Belleville DDA asked to relocate tree in Fourth Street Square

Steve Jones, president of the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Belleville Planning Commission, asked the Belleville DDA to relocate a tree on Fourth Street Square to make way for a stage.
At the June 17 regular meeting of the DDA, virtually via Zoom, Jones said this is an old request and he brought up several years ago.
He said there is “a pesky tree” that blocks the use of staging on the square and, otherwise, the staging could be pulled into the motorcycle parking area there.
Jones said he is asking the DDA to remove that center tree and they could start having shows there, maybe even the blues festival slated for July 25. This would allow the city to fully use the square.
He suggested there could be Saturday evening shows at the Fourth Street Square to help the downtown be walkable. He said this could be just to keep the people downtown.
“I’m asking the DDA and the city to remove the tree,” Jones said.
DDA chairwoman Alicia McGovern said it would be added to the next agenda and information would be gathered. The next regular meeting is July 15.
McGovern asked where he planned to put the tree if it was removed and Jones said a number of trees could be used in the city’s parks.
“It’s not cost-prohibitive,” Jones said. “We could drum up some funding.”
Councilman Ken Voigt said he supports relocating that tree if they could roll the stage in there.
In other business at the virtual, 38-minute meeting:
• Heard DDA Coordinator Carol Thompson say most businesses are in some stage of reopening and there is a lot more activity on the street and people are celebrating that local businesses are surviving. She said the barricades ordered are on their way and the bench-tables are still a work in progress. The hand sanitizing stations ordered can’t be done and they are looking at rental options. She said the DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) passed the Senate and has gone over to the House;
• Took no action on changing the $50 fee for a DDA brick, so it remains at $50. The city has raised the price for bricks at the Veterans Memorial and Angel of Hope to $100 each. The museum bricks remain at $50;
• Heard Thompson report she has walked Village Park, Horizon Park and Victory Park several times and Gonczy is doing fine job and is cleaning the sidewalks. She said all aerators are working at Village Park. She said once the high school graduate banners are done on Main Street the new DDA banners will be hung. The daily watering has begun since the hanging baskets were able to go up a little early this year. She said once the library does its parking lot concrete the DDA will get an estimate from Spicer on the work the DDA will do on Fourth Street;
• Heard Councilman Voigt say the governor is due to come out with worst-case scenarios and the July 25 blues festival may be done as a drive-in at the high school. “Michigan and New York are the only states really doing well and there is a smaller chance to spread,” Voigt said. “We haven’t given up”;
• Heard Councilwoman Kelly Bates ask if the ramp is up for the kayaks. Thompson said they are on a waiting list for the vendor. Although the ramp is not up, it hasn’t stopped the kayakers. She said they are using the floating dock to put their kayaks in the water; and
• Heard McGovern say she is looking how to integrate the DDA into the Michigan Downtown Association they just joined. She said there is a National Trust Main Street Program she got information on and she’ll do some work and research and put it into packets for DDA members and put it on the next agenda. “It could be a template for our city,” she said.