By Lisa Carolin
Hundreds of bicyclists are expected to be riding from Dexter to Chelsea on Dexter-Chelsea Road Thursday, April 13, for the sentencing of Terry Lee Lacroix, the driver charged in the death of bicyclist Karen McKeachie last August.
Lacroix is scheduled to be sentenced at Chelsea District Court, which is the destination of the bicyclists. He is charged with a misdemeanor moving violation, though according to Craig Maier, supervisor of Lima Township, many of McKeachie’s friends and supporters believe he should be charged with manslaughter.
The bicyclists will begin their ride at 8:30 a.m. and head west from Dexter with an escort from the Washtenaw County sheriffs to Chelsea.
Maier shared the news at the township board’s April 10 meeting. During public comment, Arlene Bareis, who resides on Dexter-Chelsea Road and is one of the many citizens concerned about the Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative non-motorized pathway through the township, thanked the board for holding its March 30 special meeting about the topic as well as for the board’s proclamation supporting residents, which can be found on the township’s website.
Also at the April 10 meeting, Maier said that he has received numerous calls asking if Lima Township allows medical marijuana dispensaries. His response: “No, we do not.”
He also shared notice from the Seventh-Day Adventist Church that student evangelists will be going door-to-door in the township from June 4-Aug. 11 handing out literature.
The board approved the Washtenaw County Road Commission 2017 Dust Control and Road Projects contracts, which will include completing Jerusalem Road from Freer to the Sylvan Township line, adding six inches of limestone to North Lima Center Road from the end of Seitz to Trinkle, and doing the same on South Lima Center Road at least to the halfway point.
Trinh Pifer, executive director of the Chelsea Senior Center, along with Senior Center Board Member Gary Munce, made a presentation for the township board about the senior center. Pifer thanked the township for its funding, and said the senior center now has 918 active members, with an average age of 72, and an age range of 50 to 107.
Just some info for the residents along Dexter Chelsea proposed pathway showing that it will increase property values. Homes along pathways sell quickly, a huge selling point.
Thank you,
Randy Step (I currently live across from the rail trail in Gregory, not Chelsea but the info here for this wonderful project was all so negative, I thought I’d chime in.
http://headwaterseconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/trails-library-property-value-overview.pdf
Thank you for the posted article, Randal, however upon reading the article and looking at the photograph, it is clear that the article is addressing urban properties and property values. It talks about neighborhood access and maintaining privacy for residents. The proposed bike path would not be running through urban areas, but through rural properties. The setback of the proposed route takes it through the middle of property owner’s front yards, across their gravel driveways, and through the front of farm fields. My brother’s farmhouse will find the bike path 6 feet off his front porch (which is set on a 2 acre parcel.) Farmers would not be able to cross the path to plow or farm the front portion of their fields with a paved path running through it. This is completely different from an urban setting for a bike path where lots of people would love to have more space that is useable and public. No one who is farming will benefit monetarily from a bike path cutting their field apart.
Let me clearly state that there needs to be a solution for bicyclists – I don’t think anyone thinks riding on Dexter-Chelsea Road is safe. It makes so much more sense to ask the road commission to set back the ditches and run bike lanes along the road. Or, consider a more open road, one that isn’t hemmed in with trees. The path should also stay completely on one side of the road. The proposed path would cross Dexter-Chelsea Road at least once, which again lends itself to becoming a safety issue. Cars going 60 plus miles an hour would not be watching for crossing cyclists. Dexter-Chelsea Road is a very busy, fast moving road.
The biggest concern I have is this, though. Would the current bicyclists that ride Dexter-Chelsea Road actually want to ride a path? They currently look like racing clubs and serious bicyclists that want to ride fast, to me. If the path is imposed upon the rural property owners, and the bicyclists continue to ride on the road instead of the path, who benefits from this?
I believe this is a discussion that should have been held with all stakeholders present, with solid data about usage and clear projections about the benefits and the consequences. This was not done. Property owners were not invited to the table from the beginning and they should have been. There were all kinds of plans made and money raised before property owners found out about this. This is the wrong way, the strong arm way, to get things done. We don’t like it in our government, so why were the people who wanted this going at it in this way? There are many, many angles to consider, and there must be more than one solution for this problem. Let’s start allowing ALL voices to work to come up with a reasonable solution for all.