Joe Lewis Greenway Design Update Public Meeting
Development
Environment
Parks
Remote
This meeting is intended to update community members about the construction progress of the Joe Louis Greenway. In addition, we will inform residents on environmental remediation and design of the former railway segment between Davison and East McNichols.
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Detroit - MI Documenters Team
Note-taking by
Paige Rollins
Project planners and advisory council answer questions. Phase 1, Warren-Joy Rd. set to begin construction in 2022.
Live reporting by
Paul Warner
Project planners and advisory council answer questions. Phase 1, Warren-Joy Rd. set to begin construction in 2022.
Pdubb
@PauldubbWarner
Hi, I’ll be live-tweeting today's Joe Louis Greenway Design Update Public Meeting (Davidson to E.McNichols) for #DETdocumenters @media_outlier @Detour_Detroit @PlanetDetroit @freep @wdet @BridgeDet313 @DETdocumenters @metrotimes @chalkbeatDET
04:57 PM Dec 8, 2021 CST
From the JoeLouisGreenway.com website. "This meeting is intended to update community members about construction progress of the Joe Louis Greenway. In addition, we will inform residents on environmental remediation and design of the former railway segment between Davidson...
...and East McNichols. The Joe Louis Greenway is a recreational pathway that will unify Detroit’s neighborhoods, people and parks. Through this greenway, we strive to honor Joe Louis by providing equitable spaces through arts, programming, and economic opportunities for all."
"The 27.5-mile greenway will connect parks and neighborhoods across the city, allowing residents to travel safely from McNichols to the riverfront—all without a car—through a combination of new trails, on-street protected bike lanes and links to existing trails...
"like the Dequindre Cut and the RiverWalk. The greenway includes the cities of Dearborn, Hamtramck, and Highland Park, linking them to larger trail systems that crisscross the entire state as well as pass-through five council districts."
Christina Peltier starts the meeting at 6:03. The agenda has 8 points including framework plan, phase one update and more. Peltier is the Project Manager for Joe Louis Greenway. Project manager Hanan Yahya, and City of Detroit chief parks planner Dara O'Byrne are in the room.
Framework plan is one. Results can be found on the website joelouisgreenway.com. Peltier says the framwork plan could not be done without resident input. There will be 27.5 miles of pathway.
Peltier says the path will be separated for bikers, walkers and runners and family. Yahya introduces a questionnair that has just popped up on all in this zoom meeting including this reporter. The question ask if you have participated in any previous Joe Louis Greenway...
Meeting? There will be two more polls this evening. Peltier points those interested to view the old meetings online. About 600 residents have participated in the previous meetings going back to 2019.
The areas from Joy to Chicago, and Fullerton to Grand River are discussed. There will be fencing to protect homes and businesses from the path. Peltier says residents want cars separated from the path as possible.
Next poll. Where do you live? The last poll was 47 to 47 percent who had been at a old meeting and the newbies and this meeting.
59 percent from Detroit. 9 percent Highland Park but about 32 percent said "other"?
A response activity plan is read for Davidson to East McNichols. Moving forward this is all that will be discussed. A response activity plan require public meetings to discuss mitigation of soil and ground water contamination to get permits.
Soil testing has found similar conditions as phase one. Nothing uncommon found. found mostly heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons. No evidence that there is on contamination off site.
State wants a environmental assessment, removal and disposal of some soil in some sites. Sites will be restored with meadows and grass. A question and answer session opens up. Brian Charlton from the Smith Group joins the room to help answer questions about the response...
activity plan for the Davidson-East McNichols. S G ask the first question. Will there be bathrooms on the path. Peltier says they can bring that up later, she wants to stick to the response activity plan and says later slides will answer that question. Only question asked.
Sometimes the path will have to be connected but when they have room the paths will be separated. This part of the path runs through industrial areas near Livernois.
Crossing signs on higher speed roads. The path across the Lodge Freeway will be shared. The Ernest T Ford Recreation Center will be connected to the path. The crossing over Woodward will be a bridge that is in use now and once again the paths will be shared.
Ford Park will be connected to the path. The path will go under I-75. Path terminate at McNIchols. This part of the path is roughly 5 miles. Lower speed crossings will have raised speed tables, a la the Dennis Archer Greenway. Last poll question. Do you live near....
or own a business near the Joe Louis Greenway? 53 precent live there. Go to the website for the rest of the results.
William McCarley, architech picks up the presentation. Safety measures include maintained visibility, multiple access points, call boxes, cameras and safe street crossings and bike lanes. Believes all these elements will create a safe path. Allow residents a safe experience.
In their own backyards. Next steps will continue construction from Warren to Joy. Dependent on weather. Joy and Fullerton construction will start on 2022 and go until 2023. Ralph C Wilson foundation is thanked for their help.
Response activity plan will be submitted to the state for environmental clean-up permits for 2022. Framework plan complete. Warren to Fullerton design done. Warren to Joy done. Floor opened for questions again. Devlon Jackson ask how long will it be before Highland Park
see the greenway. Peltier says they want the greenway completed in 4-7 year according to funding.
Peltier says they are looking for to put bathrooms along the way due to funding and partner with neighborhood centers to use their bathrooms.
Breon Lewis is in the room to ask a question. He suggest to build a bridge over livernois due to treacherous traffic there. Brings up a bridge on Warren near central and says it was not sold to the city. Peltier confirms and says they will work with wayne county and others..
for crossing solution. Lewis is asked to join future meetings to ask about bridges and safe crossings. He loses contact with the room mid question. He was talking about the bad traffic at certain sections.
Marvin Belton is next. He lives near the project. How long will the path be open to public? Will it be 24 hours or will use be cut off at a certain time? Issues with safety and dumping. Peltier says the residents want to keep the path open 24 hours for people who work...
overnight. the riverwalk will still have hours but not the rest of the path. She says they are working with others on safety and dumping issues. They are trying to secure city owned properties and working with the demolition team to tear down buildings along the path.
She ask him also to stay intouch with questions. They have done landbank and tax workshops in their community engagement issues. She hopes this will make a comprehensive change in the neighborhoods the path will run thought.
Belton ask about other people in the neighborhood won't maintain their own property and wonders why the city does not cite those property and lot owners. He says there are a lot of things that need to be addressed and that the areas can be cleaned up but will they stay that way
Peltier ask to partner with Belton on some of these issues. She hopes that more people using the greenway will discourage dumping.
Melissa Arnett ask are there links to business if you want to stop at a cafe or such? Peltier says they are partnering with businesses and says the recreation centers will be linked. She says there will be lots along the way so people who don't want to ride the entire path..
will have a place to park, which was also a question from Arnett. Linda Wheeler from Highland Park agrees with the dumping problem. She wants to be part of the advisory team. She ask about bike repair business along the path and says the cities will not fund them....
but if someone wants to build bike shops along the way go for it. She then shows pix of the bike repair stations along the way along with bike parking, benches and trash and dog waste receptacles. Wheeler ask about water stations. Peltier says that will be discussed.
She passes to her partner McCarley about the water stations. He says they have provisions for a bubbler, dog spickets and refill stations along the way. Wheeler thanks them for their presentation.
Peltier says they are always open to meet at community meetings when requested. Deblon Jackson ask about they types of small businesses will be allowed along the greenway and what type of business can open up on the greenway. Peltier says they will alert about....
locations along the greenway that will be available for purchases. O'Byrne says that zoning defines the types of businesses along the greenway. More questions. Anne Zobel is another Highland Park resident who says this is a great regional plan. She ask about rail crossings...
on Woodward and near the lodge. Wonders if those tracks are still in use under the bridges. Peliter says the Woodward bridge is owned by the city and is not active. The other line near 75 is active. The bridge on Oakman is active also with two to three trains a week.
Peltier is talking to Highland Park businesses to see where there will be access to the path, as per Anne's question.
District 6 RuShann Long calls in and says do not wait to see what business will be allowed along the path and go and see about those businesses right now. She says to look for people who may open up temp bike shops. She says she has seen people buy land and start selling drinks
and mentioned someone who opened a beer garden on their property. She is excited about the path going through her district. She basically says don't wait to see about starting a business on the greenway. Get on it now. Peltier says call in and they will connect you...
with the city's small business liasion for help in starting a small business along the greenway.
On the separated paths one path will be for bikes and the other for pedestrians that will be wide enough to place two wheelchairs next to each other. Red path on the map is for bikes. Yellow for walkers.
Caller says "he is rooting for you guys." District 7 advisory council member Sandra Pickens calls in to share that this is going to be a great investment over here. It will improve our area. "I think this is wonderful. I"m kinda happy with what is going on over here."
Peltier says that the Littlefield community has asked for a route change to line the route to a elementary school. She ask to watch for public meetings. go here for the business liaisons degc.org/district-busin…
Belton is back and ask about allowing motorized vehicles on the path. Scooters and electric bikes will be admitted but no atv's or motorcycles. Ebikes will be permitted as well as they meet restricted speed requirements.
Answering questions from the chat now. Path goes though Oakman and was funded by a grant. There is a part of the path between grand river and chicago. Question is how close will the path go to the Amtrak or other transportation options and will there be signs to those options.
Peltier says the path will be aways from the Amtrak Station. They do plan on highlighting bus stops and try to fund share bike sharing. So it will not be close to Amtrack but to DDOT and SMART bus stops.
All questions will be saved and posted on the website. A map of existing greenways and bike paths can be seen at this link. detroitgreenways.org/MapByProjectTa…
Yahya look through the chat for more questions and says they are wrapping up. A question about a Livernois crossing location. Peltier ask the person to join them in other meetings to discuss that crossing. Yahya brings up a question about linking the path with other paths...
to suburban bike paths? Peltier says stay tuned and they are working on these connections. Talking to downriver communities about linking paths. She says there will be two more meetings coming up in the new year.
Question from chat about speed limits for ebikes and scooters. Peliter says the scooters can only go 15 miles a hour and they will look into the states ebike requlations. She says when they find out speedlimits they will post them. Todd Scott says that ebikes are only allowed
to go 20 miles a hour. Peltier says the bike and walking paths are separate for safety. She says they will go to their safety and security teams about ways to mitigate speeds on the paths. Yahya thanks the questioner for his questions. One question asked is how...
will the speed limits be enforced. Peltier will see how the Riverfront conservancy clocks speed. Once again states they will go to safety team. She says the scooters are easier to regulate due to GPS tracking.
McCarley says eyes of adjacent businesses and residents can help. Peltier says they will talk to partners about these problems. Yahya raps up with inviting people to go to the website to follow up on all questions and for more info about the greenway. Peltier says...
to share the message about the greenway and to contact them if communities want them to join meetings for input. Long says she visited a greenway in Atlanta and says it changed the communities along the way. Long says she will get on a scooter to check out the greenway.
Pickens get a last word in and says the meeting has been a big encouragement to see what is going on in the city. She is not one for riding a scooter so she will walk or drive the route to see the path.
She is with the Littlefield community association. Meeting is closed at 7:31 with Peltier once again asking everyone to stay engaged in the project.
