Saline City Council Hears from Business Owners on Firepits, South Ann Arbor Street Closure

Saline City Council heard from business owners and Saline Main Street as it considered a request to streamline permitting for firepits in the downtown recovery zone - and other areas throughout the city.

That rather narrow request was a small part of a wide-ranging 108-minute discussion during a special meeting Monday.

The city's downtown recovery zone on South Ann Arbor Street is set to expire Nov. 30. The city must determine if it has the ability to continue closing the road to allow for more seating for the downtown restaurants. Then council must determine if closing the road is still advantageous, and if so, whether the road closure should be on weekends or every day. If not, is it feasible to use sidewalks and bike rack areas for outdoor dining? And might it be possible to use the West Henry Street parking lot, perhaps with a tent, for a new social zone/recovery zone?

And, since the city is providing such consideration for the businesses downtown, what kind of support should be provided to the other businesses in town?

The recovery zone was important for Brecon Grille, Mac's Acadian Seafood Shack and Smokehouse 52 over the summer, as restaurants reopened with strict capacity rules designed to thwart the spread of COVID-19. But while the recovery zone was credited for helping keep those businesses afloat, there are concerns about how it impacted other downtown businesses and some wonder if it's feasible as the temperatures drop.

Interim City Manager Mike Green told council the recovery zone hasn't been utilized often over the last four to five weeks. That's why Saline Main Street and the restaurants are pitching the idea of on-street heating.

Saline Main Street Executive Director Holli Andrews made another passionate plea to council, imploring the city to act quickly on the request to streamline the permitting process for firepits.

“We want this to be a destination. We want people to be able to get out of the house and join in a festive gathering for Christmas, for holidays. This is the critical fourth quarter. These guys are in survival mode. We need to make them some money,” Andrews said.

She said the recovery zone would be a “gift for the city.”

“This is going to be a beautiful place to come down and see carolers singing with masks on. It’s a place where you can connect with people outside, where you’re not going to share the virus or spread the virus,” Andrews said.

Andrews suggested council should act quickly.

“We don’t have time to study and go over things,” Andrews said.

Among business owners, there were differing opinions. Paul Geragosian, owner of Brecon Grille, also urged council to act soon.

"Time is of the essence," Geragosian said. "The City of Saline needs to understand the unique situation we are in because of COVID-19 and respond with a sense of urgency."

Phil Toliver, owner of Smokehouse 52, told council that the summer recovery zone saved 50 jobs at his restaurant.

Walter MacNeil, owner of Mac's Acadian Seafood Shack, also expressed support for continued outdoor seating, social zone and firepits on South Ann Arbor Street. MacNeil noted that over the years, businesses like his have given back to the community, whether it's supporting sports teams or donating to school programs. Now, he said, it's time for the community to be flexible to support the businesses. He said he wasn’t sure keeping the road closed was going to be the “save-all” for his business.

“I would just hope that you folks would have the flexibility to at least entertain us and give us the options to do things, so that we can survive," MacNeil told council. "This isn’t about 1 business. You might lose a lot of businesses. You might lose them anyway."

Rob Kolander, general manager of Dan's Downtown Tavern, thanked the city for allowing his business to use Merchant Square for outdoor seating. He also expressed support for the request for firepits.

Main Street official Rebecca Schneider noted that it was rare to have all these business leaders in agreement on an issue.

“It’s pretty monumental and we need to harness it,” Schneider said.

But not all the downtown businesses are supportive of keeping the street closed. Marty Flint, of Excalibur Barber Shop, said he wanted to see the street opened up. In the past, he's said the road closure has hurt his business. 

Karen Carrigan, of Carrigan Cafe, has been supportive of the experiment in the past. But at Wednesday's meeting, she said she'd like to see the street open on weekdays. She suggested curbside pick-up was going to be very important for restaurants.

Frank Daidone, owner of Saline Inn, said he'd like to see his restaurant benefit from some of the city's efforts to support businesses.

“How can we be a part of what’s happening here to help us survive. We’ve been here 25 years and we’re just asking for a level playing fielding. We don’t have that right now. We are literally on our own," Daidone said.

Restaurant owners from outside the downtown area also spoke. Katie Spence, owner of Mancino's Pizza, said she'd like to see the city launch a COVID-19 business committee to help the city determine how it can best help the business community.

Brian Joyce said he was considering the formation of a non-profit agency that would help Saline businesses survive through at least the first quarter of 2021.  Joyce spoke about the need for finding funds to pay for the heat sources. He also called for a city-wide campaign to boost the local economy.

FIREPITS

Business owners and Saline Main Street officials Jill Durnen, owner of Hartman Insurance, and the aforementioned Spence both spoke to the issue of firepits.

Durnen said Main Street was asking to simplify the permitting procedure for a fire pit. She said Fire Chief Craig Hoeft and Fire Chief Jerrod Hart were supportive of their request.

“Whatever (Hart and Hoeft) say we have to do for use, whatever protocols they suggest, we will do," Durnen said.

She noted that streamlining the firepit permitting request can benefit businesses all over town, not just downtown.

“Katie can have heat sources at Mancino’s. Saline Inn could have areas where people eat outside with a firepit," Durnen said.

Mayor Brian Marl said the city council should be in a position to consider changing its ordinance on firepits and open burns as early as Monday's council meeting. Marl said the city's code review task force has been working on new, less restrictive language for months.

Main Street submitted a plan with 18 firepits - about half in the dining area and the other half in a "social zone" that would be located in front of Carrigan Cafe. The agenda packet included generally supportive letters from Fire Chief Craig Hoeft and Police Chief. Those letters seemed to allay the concerns of some council members, like Dean Girbach. But Councillor Janet Dillon and Jim Dell'Orco continued to express concerns. Dell'Orco, in particular, relayed communications from Chief Hoeft and Chief Hart that didn't appear in the public agenda packet.

According to Dell’Orco, Hoeft said 18 firepits would be unmanageable in the area downtown and suggested half that many might be reasonable. Dell’Orco also read a communication from Chief Hart that wasn’t in the packet. According to Dell’Orco, Hart was also concerned by the number of firepits and where firewood is stored. 

Durnen addressed these concerns. She suggested Main Street would be happy to start with nine firepits and then, if they prove effective, ask if more firepits would be feasible.

Andrews, addressing another concern, said firewood could be safely stored in a trash bin in a nearby parking lot and that Chief Hoeft had approved of the idea.

ROAD CLOSURE

Main Street's request was for a streamlined permitting process for firepits. But the elephant in the room was whether or not council would re-open South Ann Arbor Street to traffic or keep it closed for the recovery zone. According to Dell'Orco, Chief Hart also suggested the recovery zone is only used on weekends. Other members of council, including Mayor Marl, have voiced support for that idea.

But that was how the recovery zone started - and the businesses found that it was too much work building and tearing down the recovery zone every weekend, so city council shut down the street permanently.

Lisa Roberts, owner of Rock, Paper, Scissors, recently opened a pop-up store in front of the recovery zone to take advantage of the extra foot traffic. Roberts asked council to consider closing the street for all week to help create a “compelling experience for the citizens of Saline." 

"The idea of setting it up every Thursday to make it beautiful only to tear it down Sunday seems like kind of a crazy thing to put local businesses through," Roberts said. “It’s a weird year. Let’s do it. Let’s meet the weirdness and do something really cool. Let’s not half-do-it a few days out of the week."

Spence agreed.

“We want to try it and see if it works,” Spence said. “Do I think that the road closures will help? Like Wally said, we don’t know. But we won’t know unless we try.”

But council, at this point, doesn't sound sold on the idea of full-time road closures.

Girbach suggested it might be best to keep the street open but to find other solutions using sidewalks, bike rack locations, Leather Bucket Alley or using the parking lot for a tent.

Girbach said he would support weekend closures.

“But we know Saline has traffic concerns. We know we have to get buses through, we have to get emergency vehicles through and there are other concerns,” Girbach said.

Mayor Marl said he was open to additional usage of sidewalks, parking lots, Leather Bucket Alley and some strategic street closures on weekends. He said those street closures should be supported with outdoor activities that would drive people downtown.

Dell'Orco said the public was supportive of the road closures when they saw people using the recovery zone. But public opinion is changing as people drive by an empty, closed road.

“Our experiment, up to this point has been failing and it’s creating a lot of pressure from the public. There was support for it, along the way, of having the road closed when people were in those spaces dining and those spaces were being utilized. But now that the space isn’t being utilized, there’s a lot of public pressure to open the road,” Dell’Orco said. 

PARKING LOT PLAN?

Dell'Orco was among the council members who suggested the West Henry Parking Lot (home to the Farmers Market) could be used for dining or for a social zone. Girbach said there was money in the city’s TIFA fund to assist with issues. Councillor Mitchell said that if the road wasn't closed, then the space behind Carrigan Cafe might also be another area that could be used.

But there could be issues. For one, according to Interim Manager Greene, it might not be legal to use city tax dollars for a tent used by private businesses.

But it was the restaurant owners who were most against the idea. MacNeil, Kolander and Geragosian all spoke against the idea.  MacNeil said that even with reduced business, parking is still an issue at times, and using parking spaces would "compound" the problem.

Geragosian said he had concerns about whether there would be liquor license issues about serving under the same tent. And, Geragosian said, according to the health department, tents are treated like enclosed areas, so they are subject to the COVID-19 capacity regulations.

FAIRNESS

Several council members spoke about the fairness of continuing to close a road when some businesses say it hurts their business.

Girbach said he was concerned with the “underdog businesses” which might rely on drive-by traffic.

“I want to balance it for all the businesses,” Girbach said.

Dell'Orco seemed to be on the same page.

“If we can have a win-win for everyone involved, and help all the businesses create something of a recovery zone in a space that isn’t in a public intersection, I personally feel that’s the best way forward," he said.

TASKFORCE

Spence suggested the city launch a task force to explore ideas that help the city determine a course of action to help its business community formulate a plan.

There appeared to be some support on council for that idea. Marl said it might be a new task force, or perhaps the rejuvenation of an older committee that was set up to attract and retain business.

Councillor Janet Dillon suggested another layer of government might slow the city down at a time when businesses are urgently seeking action. 

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