Commissioners discuss pedestrian street lighting, new public transportation options
Pedestrian street lighting and the possibility of new public transportation options in the city were discussed during the Jan. 27 Mount Pleasant City Commission meeting.
The city postponed a vote on a project regarding a pedestrian street lighting project.
City Manager Nancy Ridley also brought up possible discussion topics like rentable scooters, peddle trolleys and establishing rental housing standards.
Pedestrian Street Lighting
There was a public hearing to discuss the replacement of pedestrian street lighting and funding through a special assessment process. Ridley said the improvements would install new pedestrian lighting on Michigan Street downtown between Oak and Washington streets, replacing 10 existing lights and adding six new lights.
The lighting project is estimated to cost around $120,000, Ridley said. This project would be done in conjunction with reconstruction of the road during the summer.
Ridley said the project will be funded in part by revenue from a special assessment for businesses. Since 2014, the city has funded lighting in non-residential zoned areas by requiring property owners where the lighting will be installed to pay for part of it.
Mount Pleasant residents and business owners came up to the podium during the public hearing to share concerns. One resident said that “feeling safer” was not a good enough reason to go through a special assessment. He said special assessments should be used only when the value of the property would be increased.
The commission chose not to vote on the proposal at the meeting. Commissioner Petro Tolas suggested an alternative: To refurbish the existing 10 lights in that area and pay for new lights through the Mount Pleasant Principle Shopping District.
Commissioners agreed to wait until they had more information about Tolas's alternative.
Possible Future Discussion Topics
Ridley also brought up a few topics and ordinance requests that the city has received. Two of them are related to public transportation: Rentable scooters and peddle trolleys. The other topic involved the possibility of setting licensing standards on rental housing in Mount Pleasant, categorizing it into student or family rentals.
She asked commissioners if they would be interested in these proposals. Commissioners Amy Perschbacher, Mary Alsager, George Ronan and Kristin LaLonde said they would be in favor in looking into all thee topics. Tolas said he would only be interested in looking into the rental standards. Mayor Will Joseph said he would be interested in looking into the public transportation options.
Other Business:
The commission unanimously voted to set two public meetings. One is a joint meeting on April 9 in City Hall between the Mount Pleasant Planning Commission and City Commission. The other is a team building dinner for commissioners on Feb. 3. The dinner will help the commissioners get acquainted with each other before making any big decisions. Ridley said the location of it still must be determined.
