Belleville City Council doesn’t like Chamber plan to add 21 festival rides downtown

Belleville’s police chief, fire chief, and most of the city council didn’t like the Chamber of Commerce’s proposal to bring up to 21 more children’s carnival rides downtown to side streets during Strawberry Festival.
On Dec. 19 at the regular city council meeting after a long discussion on the proposal, Michael Dotson, president of the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce, told the council the chamber will “have to go back to the table to sharpen our pencils.”
He said he would take the comments back to the chamber. Dotson said no way does the chamber wish to make the city have safety issues.
But, that’s just what Police Chief Hal Berriman and Fire Chief Brian Loranger said would happen if Third Street were full of carnival rides. That’s the street they use to cut through the booths downtown to get to the other side of town in emergencies. Otherwise, they would have to go all the way around, they said.
Also, using those streets for more rides would result in a lack of parking in those areas for vendors on Main Street and also calls from neighbors about the noise in their residential neighborhoods.
Dotson presented the proposal to move more children’s rides from St. Anthony’s to Main Street to make it more family oriented.
Paul Henning passed out hand-drawn maps of the downtown area with circles indicating where new rides were proposed, which included the parking lot of Chase Bank, the parking lot behind the museum and in the middle of Third and Fourth streets and on the property next to the Chamber office. This is in addition to the usual ferris wheel at Fifth Street and the usual children’s rides at that point.
“We want to maximize the family experience downtown,” Dotson said, adding they would like to do this for the next Strawberry Festival.
When asked if they really planned 20 more rides, Dotson said it would be an additional one to 20 rides.
“Looks like a parking nightmare,” said Fire Chief Loranger, who said he hadn’t seen these plans before the meeting. “The only way I have to get through with a fire truck is through Third Street.”
Dotson said Police Chief Berriman expressed concern, too, when they talked earlier.
“We want to make the Strawberry Festival better every year,” Dotson emphasized.
Mayor Pro Tem Jack Loria asked if they were planning to put more games of chance on Main Street and Dotson said that was possible.
Loria said he had a problem with the plan to move children’s rides from St. Anthony to Main Street.
“I don’t think carney rides enhance the family experience,” Loria said.
Chief Loranger said if they are blocked with rides they wouldn’t be able to see what’s going on down the side streets. It’s a safety problem, he said.
“I’m dead set against it,” said Chief Berriman. “With rides on the side streets, we’ll have people complaining about the noise.”
DPW Chief Rick Rutherford, who said he hadn’t seen the proposal until this meeting, said by blocking Third Street with rides it would impede vendors from getting to their booths to load their vending spaces.
While Dotson had presented the proposal for the Chamber, at this point in the discussion, immediate chamber past president Randy Brown took up defending the plan.
Brown asked if kiddie rides on the side streets were OK and Chief Berriman said, “No.”
“If we eliminated putting them on Third Street, you could have more rides on Fourth Street … Like 21 rides,” Brown pushed.
Planning commissioner John Juriga asked for a map of where they wanted to put rides. Henning had passed out the maps at the beginning of the discussion to members of the council and the press. Members of the audience did not get maps until Juriga asked.
“We might be digging up Main Street by June for the library construction,” said Juriga, who also serves on the library board.
“Once the library is built, Fourth Street won’t be available,” said Mayor Kerreen Conley.
Kim Tindall asked how many kids rides are on Main Street now and she was told about 10 plus the ferris wheel. She suggested they use the bank parking lot and a lot at the corner of Third and Main.
Chief Loranger asked, “If you take away parking from the residents, where are they going to park?”
“The council certainly does not support rides in proximity to residences and taking away parking,” said Mayor Conley. “I’m not comfortable about voting on it. Jack [Loria] isn’t comfortable or Tom Smith either.” That made a majority of the council.
Councilman Tom Fielder, who is president of the festival board, said games of chance can be replaced by more family friendly games.
“Is it necessary to have children’s rides at St. Anthony?” he asked. “We could keep some up there.” He suggested expanding the vendor booths further up Main Street.
“If you go too far up, the parade route’s gone,” Mayor Conley said.
Chief Loranger asked if they planned to take away craft space for more ride space and Dotson said that was not their intention.
Councilman Jesse Marcotte said he would like to see something more specific before he would vote.
“Does the chamber have to come to the city for more rides on private property?” Brown asked, specifying the bank and Woody’s property.
Former City Councilwoman Tindall pointed out the city has a carnival ordinance which is very specific where exactly rides are allowed.
“You need a comprehensive plan of where the carnival is going to be,” Mayor Conley said to Brown, who is the chamber’s liaison to the festival committee.
Tindall said rather than losing crafters, from Frosty Boy to 5 Points is empty and the vendors could travel south and the whole thing could move two blocks south.
“In the last two years there has been space there,” Tindall said and Mayor Conley said it has been empty a lot longer than that.
As long as they were talking about the festival, Mayor Conley said the quality of vendors has deteriorated.
“The quality of vendors has gone way down,” Mayor Conley repeated.
Juriga agreed, saying it resembles “a Florida flea market.”
Mayor Conley said they could have more people at the festival if there were better vendors.
“We will bring those comments to the next Strawberry Festival meeting,” Dotson said.
Tindall said maybe they could offer something to do for the family that doesn’t cost $10, $20, or $30. She said no longer is there any free entertainment. If kids want to see the leopard, that costs money and rides cost money.
Tindal said if, for example, families got to see the Animal Magic show for free, they would have money to spend on other things downtown.
Planning Commissioner Kelly Bates said she has been a volunteer for years at Art in the Park in Plymouth and they have free items for the kids to do, including Home Depot coming out teaching how to do things.
“I’d be glad to give you a list of these businesses to improve the offerings,” Bates said and Dotson said to give it to Fielder since Fielder chairs the festival.
Fielder said at the first of the year they begin going over what happened last year and begin planning the upcoming festival.
In other business at the Dec. 19 meeting, the council:
• Discussed the special events ordinance and set a Jan. 3 public hearing and vote. Fielder has prepared the ordinance, with some input, and Tindall had typed up his hand-written document and put it in order. Councilman Marcotte said he wanted a section for emergency suspension or cancellation of activities for public safety reasons. Brown asked, “Who pays for it if you guys cancel it?” It was suggested insurance policies may have that covered. Also, Bates asked for a section having a charge if cleanup isn’t done after the event. Juriga said he went to the florist and saw tape markers for festival booths still on the curb and suggested a $100 fee for that. “If you put on all these fees, you’ll push people out,” Brown warned;
• Discussed the zoning ordinance amendment regarding B-2 Building Height, as recommended by the planning commission and set the item for action on the next agenda, Jan. 3. A public hearing had already been held by the planning commission. Marcotte was a member of the subcommittee that reviewed the issue and he said, “Every time a developer comes in, we shouldn’t rush to throw out our Master Plan. After speaking to a lot of the people in the community … they thought a one-story building was all right.” He said the renovation of a one-story building is allowed in the ordinance with a minimum height of 18 feet (14’ ceiling, plus 4’ parapet) and a new building can be done that way to match other buildings in that area and avoid looking like a strip mall;
• Approved SMART Specialized Services Operating Assistance Program for fiscal year 2018 to help subsidize the operation of a service that provides transportation of the elderly and disabled persons in Belleville;
• Approved water tank repair for fire truck #451, at a cost of about $2,000, rather than the water tank replacement for $15,900 that would have required a transfer from fund balance to accomplish. Chief Loranger said he put the replacement on the expenditure list to underline the need for a capital fund to replace fire equipment that he has asked for many times in the past. He said the truck, that goes out on every run, is not worth $30,000, but its 500-gallon tank is leaking and flooding the fire hall and gets to fires not quite full. “I want you to understand we need to rely on this piece of equipment and it is part of the ISO rating, as well,” Loranger said, adding he is not sure how long a repair would last. Fielder made an amendment to the motion to pay all accounts payable to approve “appropriate repairs” to the tank, unless funds are available from other sources than fund balance to replace the tank. The motion passed unanimously; and
• Went into closed session with the city attorney to discuss pending litigation, and came out into regular session to accept the MMRMA settlement of $75,000 recommended in the trip and fall by Jane Walzack on a sidewalk along Clarence Street. The council also went into a second closed-door session to discuss pending union negotiations and made no decisions in open session.