At its Nov. 18 meeting, the Eastpointe City Council voted to reject the controversial road diet, which would have reduced the number of lanes on Nine Mile Road, and instead moved forward with a five-lane design.
The plans for Nine Mile Road moving forward will involve five lanes instead of a road diet that would have narrowed a section of it to three lanes.
Photo by Brian Wells
EASTPOINTE — While many residents thought the discussion of the proposed Nine Mile Road diet was over, the Eastpointe City Council took up the issue again at its Nov. 18 meeting.
The plan, which would reduce the number of lanes on Nine Mile Road between Tuscany Avenue and Kelly Road, has been met with strong opposition from residents. In October, more than 45 residents spoke out about the plan at a public forum hosted by the city.
A similar proposal came before the City Council in 2024, during Phase 2 of the project — which affected Nine Mile Road between Gratiot and Tuscany avenues — however, it was ultimately voted down.
The Nov. 18 meeting was the first meeting after newly elected Councilwoman Karen Scott and reelected Councilman Rob Baker took their oaths of office.
Residents voice support, opposition to road diet
During the public comment portion of the meeting, seven residents took the opportunity to speak about the road diet. Of them, six spoke in opposition to it, while one supported it.
Former City Councilman Cardi DeMonaco Jr. took the podium to continue his support of it.
Of the topics discussed at the forum in October, DeMonaco raised two points: One was the supposed opposition from first responders, in addition to results of a traffic study.
“The previous police chief said he looked out his window eight hours a day and said the road diet won’t work. And the previous fire chief said that they won’t be able to turn a fire truck onto Nine Mile if it’s three lanes,” he said. “So, when everyone’s saying, quote unquote, ‘public safety is against the Nine Mile proposal,’ that’s what they’re referring to because that’s what’s been said at council meetings.”
Additionally, DeMonaco said traffic studies showed an increase of about 10 seconds in the time it takes to travel Nine Mile Road in Eastpointe, and in some situations, it was faster than it currently is, he said.
In the end, DeMonaco said, the people on both sides of the issue just want to see the businesses succeed.
“Everyone on both sides of this issue want businesses to succeed, like everybody does. They want to attract new businesses. This plan will do that,” he said.
On the other side of the issue, David DeRonne, the owner of DeRonne Hardware on Nine Mile Road, who has consistently been in strong opposition to the road diet, said he hoped with the changes to City Council, that there had been a change of heart.
“Mr. Mayor, you told me the road diet will be killed because of the overwhelming amount of residents and businesses that are opposed to it,” he said. “I hope that you have had that change of heart and have decided to respect the will of the people by making a motion tonight to end the three-lane road diet plan and proceed with the five-lane plan.”
Several residents said they thought the City Council had moved past discussing the road diet.
City Council votes to approve five-lane plans
At Eastpointe’s Nov. 18 meeting, the discussion came before the City Council again after Baker added it to the agenda.
“I added this to the agenda because I had a few discussions, like many of us have, with residents who said that they would like to just see which direction we’re going to go in. They would like everything to be done,” Baker said.
Baker made a motion for the City Council to move forward with the already-approved five-lane design.
“I would like to go forward with that five-lane design and end all discussion,” he said.
Councilman Harvey Curley said a discussion wasn’t needed before voting on the motion.
“It says discussion and possible motion. We don’t need a discussion. We’ve had a discussion from our citizens, and that’s the important discussion that we’re listening to,” he said.
Mayor Michael Klinefelt agreed that he wanted to make a decision and end the conversation. He added that he felt residents were getting heated over the proposal before there was even a discussion regarding it.
“It just seemed like it got away from us before there could even be really much discussion on it,” he said.
Klinefelt also said he learned a lot through the proposal.
“My commitment to everyone is, I intend to try to sort of navigate issues a little bit better going forward,” he said.
Klinefelt ended by saying he wanted to direct the city to submit plans to the Michigan Department of Transportation so they can start accepting bids on the project.
City Councilwoman Margaret Podsiadlik said she couldn’t support the five-lane plans because of how it would affect businesses. Keeping the road at five lanes, she said, will impede things such as walkability and outdoor dining.
“Some of them (businesses) were talking about walkability and having outdoor patios and things like that to make it more inviting and encouraging for businesses to come here, so I cannot support this,” she said.
Baker said the city needed to support the businesses that were already in the city in order to attract new businesses.
“If we want to attract good businesses, I think they need to see us supporting the ones that we have here, and especially in that area where the road diet will go in,” he said. “We talk about walkability, but you have driving-based businesses there. You have an urgent care, you have a CVS Pharmacy, you have a couple drive-thru restaurants. I think if they see us supporting the businesses that we have, I think that will be more attractive than seeing us ignoring the ones that have come forward time and time again.”
When the council voted on it, Podsiadlik voted in opposition of the five-lane plans. It was approved with a 4-1 vote.
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