Dorothea Road stub street to close as city looks to activate space

BERKLEY — A stub street in Berkley will be closed indefinitely as the city looks to activate it for downtown usage.

At its Sept. 16 meeting, the City Council approved closing Dorothea Road off Coolidge Highway, a street that stubs into a parking area near an open field that many know as the place where the Berkley Bears and Steelers football teams practice.

“It’s kind of a road to nowhere, so it really presents a nice opportunity for us to activate that space, particularly since it’s part of the right of way and we already have jurisdiction over that,” Berkley Community Development Director Kristen Kapelanski said.

Earlier in the meeting, the council approved an item on its consent agenda for a contract with Carlisle Wortman & Associates for a conceptual plan design for an urban plaza/parklet at the Dorothea Road street stub.

The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments previously had awarded the city $10,000 in the summer to be used to hire a firm for a design.

Kapelanski said that the city will update road signs to not point people to park in the stub while it’s closed.

Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Mike McGuinness said that this closure is an experiment to see what would be the cost incurred for the activation of the area as a public space.

“This is for short-term utilization, especially during the coming holiday seasons, both BOO!kley season and the holiday shopping season that immediately follows after,” he said.

McGuinness said that the DDA would incur the costs when it comes to the staging, lighting, landscaping and seating in regard to the area’s activation.

“The vision is to take it from the stub … to a hub,” he continued. “The downtown master plan calls for specifically this location to be activated as a public space, and really what we’re trying to do is respond to the organic use that has already been unfolding. With new businesses (and) restaurants, establishments and more pedestrian activity during that lunch hour for the (Berkley High School) students, those families interacting with football practice, those increased customers, we have reached out to the surrounding businesses in part, so that way it is a public-private collaboration.”

McGuinness also stated that he would like to move a MoGo bike sharing station to the Dorothea hub area as well.

“It’s not getting well utilized because the Coolidge station is tucked behind Vibe Credit Union at Earlmont (Road),” he said. “If the municipal government is cool with it, we would be interested in moving — at least temporarily — (to) see how it goes, (if it) increases ridership and access, to connect us to this regional bike share network.”