The meeting was called to order by Mayor Campbell at 5:30 p.m. at the above mentioned date.

Invocation (Pledge of Allegiance)

Roll Call of Members Present

Present: Council members Bellows, Campbell, Carlson, Chamberlain and Gibson.
Absent: Councilman Haggard.

Present: DDA members Dan Barron, Hugh Mason, Jeff Porter and John Taylor.
Absent: DDA members Fred DiMartino, Mary Feindt, John Kurtz and Jeannine Wallace.

Inquiry Regarding Possible Conflicts of Interest: None.

General Business

Downtown Charlevoix Pedestrian/Vehicle Conflict Study

Richard Lyles of Richard Lyles & Associates told Council and DDA that his study's primary focus was to review and assess pedestrian-vehicle interactions and operations at Antrim, Mason, Clinton, and Park intersections with Bridge Street, and make suggestions for changes as appropriate. Large scale solutions offered involved large scale changes, such as removal of parking, restricting traffic on State Street, one-way pairs, and "fixing" the bridge. Smaller scale solutions offered involved increased enforcement (e.g., ticketing jaywalkers), use of "Charlevoix Ambassadors", changes to signal operating regime, changes in pedestrian flow patterns, and changes in signing and/or other traffic control devices. Mr. Lyles's general recommendation was to use enhanced traffic control devices as a first step.

Council, DDA members and the audience openly discussed issues from Mr. Lyles' presentation. One concern was pedestrians crossing at the northern intersection of Clinton and Bridge Streets, allowing fewer cars to complete a left hand turn from Clinton onto Bridge, resulting in traffic build-up on Clinton and State Streets. It was suggested that this crossing be eliminated to allow for more cars to turn left onto Bridge while the light was green for Clinton Street. Mr. Lyles noted that his study showed that pedestrians were not the cause of the traffic build-up.

It was suggested that, by keeping the light green longer on Bridge would help decrease the traffic turning left on Bridge from Clinton. Perhaps less travelers would use State Street as a by-pass around the Bridge Street traffic build-up.

Changing the traffic pattern on Bridge and State Streets between Hurlbut and Park was suggested. There would be two northbound lanes of traffic on Bridge Street, retaining parallel parking on both sides. State Street would be changed to two lanes of southbound traffic, with parallel parking on both sides.

Moving the traffic light from Clinton and Bridge to Park and Bridge was suggested. Mr. Lyles felt that the light needed to be more centrally located for safe pedestrian crossings.

Mr. Lyles's idea of using stantions at pedestrian crossings was questioned. Mr. Lyles said that the stantions would improve the safety of pedestrians, but would not fix the traffic flow problem. He recommended that the City look at solutions suggested by MDOT for fixing the traffic flow problem.

The idea of trying an officer or ambassador to direct traffic and pedestrians for 6 months this summer was mentioned.

Mr. Lyles was asked to speculate on the idea of manipulating the bridge schedule. He thought that the traffic situation would improve by not raising the bridge as often during peak traffic times.

Adjourn

Council generally agreed to adjourn at 7:10 p.m.