Procedure for ice and snow removal left unresolved at city commission meeting
Mount Pleasant Mayor Allison Quast-Lents listens at the Mount Pleasant City Commission meeting on Oct. 8 at Mount Pleasant City Hall.
After a "well mannered" public hearing, described as such by City Commissioner Kathleen Ling, the Mount Pleasant City Commission was unable to make a decision about a snow removal ordinance.
As winter months are just around the corner, it was up to the commission to decide at their Oct. 8 meeting what should be done about the copious amounts of snow that will inevitably fall on city sidewalks.
In a 7-0 vote, city commission agreed to postpone the decision on the ordinance to amend a Mount Pleasant code regarding snow and ice removal until after further discussion.
The amendment of the Mount Pleasant City code would provide clarity as to how residential and commercial properties are defined and would require residents to clear snow from sidewalks within 48 hours after snowfall ceases.
The ordinance was proposed to provide a more "walkable community," said City Manager Nancy Ridley.
The ordinance would give the city the ability to administer a municipal civil infraction to violators and grant permission to clear the snow from a portion of cited sidewalk at the cost of the homeowner.
However, enforcement would not begin until November 2019. The intent of this cushion would be to provide education on the rules before any enforcement was actually taken, Ridley said.
Former Mount Pleasant Mayor Bruce Kilmer brought his concerns before the city commission. He said the ordinance is a dangerous one that would be a nightmare to enforce and may discontinue school routes.
“The city sidewalks are ‘city’ sidewalks and not the responsibility of home owners, just like the streets are ‘city streets’,” Kilmer said. “(The sidewalks) are your responsibility as a city commission.”
Kilmer also had concerns that law-abiding citizens who are physically unable and cannot afford to hire someone to clear their sidewalk might try to plow their sidewalks, injure themselves or have a heart attack.
David Macleod spoke as someone who takes winter walks. He said the biggest shoveling problem is created by city plows.
“The barriers thrown up on city streets are of a nature that if you don’t go out within the first couple hours they freeze,” Macleod said. “They are something you would need a pickax to clear.”
Another resident who leases five properties in Mount Pleasant said they have concerns about student tenants who go away over Christmas and other holiday breaks. They argued it would become a physical or financial burden upon leasers.
Larry Lemke moved to Mount Pleasant from Ann Arbor in 2016. He said Ann Arbor requires residents to clear snow from sidewalks within 24 hours after snowfall.
“(This ordinance) is the culture of a walkable, pedestrian-friendly city,” Lemke said. “I am very surprised we don’t have that here in Mount Pleasant.”
Lemke went on to say Mount Pleasant has a great sense of community. Residents should be able to tend to the sidewalks of families away on vacation or those who are physically unable.
“We need clean sidewalks, period,” City Commissioner Kristin LaLonde and CMU graduate student said. “CMU students have a hard time walking to class when sidewalks are slushy and nasty.”
Further discussion on the ordinance will take place Oct. 29 at a conjoined Central Michigan University Student Government Association and city commission meeting.
The commission set the time and date for the collaborative event at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 at Bovee University Center on CMU's campus.
City Commissioner William Joseph is looking forward to the combined SGA and city commission meeting.
"This meeting is a great opportunity for (SGA and the city commission) to work and be involved together,” former SGA member Joseph said. “There are a lot of great (CMU students) who are civically minded.”
The last few years, SGA has held candidate forums for city commission, county commission and other local level political races. Joseph said he hopes the forums continue.
Also at the Oct. 8 city commission meeting, members of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe began by playing "The Honor Song" on a grandfather drum for National Indigenous Day.
