City planners, DDA, council to take walking tour of downtown area

The Belleville Planning Commission will take a walking tour of the city’s downtown to get an up-close and personal look to see what needs to be done to improve the city.
At the May 10 regular meeting of the planning commission, chairman Steve Jones said it’s difficult to get a good look at things from a car window and walking the downtown will give them a closer look.
He and Downtown Development Authority coordinator Carol Thompson had been talking about such a walk and the DDA is expected to join the commission for the walking tour. The city council will be invited to come along, as well.
He said they plan to walk from the Belleville Bridge to the tracks on South Street on either Saturday, June 23 or 30, whichever date works out best for all concerned.
Jones said on the tour they could step into businesses and compliment owners when their property is looking good. The walkers could assess whether a community cleanup is in order and whether they should make a project out of washing windows.
He said maybe a Saturday cleanup could be scheduled so Belleville could have a “nice, fresh downtown.”
In other business at the May 10 meeting, the commission:
• Approved a joint meeting with the DDA at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 14, on the commission’s regular meeting night;
• Approved moving forward with setting up a joint meeting with the planning commissions from Van Buren and Sumpter townships to discuss joint concerns, possibly in September. The three commissions recently attended a joint planning commission training hosted by Van Buren Township. Jones said, “We learned a lot!”;
• Heard Commissioner Randy Priest voice concerns about areas in the city that have gaps where there are no sidewalks and asked about setting up special assessments for property owners to put sidewalks in to fill the gaps. He said the ordinance needs to be looked at and amended to make parts consistent. City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said an ordinance change needs to be initiated by the city council, which could direct the commission to review that ordinance. She said she will add a discussion on sidewalks to the city council agenda for the first meeting in June; and
• Heard Kollmeyer say she was very proud of the Belleville Planning Commission since all commissioners but one attended the training session. One member, Mike Renaud, was out of town. She said, of course, it helped that commissioners’ attendance was made mandatory. Jones said he was encouraged by the joint movement with the boards and commissions and communities.