St. Clair Shores adds Civic Center Drive to local street network to seek Act 51 repairs

The St. Clair Shores City Council voted 5-2 March 3 to adopt a resolution adding a roughly 350-foot section of Civic Center Drive to the city's local street network and to the state Act 51 reporting map, a change staff said will allow the city to seek state road funds to help repair an area currently used as a parking lot and cut-through.

City engineer Mike Freckleton told the council the city was proposing to "add this about 350 foot section of drive from Pleasant to pretty much the border of that North South Civic Center parking lot" to the local street inventory so the city could become eligible for Act 51 money for repairs. Freckleton said the section receives heavy traffic, including trucks, and described the pavement as "in a pretty bad state of disrepair."

Councilmembers and staff said the roadway historically appeared on the original 1930 plat as Rosewood Drive and was later incorporated into the Civic Center parking area. Freckleton said the change would be "re-adding about half of it back to our street network so we can use actual street funding to help repair this area."

Councilmember Burgess raised a concern about classifying part of a parking lot as a street, saying, "It's kind of odd to call a portion of parking lot a street." Councilmember Vitale said he frequently uses the area and has observed substantial cut-through and truck traffic to the industrial park. Freckleton responded that for the local system the state's requirement is broadly based on public access and that the added mileage would yield only a small additional Act 51 allocation but would allow the city to supplement local money with state funds. Councilmembers also discussed that city parking-lot and alley millage language will allow use of other local funds beginning July 1 and that the city currently has reserves it could deploy if desired.

The resolution was moved by Councilmember Frederick and supported by Councilmember Burgess; the council recorded a 5-2 vote in favor and declared the resolution passed. The city will submit the change in its next Act 51 reporting to the state; staff said the request is subject to state approval.

Why it matters: the change makes a small length of pavement eligible for state roadway funds that the city otherwise would not be able to use, shifting some repair funding from local-only sources to a combination of local and state dollars. Staff said the immediate effect on the city's Act 51 allocation would be small but would allow the city to prioritize other local funds for alleys or other needs.

Next steps: staff will file the Act 51 request with state authorities and, if approved, bring repair plans and funding recommendations back to council for scheduling and procurement.