Meetings
Agendas and minutes are available by clicking here

City Council Goals & Objectives- Monday, Jan. 23, 6:30 p.m. - Council Chambers, City Hall or via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86590484652 Or Telephone:+1 301 715 8592 +1 309 205 3325 Webinar ID: 865 9048 4652

Anyone needing assistance should contact the City Manager's office at 248-449-9905. More information about online meetings and a user guide are available here.

This Just In – This week's newsletter arrives on Friday due to City Council meeting on Thursday. 

GMA presents downtown street closure design plan
Recap of City Council Jan. 19 meeting

McDonald Ford property – Council approved a contract with OHM Advisors to conduct due diligence of the McDonald Ford site at 7 Mile and Main Street after the city signed a $1 million purchase agreement for the land, with one to two due diligence periods. The not-to-exceed $24,600 OHM contract will address the site requirements – can it hold the current Farmers’ Market as it is today and can it accommodate a potential multi-use Farmers’ Market building for year-round use. (The Northville Chamber of Commerce manages the market and the city is the host.) Council Member Barbara Moroski-Browne requested a 20% contingency be added to the project cost, which would allow the city manager the discretion of working with an additional consultant experienced in farmers’ markets.

The first due diligence period, procured with a $50,000 deposit, ends April 29. AKT Peerless is handling the environmental due diligence. A second due diligence period of six months may be procured for a second $50,000 deposit. If the property is closed on, these deposits are counted toward the purchase price. If the city does not close the deal, the deposits are forfeited.
 
In the consent agenda, Council awarded a contract to Pipetek Infrastructure Services, of Plymouth, for $44,800 with a 10% contingency for total of $49,280 for the cleaning and inspection of the underground reservoir located near the water tower. This is part of the process needed to comply with an Administrative Consent Order (ACO) with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). City staff and engineers are conducting a feasibility study report (FS Report) to evaluate options for rehabilitating, replacing, or removing the underground reservoir from service.

GMA report on downtown streets – City Council meet jointly with the DDA Board to receive a report from Grissim, Metz and Andriese (GMA) on ways to improve the street aesthetics along the closed sections of Center and Main in Downtown Northville. Citizens can download the GMA presentation from the DDA website by clicking here and going to DDA Board/packets and agendas/GMA.

Public comment
At the beginning of the meeting, comments were heard from several citizens. View the video to hear from all of them. Many people also sent in letters.

Jim Long, 400 Fairbrook Court, said he wants Council to consider naming the unnamed street in the Downs development as either Downs Street or Downs Ave. to honor the 80-year history the city has had with Northville Downs.

Dr. William Demry, 371 E. Main – The owner of Preservation Dental appealed to leadership, consultants and citizens to consider the real need to integrate historic Northville with the new Downs development. He is hopeful there will be thoughtful discussion about the downtown street closures; he supports closures only during special events. He said he is available to talk to anybody about his views as a business owner and resident, and his experience in working with the city, especially concerning the downtown streets and local economy.

Jim Nield, 18234 Arselot, said the city and Northville Township have worked well together over the years and cited the many areas of collaboration. He takes issue with the closure of the two downtown streets and says with five major construction projects happening in the city in the coming years, the current problems in keeping traffic moving safely will become worse. He wants to see the streets reopen.

Nancy Reigner, 1063 N. Center, said she is disappointed in the direction that Northville is going. She wants the streets to reopen. She said she heard that the Downs developer will get the property taxes for the next eight years (from the new development) and doesn’t approve of it.

Jim Koster, 204 St. Lawrence, spoke against the downtown street closures, especially during the winter. He said when the Downs development is complete, there could be 800 to 1,000 more cars trying to get through Northville and it will negatively impact the neighborhoods.

Brian Scherle, co-owner of Browndog, said people should support the community and make sure that Northville becomes a better place. He and co-owner Paul (Gabriel) are in favor of the downtown street closures. He said people’s strong opinions on this subject is creating animosity and said he and Paul were recently threatened because of the street closure.

A summary of citizen comments that came after the GMA presentation:
Re-position the entrances to the parking lot off Hutton and Dunlap to make it safer, and consider removing some of the on-street parking for better visibility when exiting the parking lot.
Make a restroom available to visitors year-round.
Businesses want to know how long their outdoor structures can be used since it is a substantial investment for the business owner.
Heating will add to the electric cost and was not included in the report.

City Council communications

Mayor Brian Turnbull said there are a lot of big things happening in the city and the goal is to support new projects without raising taxes.

View the meeting video here.

Photo: Grissim, Metz and Andriese (GMA) presented a plan that shows how the downtown streets could be enhanced with new exterior elements and furnishings. Slide from GMA presentation.

Your input is needed to keep Northville streets safe for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists

You have until Saturday, Jan. 21 to provide input into the Northville Pedestrian and Traffic Study, through an online, interactive tool developed by the city’s traffic engineering consultants. Point out where you would like to see enhancements and where there are potential issues for pedestrians and drivers. It only takes a few minutes. View the online tool here.

The consultants, Fleis and Vandenbrink with support from MKSK, and the Mobility Task Force, a volunteer group of engaged citizens, are monitoring the posted information. A summary of findings from comments received will be developed after the initial survey ends.

Photo by Tim Gouw for Pexels

Meet the candidates for city manager

The search for a new city manager has been narrowed to six highly qualified candidates from a field of 24 after an initial closed session meeting on Jan. 17, attended by Frank Walsh, founder and president of Walsh Municipal Services; Mayor Brian Turnbull and fellow City Council members; and Interim City Manager Mark Wollenweber.

Actual interviews will be conducted at a special City Council meeting on Saturday, Feb. 4, beginning at 8:30 a.m., at City Hall (and Zoom), which is open to the public. Approximately 45 minutes will be allotted to each interviewee.

If you have any questions about the search process, please contact Wollenweber by email or phone: 248-449-9905 during business hours.

Nuts and bolts of owning an historic home: basements and interior walls
Historic District Homes Series

From basements and floors to windows and walls, Northville’s historic homes were built to last.

This article explores elements of the original construction and how homeowners interviewed for this series live with those items or have updated them – typically for better insulation, improved appearance or functionality.

Let’s start from the basement and work our way up. Many of these homeowners have a portion of their basement set in stone with mortar. Most still have sections of concrete or dirt floors.

Mike Weyburne, 226 West, prides himself on being a handyman who can fix most things around his historic home. After moving in with his wife Sarah, Mike added insulation around the poured concrete foundation with blanket insulation inside and foam outside. “It makes the basement less like a freezer and more like a refrigerator,” he said.

Pat Stein and her late husband, Bruce, contracted with a builder and worked together to add a tall-ceiling basement underneath the family room addition soon after moving into 419 Dubuar in 1986. The new basement section, with oodles of storage, abuts the original basement that has a low ceiling, stone walls and a partial stone floor. The crawl space off the original basement was sealed shut because it was letting in too much cold air.

John and Liz Carter, 536 W. Main St., moved into a home that already had an addition built. Their basement was two-thirds finished to delineate the original home (and foundation) from the addition. The classic white pillars in the basement family room not only support the ceiling but play well with the fieldstone wall that marks the original basement. Historic elements in the original section provide a glimpse into a distant past and are an intriguing contrast to the modern addition.

Marianne and Thom Barry, 239 High St., have a unique basement in its original state with hand-hewn beams and bark, fieldstone walls and original wood windows and doors. There are remnants of a rustic basement fireplace, which original occupants used to make pottery.
Marianne thinks that the original owners of the house, which was part of a working farm, may have brought in some small animals, perhaps sheep or chickens, for sheltering during the coldest winter days. There was a half door in one part of the basement leading to an enclosed area, where the animals could have been let in and out. Thom recalls that when he was washing the basement wood-plank walls, the odor from the wood smelled like barn animals.

Kathy Spillane, 487 W. Cady, noted that her son, who is 6’7, has to stoop when he goes into his parent’s basement. “We don’t have the luxurious basements with tall ceilings (in older homes),” Spillane said. “Many of the older homes have stone walls and some have dirt floors.”

Ray Bailey and AnnMaryLee Vollick, 116 S. Rogers, are putting an 800 ft2 addition on their 1845-era home, which will add a new kitchen and family room, nestled over a partial addition to the basement. While digging the hole for the new foundation in the rear of the house, the existing foundation, which is simply loose stones stacked on top of each other, started falling apart and into where the workers were digging.

Bailey noted, “As a temporary solution, an architectural engineer came out and designed a way to support the back of the house so they could continue digging the new hole. This support
allowed the rocks from the existing foundation to be able to harmlessly fall. Additionally, a new cement foundation was poured and braced on to support the existing walls and preserve the house structure.”

Walls stand tall
Thick walls are the norm in older homes. They were built with plaster over lath, which is 1/4-inch thick wood framing. Those short pieces were pounded into studs and plaster was placed over that. Horsehair was often used as wall filler. Many homeowners delight in the durability and sturdiness of plaster walls.

Bailey prefers drywall over plaster. “Plaster cracks,” he said. “It’s very expensive to fix. Not a lot of people (skilled trades) do it.”

The Barry’s house on High Street underwent a major renovation to the back and upper floors after they moved in. Marianne said the workers skim-coated the plaster walls to fix the cracks. They were fortunate to locate an Italian wet plaster specialist for one of their renovation projects. They make it a priority to use craftsmen who know how to repair historic homes.

Molding accentuates a home’s good bones
Having decorative molding on walls, baseboards, ceilings and door and window frames is another hallmark of an older home and elevates the character of the room. The molding and trim is often stained wood, rather than painted, especially in Craftsman-style homes.

Bailey’s house has original wainscoting in the front parlor. Chair-rail moldings and half-wall paneling in the adjoining rooms provide continuity between the large, secondary front room and the dining room. The decorative molding creates a sense of intimacy by visually reducing the scale of the large rooms.

Wallpaper needs to change with the times
Peeling off old wallpaper often comes with the territory of buying an older home.
“There were seven layers of wallpaper,” said Bailey. “We could piece together different stages of the home just by looking at the sections of wall that were removed (for the renovation).”

Weyburne also encountered unwanted wallpaper. “It was like moving into a period house. The wallpaper was Victorian – fancy textured and pink. It was nice but we wanted neutral. The wallpaper went up the stairs. We removed it and went a bit modern.”

Stein had to wrestle with removing wallpaper. It took three months for her and her husband to obtain clean walls again by steaming then scraping. “It was layers and layers of paper and paint,” she said. “It was nothing historic, just ugly.”

Ending this section on a high note, Gail LeVan, 132 Randolph, noted, “Old houses have a lot of quirks and crannies but everyone who comes into my old houses say that they feel immediately at home and safe.”                                                       

View the ongoing series on the city website.

Photos: Above: Original exterior door in the Barry’s basement. Below: The Bailey home, undergoing renovations in the back and painting throughout, features wainscoting in the front parlor. Hewn beam construction and a window in the Barry’s basement. Stacked white stones provide a foundation for the Bailey home. The Carters’ partially remodeled basement has a fieldstone wall that is part of the original basement.
Photos by Liz Cezat.

AARP income tax preparation assistance

AARP tax-aide provides free tax assistance to taxpayers with low and middle income, with special attention to those who are 60 and older as well as the disabled. Appointments are required. One-on-one sessions will be conducted at the Northville Community Center on Thursdays, Feb. 2 through March 30. To register, please call 248-305-2851 or visit the Senior Services desk at the Community Center, 303 W. Main Street.

Last year, the group assisted with 285 returns. Volunteers are needed to help with the program and can contact Teri Kuehn. 

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels.

Northvillians and friends,

This week, we will go back in time and focus on Northville’s part in the Underground Railroad, a true path to freedom that ran through our community.

As you may know, the Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the U.S. during the early to mid-1800’s. It was used primarily by African Americans to migrate to free states and Canada.

This underground network was established by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause. One estimate suggests that even before 1850, 100,000 people escaped to freedom via the network. Let’s look at some of the stations in the Northville community. Overall, it is believed that more than 40,000 made their way to freedom through Northville and the greater Detroit area, primarily into Canada. 

Before we get to the local underground stops, here's what's happening in Northville:

Mill Race History Lecture by the Mayor – Jan. 25, 7 p.m., Mill Race Village, presenting the history of various sections of town.

Quarterly Mayoral Town Hall – Thursday, Jan. 26 (Live and on Zoom). Northville Township Hall (6 Mile & Sheldon), Debbie Dingell, our new U.S Representative will join via Zoom, and Matt Koleszar, our State Representative, will be there in person. Join us here.

In this New Year, keep that faith, hope and trust in the future of your Northville Community!

Brian Turnbull
Mayor, Northville

Things to do

Doing Business

Winter tax bills can be paid now through Feb. 14

Winter tax bills have been mailed. Winter 2022 taxes are payable without penalty and/or interest through Feb. 14. On Feb. 15, 2023, a 3% penalty will be added.

Taxpayers who live in Oakland County, north of 8 Mile, will see an additional tax on their winter tax bill to cover the voter-approved .95 mill transportation millage to maintain and expand public transit services in Oakland County for the next 10 years.

Tax & Assessing data lookup

You may retrieve tax and assessing data from the city website. If you have any questions, call the Tax and Assessing office at 248-449-9901.

Sign up for automatic utility bill payment or e-bills

Utility bill customers may sign up to receive email bills or arrange for automatic payment by completing the online form. E-bills are emailed on the billing date with a full-page bill attached as a PDF. Payments can be made by ACH, which is an electronic transaction agreed to by the customer that allows the city’s bank to withdraw the amount due from the customer's bank account. For questions, call 248-449-9901.

Dog licenses are up for renewal

All dogs four months and older must be licensed. The annual license fee is $13 ($10 with documented spay/neuter). Dog licenses for 2022 expire on Feb. 28, 2023. Please provide a current rabies vaccination certificate at the time of application. Licenses are available at the City Clerk’s Office. If you want to register by mail, please download an application.

Around Town

Keep sidewalks clear of snow and ice

Property owners (residents and businesses) must clear sidewalks within 24 hours of a snow or ice event by ordinance. When clearing snow, do not blow or shovel snow into any roadway. The DPW only clears sidewalks that are on city-owned or operated properties, such as those at City Hall, the Fire Station and cemeteries. Prompt removal of snow reduces the need for salt. That means less salt travels to storm drains, which discharge into the Middle Rouge River.

Overnight parking

Street parking is prohibited from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. The City of Northville provides overnight parking permits for $120 per year ($10 per month). Each of the downtown parking lots have spaces identified for overnight parking. If you need to temporarily park on the street overnight in a residential area, contact the Police Dept. at 248-305-2790 before 12 a.m. to obtain a waiver.

Report water main breaks

Each year the City of Northville has between 10 and 20 water main breaks. If you see water bubbling out of the ground on City property, contact the Public Works Department at 248-449-9930 or 248- 349-1234 after hours and report its location. The sooner the leak is identified and reported, the quicker it can be repaired, reducing the chances of contamination entering the water system and minimizing the cost for lost water.

At Home

Christmas trees are being collected

You can set your live Christmas tree on the curb for pickup at your next scheduled trash collection day. These trees will go to the landfill.

Dispose of hazardous waste year-round

City residents can dispose of hazardous waste at no cost by dropping it off weekdays at Environmental Recycling Group (ERG) at 13040 Merriman, Ste. 200, in Livonia. Visit the website to find out what waste items are accepted. To help the city contain costs for this program, consider taking a neighbor’s hazardous waste as well as your own to reach the 100 lb. limit. Any amount over 100 lbs. will be charged to the customer at 75¢ per pound. For more information, please visit ERG’s website or call 734.437.9650.

Test for radon in your house

Winter is a good time to test for radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can become a health hazard. It is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, according to the EPA. The gas may seep into homes through cracks in floors or walls and can accumulate. During the winter months, when windows and doors typically stay closed, radon gas is more easily detected.

For residents in Oakland County, radon test kits are half-price ($5 rather than $10) during January at Health Division offices, open 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays (closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16.) Locations are: North Oakland Health Center, 1200 Telegraph, Building 34E, Pontiac and South Oakland Health Center, 27725 Greenfield Road, Southfield.

If you live in Wayne County, there are no discounted kits but you can learn where to obtain a radon kit here.

To learn more about radon levels in Michigan and resources, visit the EGLE Radon webpage. Additional information is available on the EPA’s Region 5 website, which is managed by the State of Illinois.

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