Big Changes Coming for Eighth?

Alternate proposals to Safe Harbor's request to use a city-owned warehouse and a petition from residents to restripe Eighth Street are raising questions about how best to utilize the downtown corridor.

Safe Harbor's proposal to use the 9,600 square-foot former Boys and Girls Club building at 517 Wellington Street as an emergency homeless shelter was put on hold this spring in order to give city planning commissioners time to draft a zoning ordinance detailing where and how such facilities can operate in city limits. The planning commission will consider the issue at its May 6 meeting and could schedule a public hearing on the topic as soon as June 3.

But now other community groups could have a place at the table in discussing possible usages for the Wellington warehouse. This week, local nonprofit organization NorthStar Soccer, Inc. offered to submit a proposal to the city to build a nonprofit, self-sustaining recreational facility called Grand Traverse Sports Center (GTSC) at the site. NorthStar President and Director Darrell Rogers – who stresses that he supports Safe Harbor and only offers an alternate should the emergency shelter be denied – says his group has been “looking for a facility to house GTSC for three years.”

“Our facility will (feature) hard-surface courts for multiple sports...(and) league, tournament, and special events,” says Rogers, adding the building would be open to people of all cultures, abilities, ages and athletic interests. “We believe our vision and plan for GTSC will have a positive impact on the community wherever we can house it.”

Mayor Michael Estes says he “expected proposals like (NorthStar's) to come forward” in the wake of Safe Harbor's request, and hopes even more may yet be submitted. “People become aware of possibilities when a building's for sale, but if you don't make it known you're willing to consider uses, it's not on anyone's radar,” he says. “That's why it's important for city commissioners not to jump on the first proposal they get. There's needs to be a public input process where we get feedback and figure out what would be ideal.”

The mayor says the commission will likely undertake a “total review” of 517 Wellington in the coming months to determine what uses would be most compatible for the building, including plans from Safe Harbor, NorthStar and any other groups that come forward. “People are welcome to submit proposals to us,” Estes says. “If we didn't go through that process, we'd be neglecting our responsibility to the community.”

City commissioners may also consider a request by local business owners and residents to “test temporary new configurations of Eighth Street in advance of” a planned 2018 reconstruction of the corridor. Boardman Neighborhood residents Bob Otwell and Mike Coco helped organize a petition, delivered to commissioners this week, bearing more than 90 signatures from those located on or near Eighth Street recommending the city experimentally make Eighth between Lake and Woodmere Avenues three automobile lanes and two bike lanes. A similar plan had been recommended by urban planning experts and the city's recently adopted Corridors Master Plan.

Estes says he “absolutely wants to explore the issue further,” while City Planning Director Russ Soyring says implementing such a project on a “pilot basis” would be relatively cheap and easy for the city to undertake.

“You have 21,000 to 24,000 cars a day on Eighth, which is a lot, but a three-lane road carries a phenomenal amount of traffic,” says Soyring. “With a center turn lane, it could even create greater efficiencies. The paint (for restriping) would fade relatively fast, so if you didn't like it, you could always go back to the old design or to something else.”

“The only way to know is to test it,” Soyring says.