in terms of the operating revenue for the downtown management fund happens in the fall. Yeah. The third quarter of the year. Which was approved by city council p. We approved that uh several months ago. And what was the other question you had? Page 40.

Page 40. It's a timing issue, I would assume. Yeah, the same thing. Likely the same. Um, we obviously are expending capital doing the parking lot, park garden lot right now. So revenues obviously will continue to come in throughout the year, but that's why that's kind of in a negative position right now. Thank you.

Good questions. However, anyone else has a question? Do I have a motion for the consent agenda approval? I'll be happy to make a motion, mayor, to approve the consent agenda and all the numbers and the check register support. I have a motion from Miss Walker, second from Miss Deore. Any other discussion council? I go to Miss Becker for roll. Walker. I Wilmott I. No. Trab I. Murphy. I. Okay. Now we get into the city manager's report and I'll turn that over to city manager. Huh? Public comment. Public comment. And we got it.

Oh, I've written across it. This is your opportunity to address council with something that you have a concern. If it's something that's on the agenda, you can wait. That would be great. If not, you wish to address council on something on the agenda or another issue that you have or a concern or a comment, you're welcome to step forward, hit the make sure it's green, which I think it is. Give us your full name and we'd like to hear from you. Anybody wish to talk to council at this point. Anybody in the online wish to talk? No. Okay. I was hoping we'd like to hear from you guys. I'll speak. Come on down.

Go ahead.

My name is Alexander Pac. I own PTA Culinary Experiences with my wife. Um I was going to speak and then I wasn't going to speak and now I'm going to speak. So uh I just want to thank you for taking the time um on the agenda. The lighting ordinance is very um very important to us and there have been many restrictions on lighting. Uh whatever the rules say, we're we're okay with it. We're okay with uh if you lean more towards a dark sky, if you lean more towards um easing up on some of the restrictions. We're just very focused on um fair enforcement of all the rules and all the all the uh the lighting rules in Paskki. So for instance, right now um there's all kinds of lighting going on in Paskki. Unfortunately, we've been told that we can't put our lighting up. Um we want to have the same exact lighting as some of the other establishments in the area. Um unfortunately, we can't we can't do that. And I don't know how the enforcement is working out or or how it's being enforced, but um we ask you that when the new rules are made or the new um ordinances are made that they just be enforced fairly um for everybody, not just people who've been here for 15, 20 years, but even the new kids on the block or the new businesses coming in. We just want everyone to have a fair opportunity at um proper lighting. So that's all I have to say.

Thank you. I believe I would be disappointed. We would all be disappointed up here if things were not across the board fair in in in how they are. Understand that this is a new lighting ordinance. If you are concerned, things that you may be being addressed are those that have are uh are current ordinances on this, not the new ones. Anybody affected by the new ordinances, there's a grandfather clause in there that would also be involved. So,

yeah. So, the grandfather I was kind of I tried to read through the ordinance, but it was kind of confusing on the new on the new language. Um, so from what I understand, the the original ordinance was written in 1974 and it it always said shielded lighting and now all the businesses downtown don't have shielded lighting. I don't know when that became a thing. Um, but we wanted to just do exactly what all the businesses are doing downtown and we can't. Um I've approached the city and there was no formal process to um approving that lighting. There was no permit or anything. I just they just people just did it. And I think that might have set a precedence for other people and they just did it too. But now the new businesses coming in here can't do what other people are doing. And that's where we kind of the rules. It's not about the rules. It's just about being fair to everybody. That's just what we're worried about. Tourists are coming. The summer is coming. Outside ambiance is one of the most important things downtown. People go downtown because of the outside ambiencece. People like sitting under the lights. They like sitting with the music. They like to to feel an ambiance downtown. Um when some people can do it and others can't, it creates some kind of unfair advantage, I think, in my opinion. But that's all I had to say.

Okay. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate it. Anybody else wish to speak to council at this point? There being none online as well. We now go to the city manager's report. I'm turn it over to city manager Horn for his report.

Thank you, mayor, council members. Um few updates uh this evening. Uh some upcoming meetings. Tomorrow night, the downtown management board combined with the DDA uh will have their uh monthly meeting. It's tomorrow, Tuesday the 21st at 6:00 in the community room. I did want to also um remind city council about the change in our schedule for the first meeting in May due to the special election that'll happen on on Tuesday, May 5th. um you did provide us um u guidance that because of staffing issues um we were able to move that meeting to Thursday, May 7th. Um so that will be our next meeting. Um so that's a change from our normal routine. So I just wanted to remind city council of that. So again, our next meeting would be Thursday night, May 7th at 6 o'clock here in this room. Um, planning commission met last week. Wanted to provide a quick update to that. Um, planning commissioners approved a request to reszone 224 Michigan Street from OS Office Service to B2B mixed use. Uh, that was adopted 5 to2. They also um adopted the request to expand the parking exempt district to include 224 Michigan Street. Uh that was also that was adopted seven to zero. Uh as well as they continued their review of existing zoning looking at article two uh which is zoning districts and maps looking at the intent and purpose of each of the zoning districts uh getting feedback from planning commissioners uh at that meeting as well. Few updates on our spring construction projects. As we all know um Howard Street at Mitchell is under construction. This is Mitchell to

Michigan. Um, just a few updates there. Sanitary sewer work has started. Um, we are completing sewer tie-ins as they are crossed. Uh, we hope to have this work completed by the end of the week. Water main work will begin next week. Uh, demolition of the intersection at Mitchell and Howard will happen concurrently with the water main work. Uh, this would include curb and sidewalk on the stretch from Mitchell to east of Howard. uh demolition of the planter was completed and new footings poured back. The new planter walls will be poured uh by midweek. Um the sidewalk around that area will be will be replaced once this concrete has cured and been backfilled. The park garden lot uh demolition has occurred of the existing parking lot curb and gutter and sidewalk along Lake Street has been removed and replaced. uh the the planter area separating the sidewalk from the parking lot has been poured as well. Storm sewer work started today. We hope to have that work completed by uh the end of the week. So again, just as a reminder for uh Howard Street, Mitchell to Michigan where where we have a mid uh mid June u completion date there. The park garden lot is the end of May. Just as a reminder, coming up, our we have a special election on May 5th. I'll I'll ask the city a clerk to kind of review um what's going to go on at that special election.

So, absentee ballots are available for everyone that would like them. Those that are on the permanent uh mail ballot list, uh staff mailed those out uh March 25th. If you did not receive it and you're on that list, you can contact my office. um absentee ballots do not get forwarded by uh USPS. So there are a lot of um residents that are gone during um the winter months. So if you know of anyone or have heard any comments that they did not receive it, that's probably why. Uh our office will be open Saturday, May 2nd from 7:00 a.m. to 300 p.m. to issue and receive absentee voter ballots as required by election law. And then all four wards vote at the Grand Unity Event Center. Polls are open May 5th from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Sarah, can somebody turn that microphone off? There's feedback. Thank you. Thank you.

Um, a few more updates. uh as we're starting to obviously got rid of uh significant amount of snow over the last uh couple weeks. So, we're transitioning to um our weekly uh rubbish collection program. This is coming up in the next few weeks. So, if you're west of Howard Street, uh the first collection date would be Tuesday, May 12th. Uh followed by the next week, Tuesday, May 19th. Uh and then if you're east of Howard, uh those collections would be Wednesday. uh May 13th and the following Wednesday, May 20th. So, this is uh opportunities to clean up around uh your property after a lengthy winter season. So, we encourage people to take advantage of of sprucing up their properties uh getting rid of materials that has been that has been around collecting uh over the winter months as well. Small yard waste. Um this is cleaning out your planter planter areas, landscaping, leaves. Uh such as such uh those pickups will begin have begun on Thursdays. Uh this is a starting April 2nd through the end of May. Again, Thursdays at the curb. Uh as well as brush chipping. So Mondays that continues uh starting in April all the way through November. So each Monday we'll be making a route around the city collecting any um brush materials that have been pulled out to the curb. So we encourage folks to take advantage of those programs um that will be that have started in April. Just as a reminder, we had this on for the last meeting, but want to continue to push that uh opportunity out for artists locally. Um uh the community um uh what is it? public art commission um has authorized a call for artists. This is be artwork along the Bayfront Park along

kind of along the retaining wall um along the wheelway trying to kind of spruce up that area with um paintings. Uh these would be 4x4 uh paintings that will be uh provided by local area artists. Um so that call for artist continues uh to until May 10th uh which would be the submission window and on our website is the link to submit your call submit your uh um example of what you would intend to put on that uh at that location. So we have a few more weeks uh for folks to take advantage of that opportunity. So we hope to expand that opportunity to local artists in our area. Um, and I don't know, Tina, do you want to run through this or would you like me to?

Either way.

Okay. Um, so the Paskki Youth Art C Advisory Council is seeking members for the 2026 2027 school year. Um, they've they've put together some um recruitment materials that they're going to use in their in their high school. um and and have an opportunity to engage with other students um that may have interest in uh becoming a member of the youth advisory council. So this would be for students in grades 10 through 12th who reside in or attend school in the city of Paskki. There is a Monday, May 4th application deadline. So we encourage any students that may have interest to um apply to serve on this uh advisory council. Any any uh further comments, Tina, on that?

Um, no further comments on that. I just want to acknowledge that Monty Leki from the Paskki Youth Advisory Council is here tonight. We have those students, as you know, those members attend all meetings. So, thanks, Monty.

Very active group. It's really impressive, Tina, that you're working with them. Uh, I know you meet uh monthly at least. They have a lot of activity as far as that art things goes. uh just to advertise it. I think it's really a great opportunity. If uh you are an artist, what you would do is put in a proposal. We'll give you a area. You give a proposal, maybe a picture or something of one of your other things that you have accomplished. Uh if selected on this meeting in May, the arts commission gets together. If you're selected, you'll receive a 4x4 already primed, already ready to paint board that will be one of those mounted. Uh you'll have a month and a half, two months to get it back to us. We will coat it. We'll we'll uh do a fine finish on this and uh it'll be mounted. The purpose of this was there. We did the tunnel and there were a lot of people. We had 73 people wanting to do the tunnel. Uh, and we feel like it's an opportunity for local artists to to exhibit their art that maybe didn't get a chance or maybe this is one of the first times you've ever ex exhibited your stuff. But to me, this is a great opportunity to get out there and have your art seen and it will be up here for several years. Uh, we're hoping to include that and build this to probably 32 of these as time goes. Um, so if you have questions, call, but also you'll find Sheila Runes that we've hired to consult with us also will be able to give you a lot of information on that. So I hope you take advantage of this or if you know of somebody that if they live in Paskki, work in Paskki, Charavoy, Emmett County, or they grew up in Paskki, uh, those are are only premifications other than need to be 18 years of age. Council, anything,

Miss Walker? Thank you. Thank you, Shane, for your um your report this this month. Um, I had a question from um, not a con, not a resident, but somebody that had wondered if the um, park garden lot renovation included a water retention basin as was required by EMTT County in their parking lot adjacent to the park garden lot if that was one of the requirements and if that's being installed.

We're doing storm water work uh, in that lot right now. So, that's happening. I'm not sure what was required with the county's project. I wasn't involved in that, but u we are doing storm water work in that in that parking lot. And then the second question was in regards to all the meters were removed and scrapped and so that will be a pay station lot moving forward. Thank you. I do have another question, mayor, if I may, please. Um, in terms of the weekly rubbish collection program, um, does that usually go out to bid to haulers to perform that service? Um, we pick it up, I believe.

Yeah, our crews pick it up and then we use um GFL. I think it's GFL. Okay. That's what I was wondering if GFL because you work in conjunction with the hauler. So, that's why I was wondering if GFL is like if they're the only ones that get the opportunity to bid or if it actually goes out to bid. Uh, good question.

That's right. Okay. Um, and I believe those are my questions. Just because we had heard back from Resort Township this year that when they went out to bid for their spring cleanup, which they do curbside in Resort Township, that the quotes that they received were so exorbitant that they had to find a secondary vendor to provide the service for them because GFL has a kind of a lock on that market. Um, and Waste Management would be the other commercial hauler that could provide comparable services, but they ended up going with a third party small business person to do their roadside cleanup. So, I was just wondering if the city had a similar experience or if those costs of disposal are increasing accordingly.

I can get that back to you. Thank you so much. Thanks. Better to all of us that way it'll be done. Anything else? There's one hand up. Uh, would you please call on Emily to speak? Whoever. Hi there. Yes, please. Emily Meyerson again. Um, I just had a question for the city manager and the city manager report. It he said that the planning commission reszone the property, but it was my understanding that it's actually council that reszones it. So, did they just make a recommendation to council and will it when will it be on the agenda?

Yeah, my my report just was recapping the planning commission meeting um and their their recommendation was to reszone 224. So, that will roll forward to the first meeting in May for city council. Okay, thank you. Yep. First reading and second reading. First reading. First reading and then second reading following two weeks. Next on the agenda, we'll move forward to adoption of a proposed resolution that would approve private uh Bay Harbor Fireworks display permit for August 8th, 2026. I turn it over to city manager Horn.

Yeah, thank you. This uh is is kind of something that we've had on the agenda um discussed with city council previously um in talking with um city council individually. Um there there may be um a rethink on this. So that's why it's back on the agenda. And and I tried to make this case the first time that we worked pretty diligently trying to get um Bay Harbor uh to comply with um um the state permitting process, our review process for for any sort of fireworks after we had kind of one that went off last um I don't even remember. I was out of town, but I think it was last August. um fairly long event, fairly significant from a noise standpoint. So, we really worked very diligently with um all the parties in in in Bay Harbor to try to get this refined, our process refined, and we feel like in this case, the applicant went did go through our process. So, it was staff's recommendation to if this is just a one-off and this is the only one we do going forward, then so be it. But we feel like they had they did follow our process that we kind of worked with them on. Um, but ultimately it's it's your city council decision on if you want to authorize this because it again they did follow our process, our procedure as we kind of walk them through. Um, and then how how you want to proceed going forward certainly is is is uh your decision and we will get in line once that decision is made. But I wanted to see if there was one additional opportunity to at least review this request.

Mr. NRA, I'd like to make a motion to uh uh to approve the um proposed resolution to confirm that these guys can do their fireworks.

I'll second the motion.

Have a motion from Mr. Knob, second from Mr. Walker. Other discussions council on this matter, Mr. De Moore. So respectfully, while I understand um the city manager saying that the procedures have all been followed, the problem that I have with this is that when the uh ordinance was established, I believe it was in 2019, it looks like there were some real studied effort to establish date parameters for this type of fireworks. this fireworks, these fireworks are proposed to be outside of those date parameters on August 8th of 2026.

I'm not comfortable with that because I think it sets a precedent. Um that does not fall within those date parameters. Um my understanding is that to some degree those direct date day parameters were established due to the impact of fireworks on some members of our community who may have post-traumatic stress disorder etc. Um I also am concerned about the environmental impacts of increased opportunities for fireworks and particularly in this case um these being private fireworks. So, since the current ordinance says that we may approve um subject to the conditions to safeguard the public and the dates that have been provided, I won't support this moving forward. Thank you.

Anyone else? Mr. Wilmont.

Thank you, mayor. Um I was of the similar position when it came around the first time. Uh but after further consideration and further dialogue with the city in the process that both the applicant and the city went through uh conforming to the way that the ordinance is currently written, I decided that my position had shifted and I would support the city in its approval by uh voting in favor of this particular event. However, I do favor uh what's coming up on the agenda later, which is revisions to the ordinance to clarify that the dates uh that are in the current ordinance not only apply to citizen fireworks, but also apply to commercial and display firework applications as well. And I'm comfortable with that.

Mr. trial.

You know, at our last discussion, um we had a lot of talk about the the days that were restricted and outside the the days and and we had a lot of discussion about that and we we based it on this ordinance that that I've learned subsequent doesn't apply to the commercial. It applies to just consumer. And and after the meeting, I I also got a an email from a was an ex- council member that told me that what we all our discussion didn't apply to this permit. It while it might have been intended to be all uh fireworks, it was just the consumer fireworks. Um so it seems to me that it's reasonable that we give these people the ability to do this. I would also agree with Charlie that the next item on the agenda is worth discussion to making it uh a little bit wider and a little bit um address our other concerns. So obviously I want to support it.

Mer. Thank you, Mayor. Um can somebody help me understand again why we're revoting on this? Why we're voting on this a second time? I was asked to put it back on for consideration. But we voted two to three to deny. And so which case we did not deny the permit. No, we did deny. We did deny. Okay. Because it says two to three to deny and we actually Okay. Okay. So Okay. So that Okay, that's correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

I appreciate the delineation that both Mr. Naktra and Mr. Wilmad are making. However, I think the spirit and the intention were to keep fireworks within those dates and I think the reason for that pertains to this application as well, the spirit of it. Thank you. I think sometimes we have rules and regulations, ordinances that are loose enough that things fall in through the through the the screen. And I think the best thing to do is when you have somebody that has gone and followed and getting permits through the state qualifications of who would be doing the fireworks, the location, the Coast Guard involved has has got all of those. And I feel that it's important for us to realize at times our ordinances are not as strong as they might want to have been. And that's why we are visiting it after this. I'm gonna have to say, you know, like it or not, I'm going to support I'm also going to support this one-time thing because I feel it's what's right to do for the city what's right. Am I happy about it? Not really, because, you know, I think there's enough fireworks, but I also see that somebody followed through with the process and that's why I need to support it. Any other discussion? Council, does the public wish to speak to council before we vote on this? Anybody? I go to Miss Beck for roll.

Trab. I Walker. Hi. Wilmont. Hi. De Moore. Yay. Murphy.

Hi. There's never easy stuff up here. Next is uh the first reading of proposed ordinance amending chapter 10 of the fire prevention and and control regarding fireworks. And I send that turn this over to city manager Horn for a small update. Thank you, Mayor. Um so as part of our agenda back in February uh 16, 2026, council did consider two applications for fireworks displays. one for the private event which we just talked about and the other for the July 4th um uh city bayfront uh park display. Uh this led to more conversations about the types of fireworks including consumer grade versus display grade and the possibility of amending the ordinance uh to incorporate the criteria and requirements specified between those two different uh grades of fireworks, if you will. Um at that meeting, city council did authorize um the city attorney to uh draft a fireworks policy contemplating uh display grade fireworks. Um so the the existing ordinance speaks as was discussed previously to con consumer grade fireworks. Uh again, the city attorney did draft language, proposed language to uh consider uh display fireworks in observance in observance of the Independence Day holiday. Um this would be new language outlining the permitting process for display fireworks. And really based on, you know, feedback that I heard, uh, you previously say that you did not want to get into the uh, mode of considering any sort of display

fireworks beyond um, the two uh, Independence Day displays that we have here um, on July 3rd in Bay Harbor and July 4th uh, typically uh, here in the city. So that's what this ordinance contemplates is essentially it it provides language for display fireworks that's in um in alliance with the firework safety act. Um but the way that we've worded this and it's under um section E which is page 60 in the packet. Um, so display fireworks shall only be allowed on July 3rd and July 4th and of permit is required for the discharge of display fireworks. Um, we were hesitating whether to actually use the dates or say Independence Day holiday because obviously if there's a rain date, we don't want to get into a situation where potentially July 4th is now July 5th because of rain. So, I'll leave it up to you guys if you want to massage that language at all. But if you want to really pinpoint it to certain dates, we can do that. But we all know that occasionally it does rain um and maybe these would have to be bumped based on rain dates. But this display fireworks as it's constructed right now only allows um those over the Independence Day holiday. So, open up for discussions. Our city attorney is with us as well. who worked on this language. So, um, happy to answer any questions or feedback.

To be clear, that is also there is a date when you independently can do fireworks or private fireworks. Uh, and those are listed in the December 31st. Uh, you know, there there are about 12 days that you can do fireworks in in Michigan right now that we are adopting as as well. Yeah, those are consumer fireworks. Yes. Yep. If you need those, you can find them on the city website. Mr. Moore.

Um, so under that section E following up on the city manager's comments right now. And this is for Laura. Um, Laura, C, could we do something like where it says um this is I don't know what page number this is. It Oh, thank you. Page 60. Yeah. under E, if it's could say something like shall only be allowed on July 3rd and July 4th or approved weather related alternate dates or something like that to accommodate for the weather situation that the city manager was mentioning.

You could do that or you could do a slightly larger span of dates. Um although that could open it up more. So I think the way you have it assuming that it's always July 3rd and 4th except in the case of weather and there's no other variations then I think yes that language would accomplish that. Can you say that again Tina? Um, I have shall only be allowed on July 3 and July 4 or approved weather related alternate dates unless maybe Laura has something she prefers. It's just my suggestion. I I think that works.

Okay, Mr. Wilma, I'd like to put this forward as a motion with incorporating change. So I think we're just on first reading, right? Yeah, we're on first reading. So we don't need a motion. This is first reading. It will be come to us in two weeks for for adoption possible motion. Thank you though, Mr. Wilmont, for supporting it and moving it realizing Mr. Mr. Knob.

Uh I have a just a I'm trying to understand something. So if if I'm hearing this right, I have two points. If I'm reading this right, consumer fireworks, so people can go and and get their own fireworks and do it on Memorial Day and New Year's Day and Independence Day, but the professional group can only do it on Independence Day. That's what you're saying. Okay. Well, and the consumer fireworks are set Yeah. The consumer firework dates are set by state law. Why wouldn't we why wouldn't we have it be consistent with what because I understand that the real issue on the noise and and bothering is the consumer people throughout the area, not the professionals.

I've heard that several times, but I don't, you know, but I'm wondering why are we not being consistent with that? Oh, help me out. So So I mean I love the notion of some of the rules. I mean, I I I do, but it would seem to me that if we have particularly this is our 250th birthday,

that it would seem to me that if if we have professionalgrade people that knows what they're doing, uh working with all the permits, why wouldn't we have that those days be consistent with that we have it with anybody else can do it on Memorial Day and New Year's? I'm not following why we wouldn't keep it consistent. You're going to have fireworks Memorial Day, New Year's. You know, I can't stand New Year's fireworks going out until So, why why would we allow and why are we okay with having, if I'm reading this right, we're okay with everybody in town having a lot of fireworks on Memorial Day and New Year's, but the but the people that are the real serious fireworks and and safe fireworks were not. Why why wouldn't we eliminate it for Memorial Day and New Year's Day too,

Labor Day? So, just point of clarification, are you suggesting there should be more dates for the commercial or less dates for the athome variety? What I'm saying, it seems to me that the athome variety, which has a lot of risk and and danger in my opinion, uh should be the date should be consistent for consumer and the professional grade. That's and you can't reduce the consumer dates. Say that again. You cannot reduce or change the consumer dates because those are set by state law. You do not have the authority to regulate consumer fireworks on those dates.

Okay. Then then it would seem to me why wouldn't we have the commercial grade be consistent with those dates? That's entirely entirely up to council. Yeah. And city council feels that they do not want massive commercial displays of fireworks other than the two that were identified, Bay Harbor and here for Fourth of July. And the city feels that that's enough commercial fireworks going off. Uh and you mentioned December 31st. You're only allowed to do that till 1:00 that night. It isn't an all day, all night thing. It states uh December 31st until 1:00 in the morning that evening.

And are we allowed? My second question is are we allowed to have the end time be earlier than 11:45 or is that also mandated by the state?

It's mandated by the state. Okay. Mayor, as a point of clarification, I believe that the way the ordinance, the new ordinance is written, if somebody else wanted to have a display commercial grade fireworks show on the 4th of July in addition to Paskki and Bay Harbor, they could apply. But it, one of the things I like about the new ordinance is it clarifies the old ordinance said that the director of public safety could approve it and it didn't. It only came before the the city council because uh the mayor uh because the city manager felt it needed to come before the city council. This says it must come before the city council and I I like that addition.

Correct. Mr. Moore, so can I follow up though on that public safety aspect? I I agree with what uh council member Wilmont just said. However, under number two there on page 60, I understand that public safety is required to go through this permitting process or overview, but is there any value, Laura, to at least adding that into the ordinance as well as part of one of those subsections under two? If council wants to do that, we certainly can. Adding more. Yeah.

Department of Public Safety Review. I I I personally think it would be a good idea just to have that in there as a a line as well. Um yeah, the city it it says a the city clerk or designate shall review the application for completeness. There should be a B point or something that said public safety shall review and recommend whatever Laura deems appropriate. Yes, that makes sense. Yeah. And then my other question was above on that same page under um E1 D, what what's missing there relative to proof of insurance and a a name? Yeah.

How I guess how much do we want to require or do we want to say a commercially reasonable amount? Do we want to put in a fixed dollar amount? Yeah, I'm having our finance director look into that with our insurance provider. It was $10 million um liability. Um I I don't think that's changed, but she's going to look at that and I'll have that for second reading. Thank you, Miss Walker. And it was uh 5 million for the one that we just approved versus the 10 million versus the 10 million that the city has insured for.

Okay. I think it needs to be insured enough because I know S boy at one time had their firework explosion and there was one individual killed one or two one permanently made able to walk another one badly badly several injured and I don't I question whether 10 million is going to cover the tail on enough for insurance on something like this personally I have concerns about the numbers I think should insurance should be higher We'll we'll lean on our insurance provider to give us that information. Sounds good. So, you good with this? That's for first week.

Yeah. I I doubt that I will support it if we don't keep it consistent with that. But that's that's my opinion. Sounds good. You always have a time to change your mind or others. One thing that Sarah and I were talking about today was that I do have a followup question. One. So under J um again page 60 and the C J

because these are public displays Bay Harbor and um and Rotary andor the city or whoever continues that um going forward there there is a an opportunity for a payment of a fee because these are public displays. Do we want to pass that on? I I mean that's part of the language that was put forward, but I don't know what the appetite of city council is to require any sort of there's not a payment to the state to apply. Um Sarah looked at that today. Um so I'm not sure that we would necessarily need to do that if it's a public uh display on on Independence Day. Miss Walker,

maybe we could could consider that when we um during budgeting season when we're like the schedule of of fees and for permits permits for the city of Ataski if we once we pass this legislation like if there policy once they're um at that time to schedule to determine if that would be part of the schedule of fees and services for the city of Bataski to issue this kind of permit like when you go to get your permit for an Airbnb. or whatever you're applying for that seems reasonable that there's a certain amount of process that takes time and

so I mean obviously for the city display there's a lot of local fundraising that goes into that I don't want to create another hurdle for the community to kind of get through this bureaucratic process if we don't need to um personally but that's really up to city council I I don't believe we need a fee I think it's uh most So that uh the working is done by city staff and it's a city fireworks to begin with. So right the city's going to charge the city for fireworks or rotary if their neighbor is involved with it. I I think it's

because Rotary does take un like undertake the cleanup the next day. So that's like a volunteer effort as well in making sure that you know things always we could always keep that in there and just maybe put if um yeah if yeah if applicable may may be a good way to to say it and that's if you want to change your thought on that you can certainly do that. Well I don't even think you need it as applicable because it says as set forth for city council the time comes just assign a zero. Why don't we just say not? I mean, what we're doing, how we're doing it is really two things. It's the Bay Harbor on third and the and city of Paskki on

fourth. Both of them are all volunteer money. There's a it's a benefit to thousands of people to to watch. And if we're not looking at commercial grade firework displays, then this really is not worth putting in there. Okay. I'd say take it out at this point. City Council wants to revisit that in the future and put this back in, they can always put it back in. Yes, they will not. Y

um I draw your attention to uh the uh section one number three, permit holders. That's on the third page. Um item B, the permit holder shall be responsible for the complete cleanup and removal of all firework display, unexloded shells, and related refues resulting from the display in accordance with what standards? Complete cleanup is kind of arbitrary, right? Because you're not going to be able to clean up what's fallen into the water, right? Well, there may be a standard, a state standard that would address that, but I'm just saying complete cleanup is very arbitrary. Lauren, do you have something on that for us?

I'm not sure it's I'm not sure I agree it's arbitrary. I mean, all ordinances are going to be subject to a reasonleness standard and if there's state requirements, the state can enforce those. From our perspective, if we get out there and half the debris is still there, it's not completely cleaned up. So, I think that gives the city the uh enforcement power it needs to make sure it gets taken care of, which may end up have repercussions. Sure. And so that's uh leverage the city has, council has is not cleaned up, then it'll be addressed the next time you make an application.

I I can say and and council member Walker can also testify to this as we've volunteered to to clean up after the the fourth fireworks and you can tell when it's not been done because there's debris all over the place. and it's through a number of volunteers that rake and and clean those those materials up. So certainly if if that's not done, it's going to be pretty noticeable as you're walking through that area. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Uh let's see. Did the public weigh in on this already?

No. The public wish to weigh in on this and speak the council regarding our activities, our first readings on this for fireworks ordinance. Okay, we'll move on. Next is the outdoor lighting. It's the first reading and it's again the first reading. There's no motion. It's a a reading of a proposed ordinance adding appended D which is outdoor lighting ordinance to the zoning ordinance. John's going to come up. Come on down, John. Oops.

Mayor, city council, John Ioangeli, city planner. I'm here to introduce the outdoor lighting ordinance for the city of Paskki. Uh Sarah, I'll just kind of give you a wave when you can click the slide for me. Uh go ahead. Um the uh purpose for doing the outdoor lighting came about during the discussion on the rewriting of the city zoning code and the zoning committee felt much like the planning commission felt about the sign ordinance that the outdoor lighting ordinance need to be needed to be outside of the jurisdiction of the zoning code and part of the police power ordinances for the city. The current zoning ordinance section 1711 which provides for exterior lighting is only provides general guidance. And there's some statements in here that say that the lighting shall be shielded to reduce glare and reflect lights away. Confined to ground areas of lawns or parking lots. Shall be placed and shielded. artificial light shall be maintained stationary and constant in intensity and colors at all times in use. The problem is that it doesn't provide the metrics. So when people ask well like how intense we don't really have a lot of measurements that are in the zoning code. Uh the ordinance does current ordinance does uh state that the lighting should be dark dark sky compliant but as I go through this presentation you'll see that there's a variety of different dark sky compliant lighting standards. Go ahead Sarah. The goals of the propo proposed ordinance that were outlined and discussed by the PC and the zoning committee was to minimize lake trust pass from building and sites to reduce

sky glow to increase night and sky access. The county emitt county is a dark sky county. We're one of the few counties in the United States that actually have an intera international dark sky park. Third goal is to improve nighttime visibility uh by reducing glare. And then the fourth standard is to provide industry-based metrics to applicants. The objectives of the ordinance is that the city needs to protect the dark sky. People relish the idea of looking out and seeing the stars and the various uh uh parts of the sky. uh the meteor showers, the uh the uh northern lights, etc. And the city's lighting requirements should be based on best practices and industry supported standards. Uh that's what we want to bring into the code. Uh the city needs to provide its applicants that are preparing site plans with definitive industry-based lighting standards that are based on best practices and metrics that are recognized by different professional organizations and they need to be based on the ons uh and uh EIS guidelines uh which are important the standards that we consulted as part of uh come from the American National Standards Institute which are referred to as ANIE, the IEES which is the illuminating engineering society who has developed a series of best practice manuals and the the leadership in energy and environmental design from the US uh green building council. Uh so these three sources uh were used to create the metrics. All three of these

sources interrelate. They correlate with each other because they use each other's standards as part of their own measurement process. The dark sky lighting ordinance really follows five lighting principles for responsible outdoor lighting and these are incorporated in section 1.2 of the new zoning code. One is to be useful in terms of use light only if it's needed to target and direct light to areas that need to be lit. Make sure that the lighting is low level, bright enough to be necessary, but not too bright to be obnoxious. That it be controlled and that we have a certain color ration of of light. There's light there's a light spectrum from very very orange to very very deep blue based on your lead bulbs. Uh so you want to have a coloration that is not offensive. The process that we used was pretty unique. The zoning committee prepared the text uh preparation. Uh it went to the uh uh text preparation was done by the zoning committee. Once the zoning committee created its version of the ordinance, it was submitted to Dark Sky Association for their technical review. After that, it went back to the planning commission. And we went through this cycle three times before it made its way over to the city attorney for Laura's review and then back to the planning commission as part of the public hearing process. I will note that many communities around the country have dark sky ordinances. EMTT County has dark sky, West Travers, Little Travers, Harbor Springs. However, not one of those ordinances have been

credentialed by the dark sky organization. If this ordinance is adopted by the city, it'll be the the city will be the first municipality in the country to have an accredited dark sky ordinance. The ordinance is broken up into four articles. Sarah, first one is the preface which outlines the five basic principles. Article two is the technical definitions. Article three is the outdoor lighting requirements that talks about light levels, distribution, light trespass, lighting controls, color spectrum, and the lighting zones and lighting levels for each zone in the city. And then the administrative section. A couple of key definitions that I want to bring up uh before you is the it's called the CCT, which is the correlated color temperature. This is the temperature that's assigned to your light bulbs. If you go to Lowe's and you're looking through the vast aisles of all the different lights and you look at the fine print, it'll have what the coloration code is. So, a a dark amber color is a non-white. and 1,800 uh Kelvin K is the color of a candle. The planning commission wanted to be right in the middle, so they selected 30,000. And a lot of the LED bulbs that are made now, and sometimes you can see these in some of the newer model cars as well, get into the daylight and the blue rich, which is the 6500K, which is extremely bright and can be somewhat obnoxious in terms of glare. The other definition that's key is the u uh uh nater uh which is the downward vertical vector. The ordinance requires all the lights to be down uh basically shielded and focused down into their phototric pattern. Okay. There is

another concept to lighting that the planning commission didn't want to get involved in because it's too hard to measure and that's called the bug which is stands for backlit, uplit and glare. You have to have some really defined measurement techniques uh to measure the bug. They didn't want to go down that route. So, we're sticking with basically the standard, which is the light will shine down on the property or on the pavement or on the site or lawn. In the ordinance, there's a definition for foot candle uh which is a unit of illuminance. One foot candle of light basically covers one square foot of property. Uh it is used to measure the intensity of light falling on a surface. So one foot candle equals one lumen. Okay. And a lumen is a unit of measurement in terms of the total light output. So these are some of the technical aspects of the ordinance that lighting engineers and light designers are very familiar with. So for example, a typical 60W incandescent bulb basically generates 800 lumens of output. The next slide is on the application. Uh the application of the new lighting ordinance, if it's adopted, applies to all lighting that's installed after the effective date of the ordinance. Existing outdoor lighting that's in place currently prior to the effective date is basically going to be considered non-conforming. The idea is is as light is re replaced, as as new construction uh is allowed in the city, as property is reconstructed, as property is reszoned or goes through site plan review, then the the provisions of the ordinance would be implemented at that time. The interesting part of the lighting

ordinance is lighting is not constant or consistent throughout the community. There are three different lighting zones uh that are uh that are applicable to the city of Paskki. There are five lighting zones that are recommended by the dark dark sky system. Lighting zone zero is primarily it's not applicable here because that's reserved for wilderness, national and state park areas. But lighting zone number one is low ambient lighting usually found in residential, multif family and industrial properties. LZ2 is moderate ambient lighting. This is for business districts, colleges, and hospitals. Lighting zone 3 is primarily for your business corridor along 131 and 31. Lighting zone 4 we don't have because that's reserved for large urban areas uh which the city does not have. When we map this out based on the zoning code, the next slide shows the map. So the majority of the city is in the low ambient lighting because there it's residential classified property. The modern ambient lighting, which is the yellow, is the college campus and the hospital properties uh in some parts of the downtown area. and LZ3 which is moderate ambient lighting is for your commercial corridors along US 31 and 31. The ordinance has based on each of the lighting levels, there is a lighting table that corresponds. This is the lighting level for LZ3. Uh, and it has the current zoning districts B3, B3A, B3B. And it has the lighting requirements for building entries, walkways, drive canopies, vehicular drives, and parking areas. And

these are all site related elements that the planning commission usually refer is usually referencing as part of their site plan approval. It has a minimum and has an average lighting uh uh in foot candles which is easy to use for the lighting engineers and the lighting designers in terms of developing their photometrics. We did have an opportunity to actually use this application. If you want to flip the slide during the review of the proposed or the current uh Jimmy John's which is under construction on on Mitchell new US 31 near the uh the Bay Urgent Care Clinic the uh we find that national franchises ask the appropriate questions when they ask if you're using dark sky lighting they show show us the standards. Give us what your photometrics are and we will meet those. Well, during the Jimmy John's, we were in the process of going through the third iteration of the ordinance. The ordinance does say that they have to meet dark sky standards. So, we provided this table to the Jimmy John's engineering and they came back with the phototrics. So, they used lighting table LZ3 and they came back and this is their phototric sheet. You'll see in the the narrative, which is hard to read and I have it blown up in the box, is they're using a D series Luminere P3 performance package. Here's the 3000 CCT, the correlated color that's specified, and they're using an extreme back back lit control. Now, based on the phototric plan that they gave us, their parking lot average is 1.1 foot candles. The ordinance is requiring 1.5 to2. So they

met that standard. The minimum is 0.2 and the ordinance is 6. So they met that standard. Property lines they met the standards. The minimum the zero foot candle cut off at the property line. The other part of the ordinance is control and they met that. The parking lot lighting will be turned off one hour after closing. So the parking lot lights go off one hour after closing with the exception of lighting that's used by their their doors or their delivery areas that can stay on all evening. Other requirements that are in the proposed ordinance is that certain waiverss can be granted based on public safety concerns. uh as part of our development review process. Part of the team is public safety and the fire marshall. And if they feel that lighting should be uh a little bit more brighter or intense than what's currently allowed under the ordinance for public safety issues, we can make those modifications. Mr. PTO was up here talking about string lights, Tivoli lights that they use. Like for example, over at Beards, they have the lights outside. Couple of the other restaurants have lighting. Uh the difference that many of those businesses have, they have basic off-the-shelf uh fest tune lights. Uh but they don't they're not shielded. Okay. Now, the lights at Panera Bread, again, I'll use the analysis. The national companies when they come into town, uh their engineers are a lot more sophisticated relative to going through a checklist of all the city requirements. So when with Panera they notice that all lighting has to be shielded. So their their fest tuner their string lights all have little shields on them whereas some of the businesses downtown do not. Under the proposed ordinance we're going to

get away from the shielding and we will allow uh the festune lighting uh.7 watts per bulb 25 foot candles per string. the lamps less than 50 lumens. So people pretty much can like beards, those type of lights that are unshielded can be uh uh used downtown without going through the extra requirement. There is lighting levels for building facades, special lighting for outdoor sport events areas like ball fields, football fields. We do allow landscape lighting. Electric uh message boards uh centers are going to be managed through the sign ordinance. And we do have a provision that seasonal lighting is allowed, not regulated, but allowed from October 1st to February 28th uh in order to include Halloween and Christmas uh lighting that goes on pretty much consistently during that time frame. To give you an example, we went out and tested a few locations to see how some existing businesses compare to the proposed lighting standards. The BP gas station uh is at their their foot candles under their canopy are 39.5. The ANIEES dark sky standards are between 20 and 30 foot candles. The Arco gas station, which is across the street from the BP, they're at 20. So, they hit the standard. The Marathon gas station is at 52 and it should be between 20 and 30. And as one member of the zoning committee mentioned, uh at 52.2 foot candles, you could actually do outpatient surgery underneath their canopy. It's so bright. Uh the fifth third bank is at 26. So, they meet the standard. Uh the college temporary trailers which are kind of on the

perimeter uh uh across the street are some residential properties. Theirs is 3.4. It should be three. So they're pretty close. And near their dorms because it's residential, it's 4.2 and it should be three. And then Kalamazoo and State Street, which is a street light, is at 2.7 and it should be at 2.6. One of the questions that came up is, is this going to mean our streets are going to be darker? Uh, no they are not. Uh, the city currently uses a light from street works. The the icon in the far right corner, which I blew up, the light is already dark sky approved uh and compliant. In terms of the uh phototric plans, get the next slide, Sarah. Phototric. This is a phototric plan for the street light that's used in town. And you can see what the coverage is. The average uh recommended by EIS and ANIE is 2.6 foot candles per average. And based on the city specification sheet, which they currently use, they hit 2.6. So the city lights that they're currently using, even though the color uh correlated color temperature is at 4,000K, it still meets the ANIE standard. So there'll be no reduction in street lighting. We did have the DPW review the ordinance and they said they could definitely comply with it and they already are uh in terms of the street lighting. So in summary, uh that's kind of a quick overview of the ordinance. As I had mentioned, uh it provides uh standards that are based on best practices and industry standards relative for relative to outdoor lighting. Uh and it provides applicants uh with the metrics that they need in

order to uh provide the correct amount of lighting and controls. You have any questions? Council Mr. Wilmont. First of all, I'd like to uh congratulate the planning commission and the zoning review committee for putting this forward. Uh more than anything is for getting down into the weeds and really making it uh uh technically viable. Um if if I am to understand correctly, the national chains that you've had experience with really appreciate these standards to make their life a little easier.

Yes, they do. Um, secondarily, you showed some local areas where the measurements were taken and one example that you gave a couple of slides ago was the residential area of the the college. Now, that might be a case in point where public safety would weigh in and say there are certain areas that need to be brighter. That's correct. Excellent work. I support it 100%. would you share with us more point because I think it's a very educational and would bring us better up this with what what we're looking at

certainly mayor I will and and uh the one other the one other last comment I wanted to make before we get into questions is that if the ordinance is approved and it does get certified in its current form it is uh accredited by the dark sky but I think the one thing that goes part and parcel with this is that at some point in time Uh, we need to put some community education materials out on the city's website. Basically, that explains this in a little bit more detail and where they can get how they can look when they go to Lowe's or Home Depot where they need to look for the different uh emblems and logos that say things are dark dark sky compliant. I will say that over the last 10 years with lead from the US Green Building Council, ANC EIS, this whole phenomena about protecting the dark sky, a lot of the lights that are now available for outdoor lighting are already dark sky compliant.

So just one point of understanding, I think I do, but the Jimmy John's example. So since the IEES and the ANS standards are incorporated into this, this would be within the expectation of businesses, right? That's correct.

Yeah. Um and then the only concern I had in this was on page 66 with the exception B2. Um it says when a property is reszoned for a new land use or an existing building is reconstructed. I was kind of thinking that there may be some lack of clarity of what we mean by reconstruction. Um, in other words, if I'm just remodeling a part of my house or do I have to rebuild the whole thing and I saw that it wasn't defined, so I thought it would raise that.

I I that's a good question. uh council person, I think the what the planning commission's thought on reconstructed was if somebody was buying a property, demolishing what was there and then reconstructing on the site, they would have to comply. So, my only suggestion was maybe having a definition or adding some clarity to that. I think that would be a good idea. We can do that. Yeah. I'll get with Laura and get some proposed language. Would it be possible to tie that to uh issuance of a building permit? when a building permit is issued,

we we can but the one thing that we I think the one thing that the planning commission wanted to they wanted to travel softly on this uh they don't want to be they don't want to be too like let for example somebody wants to remodel put a new garage door up and they have to get a permit to put the garage door up. Planning commission felt at the time the people didn't have to make modifications to their exterior lighting. Understood. You know what I mean? Yeah.

So they we kind of want to go at we wanted to go slow. The real focus on here is primarily uh site development work like I wish I'd have had this for Maple Block because the developers and the engineers from Maple Block asked us what was the phototric targets and I really couldn't give them anything other than referring them to the current ANSE EIS. Same thing with like Jimmy Johns followed it, Panera followed it. Uh that's where this really is beneficial to new development.

Yeah. And in followup to your comment about public outreach, what I which I support entirely, I think perhaps you should include local contractors and uh retail establishments, Home Depot, Lowe's, so that they are all on the same everybody has the same level of information as to what the city is going to require. Yes.

Lauren, would you like to speak? Yeah, I was just going to add uh Council Member Deore, I agree with that point and I wonder if we could even tie it so it's consistent with the amount of reconstruction contemplated under your general uh provisions for non-conforming uses, right? Or non-conforming structure, which I think is a 60% standard. But we I can get together with the planner and we can put together some um more definite language that's consistent with the rest of the zoning ordinance. Thank you. Anything else? Council, Mr. Natra,

just one question. You know, the our country was was just captured by the uh either the kidnapping or the murder of the poor lady in Tucson. Um and part of what I've heard is because they are so dark sky conscious, the Ring cameras didn't work as well. that do is there any concern of the public safety aspect of this that if if there's any criminals walking around at night any of this is going to inhibit I know we have the exception but I'm just like the whole neighborhoods is there any was there any discussion

yeah the well there there was but the bottom line is Councilman I think the Tucson example with the kidnapping that subdivision that was up in the hills had no lighting whatsoever ever. Uh, the city has a pretty nice street lighting system where I think most people don't want it any they don't want it any darker than what it is, but they also don't want it any brighter than what it is either. So, I think the the Department of Public Works has really kind of hit a really good sweet spot here in town relative to ambient lighting at night.

And I echo that. You did a great job. I think the the group did it and it was easy. Your presentation, I could understand it. So I I appreciate you talking down to people who can't understand like you do. We had to go through an educational process oursel developments early stages. Um, but I also want to do a shout out to not only the planner and and the rest of the planning commission and zoning committee, but in particular Ted Paul really got down into the dirt on this and and helped with a lot of the details. So, my hats off, Miss Walker. Thank you, Mayor. Um, so will this be enforcable?

Yes. Okay. And how do we how do you envision that working? Uh the city recently acquired a light meter that's uh that's certif that that meets that would meet the threshold of if we had to do a citation that the uh the meter is sensitive enough that if we had to do an enforcement issue we have the capability. So that would be on the part of our enforcement officer. That's correct. And the zoning administrator. Then I have a second question. So does this mean that we're phasing out metal halli and high compact fluorescents because they don't meet the lumens or the standards? And are we talking about only LED bulbs moving forward?

Yeah, LED three the 3000 color coloration is is LED. I mean, the city's currently the street program is using 4,000. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless the lights were next to each other. The colors are so so close. Uh but yeah, we'd be phasing out uh certain certain types of like like high pressure sodium, which is in the amber color, right? You don't really even see that anymore, right? Yeah. And so I I was just assuming that's because the city is already the DVW has done that over time. So metal halli um the high pressure sodium and the high convect fluorescent that's okay. Thank you so much.

Y public speak.

Thank you. Thank you your honor. Sir Steven Hayes. I live on Bay Street. 512A. And I just um would like to say that the the street light the Okay. Stephen Hayes uh 512 Bay Street. Um, I would just like to say that the uh the light on the corner of the intersection of Bay Street and Williams um they replaced that light a few years ago and it's noticeably brighter than what it used to be and it is so bright it's like I feel like I am in a spotlight when I walk out of my front door at night. And I share this my opinion is shared by my neighbors too. Um, everybody that I've talked to comments, you know, it's just too bright. Maybe it's the temperature. Um, he says it's 4,000 degrees and they they recommend 3,000. Maybe that would do the trick. I was just out uh in California visiting my daughter last fall. Um she lives in Al Alyssa Aerero which is just south of Los Angeles in uh Orange County. And they've got um they look the same these uh street lights, but it's a much warmer uh temperature and it's it's very um so much nicer to to you know to experience those lights. So, just wanted to uh put in my two cents and uh when it comes time to change those uh light bulbs, maybe we could consider put putting a little less uh you know, bright light in there.

Thank you, Mr. Hayes. Could you give me that location again? State corner. Uh I I live half a block from Williams Street and Bay Street corner. Okay. There's also a possibility you need a shield there. You know, it should be well, it's pointed straight down. Yeah, take a look at it with with public work and see what we can do. That would be great. You you raised a very good point. Um,

Mr. Mr. Eel Angelie, could you address there was some early discussion about adding uh complaint driven uh requests to the ordinance as a is is that being addressed in the in the ordinance as it stands? So, if there is a complaint about something existing with a nonconforming property, how will that be addressed? Mr. Plus,

back to you. Thank you. the uh a complaint would be addressed by uh zoning administrator and the code enforcement officer. We do have we do have a citizen request uh general email that folks can can provide to staff. So, we follow up on those. Um whether it's even a street light that's out. So, I would encourage people if you see a street light out, we're we're not in and around all the time. So, if you see something out, let us know. will address it very quickly. So there's a process that folks can chime in.

So in this case, for instance, if this new ordinance is enacted and there is a complaint about a porch light that is lighting up the neighborhood, even though it's nonconforming, how will it be addressed? If if if we get a a standard complaint that comes in through the city, they usually come in either through the zoning administrators department or they come in through public safety enforcement through Tony. Then the city always responds to the complaint. I understand. But if it's non-conforming under the new ordinance, do you have any if any right to tell them to

Yeah. If if the complaint my my opinion would be if it if it if the complaint is reasonable, if somebody is like shining a light instead of down sideways and it shines in somebody's bedroom, keeps them up all night, then the way the ordinance is set up, if if the complaint is justified, then the person would have to change the light. You're happy with the language as it stands that you have the enforcability? Yes. Thank you. Ju just like any other zoning code enforcability at this time. Sir,

good evening. Alexander PT talk again. Um I had a quick question if anybody can answer that for me. Um I talked about foon lighting. are veston lighting is that uh shielded or unshielded because I know there was a lot of conversation about the shielding of lighting in the dark sky. I didn't know if the vetoon lighting I know there's two different types. I know they can be shielded or unshielded. I didn't know if that was uh you said there

currently festune lighting if you apply the current zoning code it needs to be shielded. So if you go to Panera Bread and you sit outside and you look at their lights, they have the little lights and they all have little shields on it. Light goes down. Under the current code, they don't have to be shielded, but the light has to be between half a half of of a foot candle to two foot candle, not to exceed 25 lumens per string. So re really don't care if it's shielded as long as the lighting levels are ambient enough and the string lights are turned off one hour after the business closes so they don't stay on all night. Anyone else want to speak?

How's that? Call call them set up an appointment time probably. Will you guys work it out? Can I just ask a question? Um, I wonder following up on council member Wilmott's question. I really don't see where that is addressed in here and I don't need you to hunt for it now, but if somebody could give us a reference to where that situation is addressed. Um, complaint on nonconforming.

Yes, I I I didn't see it, but maybe I missed it. Thank you. 4.28 4.28. Did you hear the question? Okay, I was 4.2 alleged violation.

No, but those would be violations. Those would be for things that fall under this, right? It doesn't address non-conform. It's on section 1.3 app applicability B 1.3B. Existing outdoor lighting lawfully installed prior to the effective date that does not meet the requirement shall be considered non-conformant unless the following occurs. The first one is a determination by the city that the outdoor source constitutes a public safety hazard. Got it. Or constitutes a nuisance. A nuisance. Yep. Thank you.

You're welcome. public speak question. Thank you. Um John, I did have another question. Uh would like con active construction sites be exempt from the lighting ordinance. That would be part of the discussion during the site plan review. I would say depending on the scope of the construction project, if they have a lot of outdoor goods that they would usually the contractors would like that area lit up at night. So yes. Yes, it would be. Yeah. And hence the reason I'm asking because I live right above Maple Block and it's fully illuminated 247

and and you could see why there's hundreds of thousands of dollars of of equipment out there. Yes. That was my question. Thank you.

Anybody else? They're being none because this is a first reading. We will move it on to the next opportunity which will be two weeks. So we're now moving on to the three left. The first read of proposed ordinance amending chapter 21 traffic and motor vehicle regulating bicycle. So this is a continued discussion as well. We had this conversation back in uh July

July of last year um really with the concern of uh bicycle traffic within the central business district. Really the focus is and always has been around businesses. Uh folks riding bicycles, interacting with pedestrians as people are coming in and out of businesses uh in the central business district uh is a concern and has been a concern and remains a concern. Um, one thing that we we tried to really listen in on as as folks chimed in was, well, how do how do how do how would a bicyclist get through the area? So, initially the uh the the park reserve district which included um Pennsylvania Park was was included in the original uh ordinance. We have removed that out of this ordinance to allow folks that are bic bicycling through downtown to remain on uh the downtown greenway um kind of above Pennsylvania Park to kind of get back onto uh the greenway at Howard um and continue traversing through the community um as as an option for city council to consider. Um but again the focus really is in within the central business district. Um bicyclists that are on the sidewalk that are interacting with people coming in and out of businesses is a is a significant concern to business owners and uh downtown management board members. And so this is back before you to hopefully we can resolve um this issue before we get into the heat of our

uh busy season again downtown because this is an ongoing uh concern that we have and have experienced. So happy to answer questions, feedback at this point.

Assuming uh assuming passage of the current uh language as as written, what kind of uh public notice is there going to be? Is there going to be new signage? Is there going to be how how are you going to try to notify people of the beginning and end of the uh walking no bike area? Yeah, I mean I think improved signage and again I think we've we've been um so intent on signage that blends in with our surroundings that I think we have not gotten folks's attention sometimes with whether it's pedestrian crossings or you know we do have sidewalks restricted pedestrian use only but they do a great job of blending in with the signpost with with downtown. I I just think we need to be a little more visible with our signage and meet the the the the standard as far as, you know, the brighter colors. It might not be attractive, but we need to get people's attention on what we're trying to accomplish here, whether that's pedestrian crossings or restricting bicycles on the sidewalks. Just more more signage and and more um signage that is is highly visible, I think, is important. And then as you mentioned the education campaign of alerting people to this, getting out on social media, um you know, using downtown. They have a um a great network of people that that they cast uh social media posts out to. So, uh Missy does a great job of of making sure that folks are alerted to changes. So, using that platform to really get the word out effectively.

Mr. Natar Um actually as I read it I see it seemed reasonable and I I kind of liked it. The the question I have is I recall in the in the a couple meetings ago when the the young man uh came in and did a little present he talk about his experience and he was driving or he riding driving to work and and I got the impression that if we did this it could force more bicycle riding into the street creating a hazard. Is there any worry about that in this situation? I I I actually understand why we're doing I was initially not as much on it, but now I totally understand it. But do we have any risk of of increasing risk of kids, teenagers riding their bikes in the streets now in central district, central business district area

and and they can certainly have bikes in the central business district. What we're asking for them to do is get off their bike and walk their bike. Can they go on the Can they ride on? They always go on the street. Yes. And you can ride on the bike path. Yes. The greenway. Yes. Not through Pennsylvania Park. Oh, yeah. You can through Pennsylvania Park. You can't ride a bike. They change above. Up above. Not along Park Avenue. Up above. You're talking by the monuments. That's That's through the park. Can you ride? Can you not ride there? You can. Well, they're saying that you can ride this ornament should be able to ride. Is that what they're saying? I've read it completely differently.

Art Avenue, the sidewalk that we expanded would not be allowed to have bic to ride your bike. But the greenway sidewalk that goes through Pennsylvania, that's how it's right now. I I I don't agree with that's why it's on for your consideration, Miss Deore. Yeah. And that that's the concern I have because I'm thinking about I mean we got conflicting needs here. Folks who are on the bike path and want to keep going. I get that. Y but when you get to the part that's between um Bay Street and Lake Street, there's those big bushes along there. I don't know how to explain this in a better way, so bear with me. theater

and then in the center of that is where people pay for their parking, right? And I just have this vision of bikes going by and people exiting there, you know, and getting cloned by a bicycle going by. Um, so I don't I don't know the answer. I'm just expressing a concern about how that would um work or not work as the case may be. Miss Walker. Yeah, you're totally right because that's my daily commute and the intersection of that parking lot and also the hedge by the sheriff's office. Total blind spot and the hedge is so high that like near misses has happened frequently.

I also see pedestrians on the kids on the cannon. So, we're going to be racing bicycles by the cannon. Kids on the cannon or by the cannon the monuments. Hope we're not racing but Well, what's going to stop them? What are you going to put a speed limit on it? You can you can restrict it and that's your enforce that. That's true. Well, I I think if the ordinance doesn't restrict it, we can't enforce it. But if the any changes to this that you

I would support changing the ordinance to make sure that uh in the downtown district everybody gets off their bike and walks. understanding that the enforcement of this is really intended to keep people safe and I don't expect that public safety is going to be out there with patrols in uh in the middle of October ticketing people that happen to stay on their bike over through the course of the greenway. On the other hand, god forbid there's an accident, there really needs to be teeth in the enforcement. Mr. Moore,

I was just going to say in defense of the city manager, I mean, the last time this came before us and the it was drawn so that people could not go through, you weren't here. I understand there were a lot of people who are bicycle people who were very upset about the fact that you have a you know a bicycle route yet in the middle it's interrupted. So it's it's gives them an opportunity to a degree problematic. Trying to make this a walkable community. Absolutely. And uh

a safe community. And you still can bike. The only thing you have to walk is is two blocks with your bike. We just ride in the street or ride in your street around those two blocks. Navigate the doors opening. So this is the first reading. Um, can we have that? Can we see if the if council have that change made? Consensus of how do you feel about Pennsylvania Park? Do you feel we should allow bicycles in Pennsylvania Park or not, Mr. Knobro?

So, I think during the summer peak times, I I get that this I get the walking and the safety if it's in October or it's if it's in April is But you understand is that where it's

But here's the deal. I think it's not fair to people to say now uh oh this day you can and not next week tomorrow you can't or those date things. I think you need to be consistent and I think we need to trust public safety and the city staff that they're not looking to collect money by ticketing people riding a bike in November or October or April, but they're looking at enforcing when there are people there. So, we're basically making an ordinance 12 months a year. Yes. But telling public safety it's okay to not enforce it when it's not practical. That doesn't mean that doesn't seem to make sense. We're not saying that.

Not saying that.

So So what So because I'm I'm I'm trying to understand when when we would be enforcing it and when we wouldn't be. years ago, we we had an ordinance on playing baseball in Pennsylvania Park. You weren't here. It was years ago. There was some issues with kids playing baseball, softball, hard ball, uh bats. There were things going on like that. And the city decided to put an ordinance that said you can't do that. and and it was understood that the police officer would say, "Hey, go down to the next park down there where there aren't a bunch of people. Let's try to, you know, we cannot allow this with small children, picnic tables, etc." And that that has always worked fine to this point of giving options to the enforcement of it, but yet not looking at the hard hand of every time we're going to nail everybody.

Yeah. Yeah, I think you just have to I mean public safety does this every day. They use discretion. Yes. You know, if it's a if it's somebody we've talked to several times and they keep doing it, then maybe we need to take a little harder approach. But if somebody just didn't understand or realize, give them a warning. It's an education process and I think we have to rely on our staff to do that. I trust our public safety to do that. I I And I do too, Miss Walker.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm wondering if if we continue with the theme of the rails to trails program and the railroad tracks in Pennsylvania Park become a a pathway for bikes to go through. That way they're not on Park Avenue on the sidewalk and that way they're not up by the monuments um in that narrow sidewalk. So, would that be a happy medium? And is that part of the CIP for Pennsylvania Park to convert those rails to a trail following PAR for the course to the south and to the north?

Yeah, I don't know that I can answer that right now. I don't know if that's that's the plan to convert any of that to to a bicycle path. I've visited the pulling out of the railroad tracks in the past along with the cannon and I enjoy part of the I enjoy my job survey. He I enjoy my job. I want to be here. Oh, because people don't want to get rid of the rails in Pennsylvania Park. They're really attached to that. Mr. Moore,

so this is just by way of dialogue. I'm I'm not saying we should do this, but one thought I had and does this help any if we were to go ahead and like designate that um cement walkway, so to speak, that goes along the bushes between Bay and East Lake for only bikes and then put up some kind of little green appropriate fencing there so people don't go from the parking situation into the bike lane and then ask that people walk through Pennsylvania Park. Does that help anything at all?

So, you're going to ask So, you're going to ask people not to walk in front of the wars? No, no, no. The sidewalk goes straight through the war room. I'm not talking about I said just the one block, right? so that they could continue on that one block. Then you just have to walk one segment. Again, I'm not proposing it. I'm putting it out there. There are walkers and bikers that use those trails simult that path from Bay all the way down to Bay View. And so you just you heed, you know, on your left, on your right, like people communicate with one another, bikers. Could we address your concerns coming off the Elk lot with signage like caution or um

watch for crossing bicyclist? I I don't know, but we could potentially do some signage there that alerts people that don't just step out here because there could be cross traffic coming. I I don't I don't know, but either Well, I would prefer to just encourage people to get off their bikes and walk on those two blocks. We were trying to make a compromise based on what we heard. Understood. But yeah, you don't want to come. Not kidding. I have to agree with Mr. uh Wilmont. Um you've got some Let's go as is. Uh so basically, are we saying for the next meeting we're going to be bringing this back

the park reserve district language back in there? I would support that. Did I speak up? Yes, I did speak up. Okay. Okay. Gotcha. So, now is the time for the public to weigh in. If you'd like to come up, come up to the mic. Come on up. You don't have to give your address if you don't wish. All you need really legally is just your first last name and the mic's yours.

Thank you. Uh Mary Gene Myerson. Okay. Mary Gene Meyerson, Paskki, East Lake Street. As a biker, um, somebody who bikes almost every day that I can. I have I almost biked down here tonight. Um, I fully believe in the bike path and the bikeability of our city. It's just amazing. Um, except last summer when you started putting up all those signs that were super unfriendly. I understand your concerns about public safety, but I think there's a happy medium um that can be achieved with signage and it would be great to have a dedicated bike path. We spent so much money building that new really lovely sidewalk right along the buildings in Pennsylvania Park and yet there's there's no bike path that connects the bike path that goes all the way from Harbor Springs to Charavoy through the city. And so I support um that your proposal to allow bikes to continue to bike through there. As a as a commuter who bikes all through there, I would love to not have to get off my bike if it's not necessary. I think people are pretty intelligent if there's a lot of kids and a lot of people on the bike path. They'll hop off their bikes and and and walk through when it gets really crowded and it's in the summer and they just won't go that way in the summer. But it's a bike path. like that's the bike path and I can't believe that the city is going to like not allow bikes to be on the bike path. Um, as far as biking through town and on the city sidewalks, I support that. Um, it is a little scary though when when you get off the bike path and cars are opening their their doors. There's not a lot of space for bikes to maneuver with the town traffic in the summer and that's just a concern. Um, but I fully support bike path and I also would like to support uh not getting rid of um there was I saw something in the ordinance

about um uh roller skates and and other like scooters and stuff on the bike paths. And may maybe that was just down here. I'm I'm not 100% clear on what that ordinance was about, but like that's where families all go when with little kids on scooters and and roller rollerblades and things. Do you know what I'm talking about? It was what you're talking about. Downtown sidewalk the prominade or something. It's downtown sidewalks. No, it was down by the Bayront. It said Bayr. Prominade. That would be the brick pathway between the clock tower and the tunnel. Okay. like where all the little kids take their scooters pretty much

on to get to the playground that's at the bot end of that pathway. I mean, I I agree. You don't want and I I really strongly dislike all those electric bikes that don't even require you to pedal. And I those should not be allowed on the bike path. And my understanding was that they are not allowed on bike paths, but you see them all the time. But people who have electric assist bikes and kids on scooters and kids with little little pedal bikes, I think, should be allowed on all of those paths. So, thank you. You

anyone else wishes to meet the council? Stephen Hayes. Um, it's really nice when I'm almost like the only one here from the whole city, you know, so I get pretty big voice, right? So, um, I bicycle quite a bit and, um, in my opinion, um, you should not ride your bicycle on a sidewalk, period. Um, as far as if you want to ride through, um, Pennsylvania Park, um, I would think a 3 m per hour speed limit might be something to consider. Um, otherwise, I I think, um, far as biking through Paskki, um, most people out for a recreational bike ride are not going to be riding through town. They're going to be getting on the bike path down by through across the water by the waterfront. So, um, and to go from Bay Street to East Lake, you know, either through that parking lot or on the sidewalk, which is separated by the cedars. Um, I feel a lot safer if I'm riding my bike that direction to go right down the middle of the parking lot. So you can keep an eye on the cars and you'll have time to get out of the way if somebody's backing out. But if you go on that sidewalk, um somebody can be walking out of that parking lot and you won't see them, you know, until they're right there. So um that's my opinion.

Anyone else wish to speak to council? There's one hand up. Emily. Hello, Emily.

Hi there, Emily Meerson Pataski. Um, I was there last summer when you talked about this and um, it I sort of was surprised to see it back on the agenda because we were told it was sort of a dead But I I do understand why you want to limit um bicyclists in front of the businesses and I support that ordinance as written um because it continues to allow bikes through Pennsylvania Park. Not that Pennsylvania Park is ideal place to bike. It is not. But right now it's the only choice. And when we left in July, there was discussion about creating a way to get bikes from the downtown greenway, the new part that you're just finishing now with realigning um the trail um be on Howard Street over to Bay Street and not nothing to my knowledge has happened. So to just cut people off again is just not ideal. It isn't an ideal situation, but it it's the only one in the middle of the day in the summer. It's bad. But the truth is, if you're commuting, it's not about recreational riding. If you're commuting, that's the way you might go. You're going at 7 or 8 in the morning. You're going at times it's not busy. And so, I I support it as written. I understand why you don't want them in front of the businesses, but we need the ability to get across town. And I just it's not ideal. I'd like to see a better solution, but right now that's all we have. And it's just not realistic. I know people who don't bike a lot just get off your bike and walk. But actually, if you bike, some of the hardest part about biking is getting on and off your bike. People with disabilities and limited movement really would have a hard time with that. It

It's very difficult. So, um, not that they can't do it, but it's just it it's just not the behavior of bicyclists. And I I just don't think that's a good solution to say you must do that. So, maybe the first step is to just do this ordinance as written and limit the the bicyclists in front of the businesses because those are huge safety issues, right?

But allow them on the limited basis through Pennsylvania Park. And some of the safety issues you guys mentioned are sort of self-inflicted, like the hedge is owned by the city of Paskki. Maybe you cut the hedge back so you have better visibility. I mean, there are some things you can do to improve that safety. So, I would just really encourage that. Um, I'm glad you've changed it since last year. Please don't go back to the same one that you dropped from last year and move forward with what the city manager brought forward to you. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes.

Hi, Maggie Crom. On our way here down tonight, there was a family I didn't recognize. They had a stroller under five on a bicycle and under five on a scooter and they were all on the sidewalk and they weren't causing problems for anybody. I know it's April and it's cold. While we're here during the meeting, I see lots of people using the sidewalks, using all forms of transportation, wheels and not wheels. In the city of Paskki, living in town, it gets very congested and some of us get even a little bit tense thinking about the summer season coming up. But allowing and encouraging bicycles actually helps that problem. When we work downtown, when I get my groceries downtown, when I go shopping downtown, when I meet friends downtown, if I ride my bike or my scooter, I have both, I use the sidewalks because they're a lot safer than the street. When I am approaching people, I usually get off and walk around them. Um, but I wouldn't do things that would discourage bicycles because I think they solve a lot of other problems in town. And I would encourage the language to be friendly. I think even a sign or right next to the walk that said, "Please consider walking your bicycle if the sidewalk is congested," would go very far instead of trying to create new rules that would keep families and other people commuting off of the sidewalks. Thank you.

Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak to council? Mr. N,

you know, you you brought up a a pretty good point. I was I was in Louisville uh very recently for a volleyball tournament and we stayed downtown and they had all those scooters or little uh Uber scooters and they were so cool. And my my granddaughter talked me into doing it. And at 72 years old, I was running around with those scooters and their big old sign said they're not allowed on sidewalks, but everybody was using them on sidewalks. And so I asked the enforcement guy, the cop that was there, and said, "Well, what's the scoop?" And he said, 'Well, technically, and this goes to the discretion rule. Technically, you're not allowed to have these scooters on the on sidewalks. However, we also had someone get killed in out on the street. There were there's a little bikeway on the on the little bike path on the street and someone got killed and it was a young one. And so they've decided their enforcement to to only go after the abusers who are really zooming around because most people that I saw it there, this is Louisville, were very different. They're very courteous in slowing down and even stopping when there's a lot of pedestrians. So I would hate for us to have an attitude that we don't want bikes either. So it would be I'm I'm really torn on how to do it, but I'm going to rely on my own personal attitude right now is is do it with our changes. like we said restricted just what we're kind of it seems like we're doing but I'm going to rely on Rocky and his team to to be practical about it

and we have light patrol I support that also so anyone else wish to speak to council there being none this will come back up on Monday two weeks from now Thursday excuse me Thursday for all those possibly attending Thursday I believe it's the 7th Next is please real quick point of clarification. It's coming back with the park reserve language back in. Is that my understanding? Yes, I heard. Thank you.

Next is the uh adoption proposed resolution that would uh designate location for the 2026 warden and city conventions. Who wants to take it away? Well, this is annual housekeeping. Any questions? Uh, so there I did confirm with Paskki schools compared to last year where there's a little hiccup. So, um, as presented, uh, Ward Conventions, Ward One, City Hall Council Chambers, uh, Ward Two, Ottawa Elementary gym/ cafeteria, which is available, and I tentatively have it reserved, uh, city hall community room for ward three, and then ward four, Sheridan Elementary gym/cafeteria. So the only compared to our normal locations from the schools, words two and four are the only available because they're doing construction at the other locations. So

Lincoln's under construction uh indoors. Yeah, they can't use not available for whatever reason. A lot of times they redo the floors in those, you know, it's gym and cafeteria. So, um, unless you guys have other recommendations of somewhere the community room right over there. That would be mainly the main change is you, Joe. W 3. So, Tina's in here in Ward One. So, the building will be locked at 8:00 p.m. 700 p.m. Um, unless you guys have other recommendations. And then city convention here, city hall council chambers. Which like center for the arts for W three.

I would love it. I could get it. If you can get it, you got I can imagine if we had this convention somewhere in Bay Harbor that would be that would be a really good thing to do. Unfortunately, I could find a spot in Bay Harbor. I know for W two it's mostly I don't think there's hardly a car there because everybody walks to it. So Ottawa three of them. Yeah. Yeah. More people. No, I mean if you okay

you want a different location, we I can find out and before the next meeting, but we should make a decision by May 7th um just so we can get it out online and then if if you don't mind, let me do my little email out to my my my people and um and get their opinion. You know, there'd be no question Bay there's I could get spots in Bay Harbor, but the question is would that be practical for everybody else that's in the in the ward three in the city? Depends on the I think it depends on the people that usually show up and you'll hear you're going to hear yay or nay and open bar.

Is it real political theater to you get on the stage? We vote right for suggesting we'll hold two there as well. Thank you Sarah Beck for your due diligence. I think this looks great, right? But I'm hearing table until adoption May 7th so you can get more feedback from Word three, you know, because I wasn't there last year because I was you you didn't I I'm not exactly sure that the people that are there. So I I don't want to create an inconvenience if if they think it's an inconvenient to be here. They'd rather be somewhere else. So we do have time. So I would say May 7th, we would need to make a decision. Okay. So

if if I could just request a little bit of so I can do a quick survey and just do my homework if I were you because No, I don't want to go to Bay I don't think Bay Harbor would be practical. I'm not suggesting that. Yeah. I I don't know. You talk to your constituents, those people that show up. She's got a list of who shows up with the signatures or sign in on that time. When I stepped in for you, I would ask them. Okay.

I will say just as a reminder, uh, ward one, ward three, and the mayor are the, um, candid, did I say that right, spots on the November ballot. So, um there could be more attendance this year, but there very well might not be because as usual there's sometimes it is a low turnout. It runs 15 to 20 people.

And then just a reminder um those dates ward convention is June 15th which is in replacement of this council meeting. So there's no council meeting that evening. Wednesday, June 17th is city convention, which would also be a planning commission meeting, but um we've done this the last two, three years, and it's worked out perfectly. So, it starts at 8:00. That's a due to the charter. Otherwise, believe me, it would be six o'clock. But because it's charter, it says 8 and that's the rules. So, we have to hold it at 8. I think I get five calls every year. Why can't you move it to six o'clock? charter.

I hope that we're maintaining a list of charter revision items. Sure. All right. Next, then we wait to hear till the next meeting. Next, the adoption of post resolution that would authorize contracting with executive fence and gate out of Byron Center for the dog park fence installation project, which I'm very excited about. I don't have a dog, however. You don't have a dog in a fight. I have no dog in no fight. He has a nephew. I'll turn it over to

Yeah, memo is pretty self-explanatory. We did bid this uh out. Unfortunately, the bids came back higher than what we had anticipated. Uh shockingly. Um, so we did do we did get back with the low bid and uh made some some tweaks and and essentially moved from a five feet five foot fence to a four uh foot fence. We took one of the gates out and that did bring it down to under $50,000 which is where our budget was. Um and so that's where it's at currently. The low bid certainly has the ability to to do this project and get it done timely. So

what's timely? Our recommendation is to proceed. When what is timely for this project? The other concern that we're dealing with and working with, as you walk that Bear River corridor, you look above, you see some high voltage lines. Um those will be buried. So we'd like to get those buried before the fence goes up. So, we're working closely with Jason and his crew, electric crew to get those lines buried before the fence goes up. We can do it with the fence up. It'd just be easier if the fence wasn't sure there. So, we're still looking at um you know, early June um to have both those things done. Oh, okay.

Maybe usable. Yeah. This summer. This summer, sometimes. Yes. do a ribbon cutting sometime in July for Yeah, sounds great. I know. I I walked by the grass the other day and it's getting greener, but it's parse and Yeah, we'll like have to seat it again. Yeah, top seated again. Yeah, the fencing will not keep out the deer, by the way. I have a motion. I was simply going to make a motion to approve. I have a second. I'll second the motion. Excuse me. I have a motion from Mr. Wilmont, a second from Miss Walker, but I call on Miss De Moore for a comment.

Yeah, just a question because the range of bids here was pretty significant and then it looked like we value engineered. I wondered if we'd like reached out to get a reference on these folks that we're selecting. Yeah, Kendall has called and done some background on them. They're very capable of doing this work. This is what they do. So, the fence coded. Yes. Black black coated vinyl. Yes. So it isn't just your regular hard metal fence. It's And I don't have a dog either, but I mean a 4ft fence is good as opposed to a five foot fence.

I mean, we prefer to have the five probably, but we're we're trying to get this in and around the budget. So $1 under. So yeah, that's the that's the compromise, I guess, which we we can still make that work. Um, is it to keep dogs from like leaping over or I mean, yeah, some of the bigger dogs certainly can can jump. Um, but I don't think it's unlikely. Like definition, the owner's going to be there. You guys, you have your your dog is big. Can it jump over a 4 foot fence? Not in his dreams. I can't either. You can't either. If I had a dog, it wouldn't get up and jump over that either. I'm sure. But your cat would.

Thank you. Next. Next one I'm bringing up next is we need a cat cat park because I have a cat and I feel left out. Cat cafe. Incriminidated against cats by doing this dog park. I went to a cat cafe. They're in Grand Rapids. Go visit them. Okay. So, I have a Does anybody wants to speak any more on public about this? There being none, I go to Miss Beck for roll. GMAT I. Walker. I knock I Murphy

I. Motion passes 5-0. Congratulations on the dog fence situation. Look forward to a July ribbon cutting and letting the dogs and the people run wild. Uh, next city council comments. I start with Miss uh, Walker in Ward 4.

Thank you, mayor. I had the privilege of attending the public meeting for the skate park and let me tell you the whole process with how we've approved the financing for the skate park and for the public process. It was an example of like doing it right. And so I I hope that for the future I see the same thing for our winter sports park as we move into our capital improvement plan and our five-year plan for the winter sports park. Kendall did an incredible job of pulling people together that were skaters and he was very confessional. He was like, "I am out of my element. I don't know what I don't know." But he pulled together a great group of people both in person in the room and with the consultant designer of that we hired from California to design the skate park. And then there were young people online as well contributing to the conversation. And it was wonderful to hear this designer talk and he was totally California and absolutely all the skater terminology. At one point he was like, "This software is crushing me right now." And I was sitting in my kitchen just like totally gleeful and happy that this whole process was done and it was a really good feel-good opportunity. And you had people in the room that knew about skating. They knew about the previous park and what was good and what wasn't good. and they were really excited about this design. So, kudos to Kendall and the group of young people and and middle-aged people too that were contributing to the future skate park design and I thought it was excellently done. So, thank you so much,

Mr. Nabra. W three, no comments. W two, Mr. Wilma, just a couple of follow-up questions. Um, speaking of the skate park, what kind of a um, uh, logistics track, uh, development track is the skate park on at this time for completion and stuff as far as getting it in? Probably fall. Oh, okay. So, sometime in 26. Yeah, it's in it's in the 26th budget. Yes. Um could you also uh potentially give us an update on uh the engineering and design work for the Eper curve section of just getting started um surveying work has started. Oh, it has. Yes. Um

that's first step. Yeah. So getting rid of the the snow was a a a good leap for surveyors that uh need to do the surveying. So yeah, we're we're we'll be meeting on a regular basis going forward with uh our partner OHM on this. So we're excited to see that project. That's great. And and my final question would be with regard to the uh negotiations with the with the uh public schools regarding the generator at the middle school. Yeah, the mayor and I have a meeting set with Dr. Lesie and his team. Uh remind me, mayor, when is first week of May? Um yeah,

meeting at the middle school to look at the site, walk the site. Um so we'll kind of have a better idea after that meeting. Do we know if um their enthusiasm for this project is tied to the millillage at all? No, I'm I don't think it is, but I don't want to I don't want to speak for them, but we were talking about this well before the millillage discussion came out. So

they're very positive about it. uh he worked in uh New Baltimore before he came here. They had generators in every one of their buildings for their schools and thought it was a great idea. We sat had a meeting with him and uh uh said let's let's start it. I know the talk was double what we thought it was and uh the price looks like it's doable 100,000 something like this. city would would you know we'll work with them on finance or whatever we have be but my my intention is is that's ready for this coming winter

because we don't want to go into another winter like we had here there was some fear of ice storms again this year snows and so we need to have that as a backup uh Shane spent many nights I spent a night here sitting with people sleeping underneath tables here uh no showers were bringing in I mean things of sloppy joe's and buns broughten in food to feed the people. Uh and that middle school would be unbelievable. You'd have showers, you'd have a gym for kids, you'd have art, you'd have rooms to sleep in, uh cafeteria, the whole works would be available for the city of people. And if it went more than it went five days here and we needed five days someplace else,

my hats off to the city manager and his wife Michelle who basically lived here. You did. They'll be hosting stepped up. Yeah. Be hosting us at the middle school. I would hope. And your sloppy joe's will be available at the middle school, too. I would 50 pounds of sloppy joe's again to bring me. Yes. It helped heat my house. stove was on so much mention that didn't want to be. Uh, anything else? Yeah. Word one de more.

First of all, thank you for the reminder of the May 7th meeting because I would have been here on May 4th. Um, I just want to let you know that two female members of the Paskki Youth Advisory Council went down to the Capitol Conference, the Michigan Municipal League Capital Conference, and for the first time to my knowledge in the history of um the Capitol Conference. Those two students were allowed to present with me to more than 100 elected officials in a breakout session on the topic of youth movement getting students engaged in local government. And it was extremely wellreceived. So much so that we've had outreach from other communities in the state wanting to visit and see what we're doing in our meetings. but also very interestingly um from other youth advisory councils who are interested to kind of brainstorm with our students here about things we're doing and they're doing and what changes and that sort of thing could happen. So on May 18th just a reminder that the youth advisory council students will be here to make a presentation their end of the year presentation to the council to let you all know what they've been doing this year. Wonderful.

Thank you. I'm always impressed. Uh I think when I first elected mayor here a few years, quite a few years ago, you guys weren't here. And it's fun to see how council can change and yet the people of Baski elect good people that have are independent thinking, but yet can come together as we have to make decisions for the best of of of of the whole community. and my hats off and love working with you guys and I appreciate what you bring to the table, your thoughts, your energy and uh you're reaching out to to your your constituents. So again, thank you for what you do and I I sure appreciate it and I know staff does as well. So no further business coming before this council. Do I call this meeting a jury?