Members of the Northville City Council have agreed to the seasonal closures following the input at the public meeting. The downtown streets were temporarily closed in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The closures were first extended by council members and then made year-round last August.
In addition to the public criticisms of the closures, city officials were threatened with the loss of funding for the streets by officials from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). City officials had until mid-April to notify MDOT as to the status of the streets.
Residents complained that the re-routing of traffic through the adjacent side streets was problematic and access to those with disabilities adversely affected by the closures. Local residents and business owners appeared evenly divided on the question of keeping the streets permanently closed.
Mayor Brian Turnbull said he was fully supportive of a compromise regarding the street closures. “Whatever we do, we have to come together on this,” he told the overflow crowd of several hundred audience members, attending both online and in person. A local display of pink signs requesting the reopening of the streets had appeared throughout the community and more than 500 people reportedly signed an online petition to reopen the downtown streets.
Business owners told city council members that the closings have been helpful to their bottom lines but agreed that a compromise to the permanent closings was necessary.
A mobility committee, the Northville Public Schools and the Northville Downtown Development Authority all recommended at least a partial reopening of the downtown streets.
Council members unanimously approved a resolution as required by MDOT to close the streets from late April to early November and for intermittent closures for special events.
