Plymouth PC considers a sidewalk request along 1600 block of Oak Rd.
PLYMOUTH—THE Plan Commission considered a request from ADDD Equities LLC to put in a fivefoot sidewalk with a six-foot setback from Oak Dr. at their property located at 1619 N. Oak Dr., the plot between TCU and Tristar Pipe & Supply. The city statutes say that along Oak Dr., sidewalks need to be eight feet wide and at least 10 feet away from the curb. Since the request involves multiple entities, including the Complete Streets Committee (CSC), the Board of Public Works and Safety, as well as the Plan Commission, and the company in question, the discussion was tabled until next month’s meeting.
ADDD’S legal counsel, Burke Richeson, explained that, as laid out in the request, the sidewalk will allow a new warehouse and office building to be built with a three-foot deep retention pond. The construction timeline includes breaking ground June 1 on the office building, with the whole project completed by the end of the year.
The new sidewalk ties in well with a plan that the CSC has been considering, which would put in a continuous sidewalk on Oak Dr. from US 30 to Harrison St. From there, it could then attach to the proposed path from Oak to the Conservation Clubhouse along Harrison. Plan Consultant Ralph Booker explained that there is no installation timeline in place yet for the Oak St. Sidewalk project. Nonetheless, the CSC is looking into options, up to and including a partnership with the entities along that stretch of road.
Jeff Houin, a member of the CSC as well as being as heavily involved in other areas of local government, spoke to the Commission about all this. “We’ve been very active, as a committee, in trying to come up with a better plan for Oak Rd.,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous street to try to navigate if you’re not in a car. Even in a car, it can be very dangerous. The biggest challenge is that there’s very little right-of-way. There’s only a couple of feet on each side of the street that we have to work with.” To that end, the CSC has been working with the Michiana area Council of Governments (MACOG) to create a conceptual design for Oak Dr. to enable foot and bike traffic. However, since there isn’t much space to play with, The City of Plymouth is currently limited in their prospects.
On behalf of the CSC, Houin recommended that instead of granting the variance, ADDD and the City of Plymouth should form an agreement that the com
pany will donate 10 feet of land to the city for the purpose of the continuous sidewalk rather than build it themselves. “That would give us much more space to work with as we plan for the future and we believe we could leverage that to approach other property owners up and down Oak Rd. and get similar donations of right-of-way. Gradually, we could accumulate enough space and right-of-way so that we can design Oak Rd. to be more accommodating,” Houin said.
According to Houin, the proposed series of 10-foot right-of-way donations would give the city control over a greater portion of right-of-way along Oak Dr., allowing them more scope to play with when it comes to developing the thoroughfare. One idea that he expressed was to reduce Oak Dr. to a threelane road: one going in either direction and a turn lane in the middle. “We believe that could handle, actually probably more traffic than it can right now and much safer. That would give us more space. Combined with an extra 10 feet of right-of-way, that would give us space to put in something equivalent to the greenway trails that would give us much better access and a good buffer from the vehicle traffic… We do not have a definite plan, we’re just working on it. They’re just conceptual ideas to see what we could do.”
Houin went on to explain that support for the plan is accumulating, including from the city attorney and mayor. “It’s not going to happen soon. It’s going to take a long time to develop the plans and find the funding and make the changes, but this would be the first step in making it possible to increase the safety on Oak Rd.”
According to Richeson, the owner of ADDD is amenable to the suggestion. “I think it’s kind of an agreement in lieu of a comprehensive plan. Our agreement is to cooperate and participate with the rest of the community and do whatever is determined within that 10 feet. If it’s an easement, if it’s a donation, if it’s we can build the sidewalk in there.
However it works, we’re happy to do that.”
Plan Commissioner Mark Gidley expressed his concern to Houin, who is also a City Councilman, about the number of times they have granted these types of variances before. His disconcertion at allowing these requests has only increased since an accident that took a young man’s life at the corner of Oak and Pidco last year. “To some degree, I’ve regretted our votes—my vote personally—to waive some of these sidewalk requests,” he said. “But what you’re proposing, I know it’s a long-term out, but it seems like the beginning of a plan which I’ve been waiting to hear for 16 years. So I’m pleased that we’re getting that far.”
Houin was the one who suggested tabling the discussion to allow time to work out the details of the agreement. “I believe it would require approval from the Board of Public Works and Safety for the dedication of transfer of the ownership. Probably also a setback variance because it would move back the property line. But a variance would allow them to build in the same location where they have it planned out. At the end of the day, if this agreement works and everyone else approves it, I’m not sure there’d be any reason for you to entertain the request and it can simply be dismissed. So I would suggest you table it tonight while the parties try to work out the agreement.” ADDD'S build plans would not be disrupted by this, as the sidewalk can be postponed until the end of the construction process, if necessary.
Houin also hinted that the CSC is looking at improving other roads throughout Plymouth that could be improved for foot and bike traffic. “One of our biggest priorities right now on the committee is to identify locations where we can make immediate changes. But then also develop a long-term plan for the bigger changes,” Houin told the Commission. “We’re working very hard to identify things that we can do to make Plymouth a safer city for all types of traffic, be it pedestrians or bicyclists or strollers or wheelchairs and make everybody safer.”