Mayor Coulter Talks FEMA, Water Rates, 3-60 and more at Senior Town Hall (video)
(C. Proxmire, Oct. 24, 2014)
A fall tradition in Ferndale is the annual Senior Town Hall, where the Mayor gives the town elders an update about what is going on in the community and answers even their toughest questions. For the fourth year in a row Mayor Dave Coulter was up to the task, sharing information about property values, Downtown and industrial occupancy rates, improvements coming to neighborhood parks, progress on the 3-60 project discussions, the status of the potential fire department merger with Hazel Park, resources for those impacted by the flood, and a reduction in water rates.
Property Values and Occupancy Rates. Mayor Coulter shared welcome news with seniors who own their homes, noting that median home sale prices have increased 64%, making Ferndale the top in terms of growth in all of Oakland County. He credited this increase to several factors, including City services. “We have some real strong assets going for us,” Coulter said. “We have strong neighborhoods, good city services. As I am sometimes reminded, we pay a lot for these services, but we have a full service, excellent police department with a full complement of folks. We have an excellent full services fire department, probably fuller service than other cities do but that’s something we take pride in. That helps make our community strong.” He also praised the new leadership in Ferndale Schools, saying there is a “new attitude” making the schools stronger, including a new Superintendent. And he noted that industrial vacancy is under 10% while Downtown vacancy is 3 or 4 %. “I know sometimes you see vacant buildings, but I can assure you, there’s somebody else that’s already leased it and they’re just waiting to open something up.” The city is working on plans to develop Livernois, and hopes to also look at Hilton in the coming years.
Parks. “We cut back a lot on our park [when times were tight]. Now it’s time to focus on that,” Mayor Coulter said. The Blue Ribbon Parks Commission has been looking at ways to make improvements, and has been tasked with coming up with funding as well. “You’re going to start seeing more in terms of play-scapes and walking trails, and a dog park, and those kinds of things,” he said.
3-60 Project. Mayor Coulter noted that the growth of Ferndale comes along with problems, including parking in the Downtown area. The 3-60 project is a mixed use development that is in the planning stages, that would take two existing parking lots and build offices, retail spaces, apartments and parking on them. A group of residents and business owners, including former Mayor Craig Covey and Ferndale Friends publisher Stephanie Loveless, have started a campaign to halt the project, with the slogan “Do a 180 on 3-60,” and a group called FAIR. Their concerns have included the height, the appearance, and the location of the development. “For me the opposition feels a little premature because we haven’t even rolled out what the plans look like yet. Right now we just sort of have a concept,” Coulter said. A first round of ideas had mixed reactions from the public, and the developer is working to revise the plans based on the public feedback.
Coulter stated that something needs to be done about parking, whether it is the 3-60 project or something else. “If you want retail to be successful Downtown, we need more people there during the day. We’ve got a lot of people in the bars and restaurants at night but if you want your retail stores to be successful, we need more foot traffic. So the idea is maybe along with these parking decks we could get some residential and offices. So people will be living there and working there during the day, so hopefully shopping there too.” Mayor Coulter took questions from the audience about the project as well, assuring people that that construction would not be happening in both lots at the same time, and that the number of spaces and rules for parking would be figured out by a parking expert that handles this kind of research for cities.
Fire Department Merger. Mayor Coulter updated the seniors about the fire department merger that was in the works at this time last year. He said that in spite of efforts to make it work, “Hazel Park got cold feet and decided they didn’t want to do it.” The merger would have saved both cities money, but would have had an upfront cost that was beyond Hazel Park’s budget to pay.
Flood and FEMA. Several seniors talked about having been impacted by the flood of August 11. Those who filed claims against the City were denied because it was deemed to be an act of God rather than an equipment failure. However Coulter and several other area Mayors worked to secure Federal funding. “We pushed,” Mayor Coulter said. “First I declared an emergency in Ferndale. Then I asked the Governor to declare one for us, and he did. And then he asked the Federal government, and finally, to a lot of people’s surprise, they actually did declare it. That’s why you see FEMA set up here. We pushed to have a FEMA station in Ferndale, but it’s for all Oakland County residents. And I’m pleased to say that the Federal government has distributed over $54 million in claims to people that have applied.
Water Rates. Another welcomed bit of news to seniors was that the council-approved lowering of water rates had kicked in on July 1. He credited Councilperson Dan Martin with leading the investigation and recommendations into lowering the rates, which had been among the highest in Oakland County. Rates were lowered 10% and some other fees were removed. The high rates over the years had created a fund balance that will be there towards maintenance and repairs.
For more of Coulter’s Ferndale Senior Town Hall, check out the video at the top of this article.