KALAMAZOO, MI -- A section of road only slightly longer than a football field has been mistakenly earning Kalamazoo state funding for half a century.
Kalamazoo Deputy City Manager Jeff Chamberlain said an inaccessible section of Crane Avenue near Crane Park was wrongly certified as a public road in 1963. The status of the road is at the center of a conflict between residents who see Crane Avenue as the only safe way to access their condominium development and city officials who believe it should remain closed to traffic.
Each year, a map is due to the Michigan Department of Transportation showing all certified streets under Public Act 51, which is used to calculate how much of the Michigan Transportation Fund will be allocated for road maintenance. The full length of Crane Avenue is currently recognized as a public road that runs about 1/4-mile north and south through the Westnedge Hill neighborhood.
"If it's on the state's list (of public roads), it was done in error at some point in the past," Chamberlain said. "Anyone who is with the city in 1963 is no longer here now, (so) we're not sure how it was put on this list."
The 350-foot segment of Crane Avenue near Crane Park yielded the city $192 in local street funding this year.
Steps are being taken to decertify the road and MDOT is aware of the city's mistake, said spokesperson Nick Shirripa, though it's unlikely to result in any consequences for Kalamazoo.
"It may have improperly left on that map," he said. "Now that we are aware that it's closed, it's required to be removed (from MDOT's list of public roads). It's not our practice to require payment for such over payments, and I don't know of any law empowering MDOT to demand those refunds or penalize for wrong certifications."
In 2008, a small section of Crane Avenue along Crane Park was made inaccessible to vehicle traffic when boulders and a locked gate were placed on either side. What the city calls a park driveway is listed on the MDOT's list of public roads, meaning it must remain open by law.
Each year, Blanca Skelding and about a dozen neighbors fear using Betsy Ann Place, the sharply sloped, partially cobblestone entrance to the condominium Bella Vista Condominium complex on Westnedge Hill. They see Crane Avenue as the safest option to access their cul-de-sac.
Residents argue it should never have been closed and should reopen immediately. Chamberlain said the city has always treated it as a park driveway, meaning it took 53 years and inquiries by the concerned residents for the city to realize the mistake.
"How do you know it was a mistake? You don't know what they were planning 53 years ago," Skelding said. "I could argue the opposite, that this was intended to be a road. The city purposefully applied for that road to be certified."
Before the condominiums were built, city officials determined Betsy Ann Place would not be safe for future residents. To avoid heavy construction vehicles from driving on a newly-paved road, a deal was made for the developer to pay for reconstruction of Betsy Ann Place after 20 units were completed.
A $48,242 bond was secured for the roadwork from the developer and put in a deferred revenue account.
It was never spent.
Soon after the first four units were finished, the developer seemingly abandoned the project, leaving residents stuck with the still-deficient road as the only way in their cul-de-sac.
"The big picture is the small street Betsy Ann Place needs to be repaired, but the developer has gone bust," Chamberlain said. "The driveway through Crane Park is just that, a driveway. We have talked to residents and expressed that making sure that having a safe road is important, just as it is with any resident in Kalamazoo."
Crane Avenue is tentatively scheduled for improvements in 2018 under the city's 2014-18 Parks and Recreation Master Plan and 2016-25 Capital Improvement Plan. Chamberlain said he expects the brick driveway to be rebuilt as a pedestrian walkway and remain closed.
Repairs to Betsy Ann Place will occur at the same time, paid for by the city and in part by the $48,242 originally set aside. Chamberlain said it has not been determined how much the improvements in 2018 will cost.
Until then, condo residents are adamant that it's only a matter of time until someone is hurt.
Accident waiting to happen
In 2013, Skelding and her husband Christopher had their first child, Izaiah. On Skelding's first day back to work after maternity leave, Michigan was in the middle of a polar vortex that would drop a record-breaking 79 inches of snow.
The new mother forgot to call the daycare before leaving their home in Bella Vista Condos, later learning it was closed. Returning home through thick snow, her Subaru Impreza failed to make it up the steep slope of Betsy Ann Place, the only way in or out of the small cul-de-sac.
Skelding drove to a nearby parking lot and waited for her husband; clutching their infant son in the backseat for two hours.
Condo resident Doug Campbell has slid uncontrollably into oncoming traffic three times while leaving the cul-de-sac in his Chevy Tahoe 4x4. He said he and his wife looked at the available units in during the spring and were unaware of how dangerous the winter months would be.
Even in the summer, Campbell said turning onto South Park Street is dangerous. South Park curves around Westnedge Hill, making visibility poor in any weather for oncoming traffic driving at the 40 mph speed limit.
"We were sold on the fact that the city had the money to fix the road and it would be done," Campbell said. "I almost got tagged today. This whole thing is not safe year-round."
In another incident, Skelding saw fresh footsteps in the snow of her front lawn and called the police. Even the responding officer was unable to make it up Betsy Ann Place; he was forced to park and trek up the hill on foot.
"He said 'if you need to call emergency again, you tell them to park on Maple because they will not be able to make it up Betsy Ann,'" Skelding said.
In response to the condo residents' safety concerns, the Kalamazoo Public Services Department will move Betsy Ann Place up on the snow plowing schedule. City crews will also be instructed to apply extra salt.
The boulders at the north end of Crane Avenue will also be removed and replaced with a locked gate on Dec. 1. Only Public Safety and Parks and Recreation staff will be able to open the gates, so emergency responders will have reliable access to the condos.
Residents say it's still not enough.
They have unsuccessfully appealed to Chamberlain to open Crane Avenue as a public road or at least as a seasonal road during the winter months.
"If you walk up this hill you'd see what the answer is," Campbell said. "Open Crane Avenue. It's the right thing to do."
Ironically, the barriers were placed on Crane Avenue to address safety concerns of residents on the other side of Crane Park.
Around the same time the condo development was being approved, Chamberlain reached out to the Westnedge Hill Neighborhood Association, offering the chance to meet with city staff and review the proposed plans.
A letter signed by 45 residents of the neighborhood association appealed to the City to permanently close the entry to Crane Park. Six days later, a second letter was sent, this time with 62 signatures.
Residents were concerned with unwanted vehicle traffic through the park and said road's closure would stop cars from using the park as a short-cut. The letter also cites increased safety and usability for pedestrians in the park as reasons to close Crane Avenue.
To residents of the Bella Vista Condominiums, the city has placed the concerns of those residents before their safety.
But Chamberlain said it's not about strength in numbers. Even if there were more residents living in the condos, the city would not have repaired Betsy Ann Place sooner.
"The reality is we do have a number of (roads) that start lower in the priority list when it comes to road reconstruction as opposed to streets that have much larger volumes of traffic," he said.