KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — Kalamazoo City Commissioners have a busy agenda Monday evening including a proposal to assume jurisdiction over four major state trunk lines downtown.
They are among the busiest streets in town: Park, Westnedge, Michigan and Kalamazoo Avenue.
City planners want to modify them from state throughways into local roads.
City Planner Rebekah Kik says it’s part of a bigger plan to eventually turn all of Kalamazoo’s roadways into “complete streets” that are designed to serve the property owners who reside along them, and the people most likely to use them for transportation.
Both proposals are on the agenda for final approval Monday night.
Also up for final consideration, new ordinances on the use of bicycles on sidewalks and pedestrian rights at crosswalks.
In addition, commissioners will hold their public hearing on the 2019 city budget and one of the issues under discussion is whether or not to bring back monthly bulk trash pickups.
The popular program went to quarterly pick-ups in 2016 because the cost was exceeding the fee paid by residents. City staff says the change has resulted mainly in confusion, and trash citations.
City Manager Jim Ritsema says his staff is working up a proposal.
A Facebook poll conducted last month showed that 88% of the city’s residents support bringing back the monthly pick-ups, even if it means an increase in the city’s solid waste millage.
(copy written by John McNeill)
