City approves adding Civic Center Drive to street network

ST. CLAIR SHORES — On March 3, the St. Clair Shores City Council approved a request to add Civic Center Drive to the local street network for Act 51 reporting in a 5-2 vote.

Councilman John Caron and Councilwoman Candice Rusie cast the opposing votes.

The request would add a 350-foot section at Pleasant to a corner of the Civic Center parking lot to the city’s street system for extra funding. City Engineer Mike Freckelton said the area is highly trafficked and that it is in a state of disrepair due to this and other ongoing construction around the area.

“We were looking to add that to our local street network so we can use Act 51 funds to help repair that,” Freckelton said.

Freckelton said the stretch of road used to be another street before the civic center was there. He cited a map from 1930 as the source of that information.

“We’re essentially re-adding about half of it back to our street network so we can use actual street funding to help repair this area,” Freckelton said.

Rusie said that it was odd to call part of a parking lot a street.

Councilman Chris Vitale said he is in that area often and sees the traffic.

“Everybody coming through to the industrial park with a heavy truck or something like that,” Vitale said. “It gets a lot of use.”

Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Dave Rubello asked if it is a housekeeping thing and Freckelton responded that it’s a little more than that.

City Manager Dustin Lent said the funding from the state is based on the number of miles and distance of the streets, and that the amount they receive will be a bit higher.

Caron asked if there are criteria for outlining what a street is. Freckelton said it is a street as long as it has public access, but that the state is stricter when it comes to adding streets to the major road system.

“But I believe for the local system it’s pretty much as long as the public’s able to access it at any given time. I’m pretty sure that’s their only requirement,” Freckelton said.

Caron asked why they can’t use the recently passed street millage that includes parking lots instead of reclassifying it. Freckelton said he believes that due to the volume of traffic and the pavement’s current condition, the Act 51 money would go further.

“And then we could focus that money more on some of the alleys that we need that are in disrepair or other parking lots,” Freckelton said.

Caron said there is enough in the reserves.

“As I thought about this more, it’s like, just not comfortable reclassifying a parking lot as a street just to qualify for different funding,” Caron said.

Councilwoman Linda Bertges said the stretch of road does look more like a street than a parking lot when people are driving on it.