Crain's Detroit Business

Group works on master plan to tie = Eight Mile=20 together

By Anjali Fluker

January 09, 2006

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Tami Salisbury of the Eight Mile Boulevard Association = has=20 dreams of seeing brick pavers, park benches, ornamental lighting,=20 pedestrian areas and lights on utility towers consistently along = Eight=20 Mile Road.

The challenge will be unifying a corridor historically known as = being=20 racially, politically and geographically divided, she said.=20

Salisbury, executive director of the association, said the = group is=20 working to create a master plan to improve Eight Mile. The plan = involves=20 hiring a corridor code-enforcement officer and then generating a = plan to=20 be adopted by communities along the road.

=93Unfortunately, it=92s still in people=92s minds that they = use Eight Mile=20 as this dividing line,=94 she said. =93I=92d like to see a time = when Eight Mile=20 is the bridge that brings the region together.=94

More than $113,000 in funding and technical assistance was = secured over=20 the past two years for the plan, Salisbury said.

The Eight Mile corridor, as determined by communities = participating in=20 the association, is a 27.5-mile stretch through Wayne, Macomb and = Oakland=20 counties.=20

Participating communities are Detroit, Harper Woods, = Eastpointe,=20 Warren, Hazel Park, Ferndale, Royal Oak Township, Oak Park, = Southfield,=20 Redford Township, Farmington, Farmington Hills and Livonia.

Mark Nickita, president of Detroit-based architectural and=20 urban-planning firm Archive D.S., said that having such = diverse=20 communities can be challenging when creating a coordinated plan.

=93There obviously are a lot of different conditions, uses, = forms,=20 buildings and setbacks and even ages, or periods when things were = built=20 (along Eight Mile),=94 Nickita said.

Archive D.S. last summer released a report for the association = to help=20 coordinate beautification standards, development and facade = improvements=20 for existing businesses. Before getting to a plan to coordinate=20 development along Eight Mile, Salisbury said, violations by = property=20 owners first need to be addressed. Salisbury said many communities = don=92t=20 have enough staff to enforce codes.

An Eight Mile code-enforcement officer, however, could serve as = a=20 liaison between municipalities and business owners =97 a second = set of eyes,=20 so to speak, she said.

The officer=92s level of authority has yet to be determined, = Salisbury=20 said. But he or she would have to know codes and zoning for all 13 = communities, she said.

The association hopes to hold meetings with affected property = owners,=20 businesses and residents to get feedback on what the officer=92s = role could=20 be, she said.

Farmington Hills has enough code-enforcement officers, but the=20 community would support a project to tie the corridor together, = said Barry=20 Brickner, Farmington Hills city councilman who also runs Barry = L.=20 Brickner Attorney at Law in Bingham Farms.

=93Our main concern is to make Eight Mile vital from one end to = the=20 other,=94 said Brickner, who also is the former chairman of the = board for=20 the association.=20

=93Eight Mile is a regional, more than local issue. It=92s a = main artery=20 through our town, and we want to make sure it looks nice.=94

Once blight and violations are dealt with, development and = design=20 guidelines could be incorporated into each municipality=92s = existing=20 ordinances, Salisbury said.

The association is hoping to start that process with a = to-be-determined=20 plan for the intersection of Eight Mile and Dequindre Road. = Elements that=20 seem to work there could be expanded to apply elsewhere, Salisbury = said.

The city of Detroit, meanwhile, is considering designating = Eight Mile=20 and other areas of the city, including the riverfront and = downtown, as=20 areas that could have stricter and more specific guidelines than = existing=20 zoning allows, said Gregory Moots, city planner with the = Detroit=20 Planning Commission.

The districts don=92t necessarily have to have a similar look, = but there=20 has to be some thread that ties them together, such as design = standards,=20 street elements, land uses or setbacks, he said.=20

Finding that thread will be a challenge for both the city and = the=20 association, he said.

=93It=92s hard to have a general appearance for all of Eight = Mile,=94 Moots=20 said. =93How do you say Eight Mile in Harper Woods will look the = same as=20 Eight Mile in Redford with any uniformity?=94

Moots said the answer could be to either break up the corridor = into=20 sections and give each a standard to follow, or to focus on = overall=20 traditional commercial appearances.

The Corridor Improvement Authority Act, legislation signed last = month=20 by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, also could help the corridor to find a = way to=20 unify. Public Act 280, introduced by Sen. Gilda Jacobs, = D-Huntington=20 Woods, allows tax increment financing to fund redevelopment, = similar to=20 laws set up by a Downtown Development Authority. But the new law = allows=20 the financing to apply across municipal boundaries, while DDAs are = limited=20 to one community.

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