Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Historic Preservation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council committee weighs changes to secondary (honorary) street-sign process amid backlog of applications
Summary
The Committee received and filed a report on honorary/secondary street signs after HDAB staff outlined a growing backlog (18 rollovers in 2026) and proposed options including reducing rollover years, requiring petition signatures, limiting council-sponsored applications and/or using a competitive review; staff said application period is Jan. 1–June 30 and will return with draft ordinance changes.
The Detroit City Council Committee of the Whole received a report from the Historic Designation Advisory Board (HDAB) on the growing backlog of honorary-secondary-street-sign applications and asked staff to expedite a scheduled discussion on possible ordinance changes.
Janice Tillman of HDAB told the committee that the program’s popularity has created a backlog: 18 rollover applicants in 2026 and nine new inquiries to date. Tillman described several potential reforms to reduce the queue, including shortening or eliminating automatic rollovers, requiring petition signatures from neighbors, limiting council-sponsored applications (Council sponsorship currently accounts for a sizable share of applications), applying a theme-by-year approach (e.g., focus on music, art, education in a given year), or adopting a CVDG-style competitive review to select five finalists.
Tillman noted that any process change would require an ordinance amendment and said the application deadline is Jan. 1–June 30; she reported three nearly complete applications that still needed council sponsorship and warned that if all inquiries submit by June 30 there could be as many as 27 applicants this cycle.
Council members expressed support for reducing politicization of the process and for finding ways to spread recognition citywide beyond downtown and Midtown. The chair suggested rollovers should not continue automatically and proposed waiving fees for certain re-applications. Pro Tem Coleman Young asked for a list of sponsors for the current applicant list; staff offered to provide that information. The committee approved receiving and filing the report and asked staff to schedule a fuller discussion and circulate proposed ordinance changes for council input.
Why it matters: honorary and secondary street signs confer civic recognition; the current backlog and rollover rules mean applicants can be delayed multiple years. Council members said they want to preserve the program’s intent while making the selection process fairer and more geographically distributed.
What’s next: HDAB will solicit council feedback, provide sponsor lists and timing details, and the council will consider ordinance amendments ahead of the next secondary-street-sign cycle.
