Cadieux Road residents still trying to reinstate parking on their street
Cadieux Road homeowner Greg Jakub of the City read a statement and presented a draft of an ordinance to the Grosse Pointe City Council at its meeting Monday night, hoping council members will help him and his neighbors regain parking on their street.
“I would like the city to tell me what to do, help us with a solution,” he said. “I hope they would work with us to find a win-win solution.”
City manager Peter Dame released a statement after the meeting that said city officials understand residents will be inconvenienced by the parking ban, but offered faint hope the situation would change.
Dame said: “I just want to be clear that this is not a change initiated by the City. It is a State of Michigan-imposed safety requirement resulting from Cadieux’s inclusion on the federal aid road system and the use of state and federal grant funds to resurface this street, long considered a major road by the city and state. . . .” Cadieux is a border between Grosse Pointe City and Grosse Pointe Park.
The statement also said officials from both the City and the Park worked to avoid losing parking. But MDOT was not willing to make any design exceptions.
“The approximately $400,000 in grant funds for this one project is an amount three times more than the City has allocated to road repairs for all road projects this year, at a time of a documented backlog of road repairs of approximately $9 million,” the statement said.
The statement also said the City and Park will beef up their traffic patrols to reinforce the 25 m.p.h. speed limit, and that “the City will institute a guest pass system where a simple call in to the Public Safety Department will accommodate visitors that cannot be accommodated off-street.”
Jakub said the City worked on getting parking reinstated after the April deadline to make such changes, which thus was a wasted effort. The City did not alert Cadieux residents last August when MDOT first presented the repaving funds and the elimination of parking on the street, he added.
Now he hopes the City will help him get the ruling changed. “We proposed the language as a starting point for an ordinance,” he said, adding that the ordinance language was drafted by an attorney. “We hope it is a positive step.”
Jakub told the council that the “decision to ban parking on Cadieux decreases our property values.... Our commitment adds curb appeal and value to our homes. Part of the value is access to parking.”
In other business, the council accepted the Michigan Green Communities Challenge. The challenge requires the city to close gaps in energy efficiency to benefit the environment and potentially lower municipal energy costs. The city will lead by example and encourage residents and businesses to initiate similar activities that benefit the environment.
Council members approved an MDOT resolution authorizing the city to sign the MDOT contract to resurface St. Clair from Mack Avenue to Waterloo in the fall. Federal stimulus money totaling $326,559 will pay for the entire project. To meet required design standards, the block of St. Clair between Mack and Charlevoix will lose one side of parking. Parking will be allowed only on the west side of the block.
A resolution was passed authorizing a $1-million bond to renovate the 1923 Neff Road Pump Station. Renovation includes new windows and doors, a new ventilation system, an electric power upgrade and renovation of pumps. The loan will be repaid from the Water and Sewer Fund.
Finally, the council voted to eliminate charging for parking in the Village municipal structure on Sundays. The vote came as a result of a request by Village retailer Trader Joe’s. The grocery store pays for parking for its customers seven days a week. Trader Joe’s officials pointed out that nowhere else in the Village are people required to pay for parking on Sundays.
