Crime takes a significant dive
in Grosse Pointe City
Crime dropped 9.5 percent in the City of Grosse Pointe in 2008, the sharpest decrease Public Safety Director Jim Fox has seen in the 12 years he has been tracking crime statistics.
“This is a surprising development given the (troubled) economy, but the other Grosse Pointe cities also saw a decrease in crime statistics,” Fox told the Grosse Pointe City Council at its monthly meeting Monday.
The total number of crimes reported went from 369 in 2007 to 334 in 2008. Serious crimes declined 18 percent last year–from 157 in 2007 to 129 last year. Among those were two armed robberies and four felonious assaults. Arrests were made in all those cases and arrestees were prosecuted, Fox said.
He attributed at least some of the drop in crime to giving city police officers 12-hour instead of 24-hour patrol shifts. “When we went to 12 hour-hour shifts, we could put one more police car on road, which gave us extra coverage,” Fox said.
The report also credited a patrol unit in the Village, particularly near Maire Elementary School and Kroger. “The department will continue to work with Maire School on safe routes for the children, lockdown and fire drills and traffic hazards,” the report stated.
Fox reported no major residential or business fires.
Last year, two officers were trained in the proper installation of child car seats. So far, they have completed more than 134 inspections, a service requested by city residents.
Council members commended the public safety department on its success. “It’s great to have a decrease in crime during tough economic times,” said councilman John Stempfle.
In other business, Cadieux Road construction begins May 4. A special budget meeting is planned for May 11 with budget approval slated for May 18. A copy of the proposed budget is available to the public beginning May 8.
“It has been a very tough year to get this budget (drafted) without cutting services,” said Mayor Dale Scrace.
City Planner John Jackson, executive vice president at McKenna Associates in Northville, gave an extensive presentation on the Village regarding its zoning options. “We want to keep it competitive in a down economy,” he said.
Jackson said he plans to reach out to the Village business community in the next couple weeks to work out a solution to modify current zoning. “After that, I’ll have to draft new zoning ordinance language, and then we’ll schedule a public hearing, most likely in June,” Jackson said.
“The Village now has a lot of different owners. Other communities have huge, expansive business districts. We don’t have that issue and have no other areas for commercial development in the city,” Jackson said. “Fisher Avenue has some but is limited. Our prime opportunity is the Village.”
Jackson’s presentation included a combination of the city’s master plan, a look at the district’s current zoning and some of the options for zoning changes. When the master plan was drafted, residents were asked what uses they want in the Village. The most requested use was a hotel. Almost 33 percent of the respondents wanted another department store.
City Manager Peter Dame said so far there are no signed formal agreements for the development of a hotel. “(Developers) are trying to identify funding,” he said. A hotel was proposed in 2007 by a group called Village Inn of Grosse Pointe LLC, including Grosse Pointers Duncan MacEachern and John Palffy. They have requested a six-month extension for a predevelopment agreement while they identify partners and financing.
Dame said a feasibility study acknowledged there was an appropriate amount of demand in the Village for a 60-room boutique hotel, which would include a 6,000-square-foot day spa. The hotel is slated for a block along Notre Dame on a third of the city-owned parking lot behind Starbucks.
“We all know it is a tough time to put this together,” Scrace said.
“When they get the final terms together, we would have to do due diligence,” said councilman John Stevens. “We have to encourage them to pursue it. We have a great market and great potential.”
Council members talked at length about attracting more businesses into Kercheval Place, which is 50 percent occupied on the second floor and more than 75 percent occupied at street level. The goal has been to keep the Village half retail and half service-related businesses. “Our plan was to increase (occupancy) in the Village, but we don’t want to compromise the integrity of the tenants,” Jackson said.
