News

Deerfield bridge work diverts shopping traffic

DEERFIELD — Usually, at about 4:15 p.m., Jim Hart, co-owner of Minute Mart in Deerfield Village, looks outside his store window and sees a flurry of vehicles crossing the bridge and headed back home for Deerfield.
Many of those commuters regularly stop by his store and pick up beverages, lunch meat, snacks and other items.
These days, with the Rodesiler bridge under construction, Hart doesn’t see much traffic on the roads or in his store.
“It’s a ghost town. I knew it was going to hurt. But I didn’t think it would hurt this much,” said Hart, who estimated that business was down 40 percent since the construction began June 9. “The whole town is feeling it.”
Dennis Gerth, owner of Deerfield Grocery, agreed with Hart.
“I knew it was going to affect my business from the start. I hoped that it wouldn’t be too bad, but it’s really been terrible,” said Gerth.
Deerfield merchants rely on commuters, many of whom work in Toledo or Sylvania, crossing over that bridge and into town from the south. With the bridge closed, drivers usually coming from the south are coming in from the east or west, often going through other towns and stopping off at different stores.
“There’s really not much I can do,” said Gerth, who lobbied before hand to have the bridge closed one lane at a time. “I have been thinking that a delivery service might be an option. But it’s one of those ideas that I probably would have needed to plan for before hand. By the time I got everything planned and worked out, the bridge would be open.”
Merchants are cutting back on inventory. It’s not an easy pill to swallow for Hart.
“Summer time is a busy time of year for us. We sell a lot of cold beverages and things like hot dogs, chips and buns as the temperature rises. Beverage consumption is up tremendously in the summer time,” Hart said. “The economy was tough enough as it was without adding this to the mix.”
Hart, who has owned the store with his wife for three years, said he called officials from the state to see if there were any relief grants available.
“You hear about that kind of thing all the time, in cases of floods or natural disasters. But they basically told me tough luck,” Hart said.
With few options available, there’s not much else merchants can do but grin and bear it.
“There’s not much else to do,” Gerth said.
The bright side is that the work appears to be on schedule. Originally, the work was to completed before school began after Labor Day. But right from the start, it looked like the project might run late. Now, it appears, things are back on schedule.
“It’s on track. It’s on schedule,” said John Keck, assistant highway engineer at the Lenawee County Road Commission.
Keck said Monday that the first and second span of the three-span bridge is removed.
“They are actually setting the beams for the second span today, and as it progresses, they’ll begin forming the concrete deck,” he said. “Considering everything, they should be setting the beams of the last span by the middle of next week.”
After the beams are in place, work will begin on forming the deck with plywood.
“That might take a little while, to pour the deck and set the parapets,” he said.
Following that, the guard rails will be reset and work on the approach to the bridge will need to be done. One thing people will notice, when it is complete, is that the bridge will no longer have sidewalks. They’ve been removed in favor of a shoulder. That will help the county workers plow the bridge in the winter.
Engineers originally estimated the project would cost $683,000. The job was awarded to Saugatuck-based L.W. Lamb for $592,000. The federal government is funding 80 percent of the project. The state is funding another 15 percent of the project. Lenawee County is funding the remainder.

Community development is new goal of business group

The economic climate is dishing out pain to many businesses and workers in Michigan. And the Blissfield Area Chamber of Commerce, an organization funded by business interests, is in the same boat.
Membership in the organization is down from more than 100 to just over 60. But the organization isn’t taking it lying down. Instead, the chamber’s borders have expanded, its focus has broadened, and its visibility in everyday life in Blissfield has increased.
“What we are doing now is reorganizing to make the focus more about community development, and not only about economic development,” said Frank Baker, president of the chamber’s board of directors. “And not just for Blissfield, but for the greater Blissfield area.”
In the past, Baker said, the chamber focused on the central business district. But with the advent of the DDA, he said, the chamber now had the ability to explore other avenues. More broad-minded subcommittees such as the Economic Development Council have sputtered. But the current chamber mission is directly related to a more recent chamber subcommittee — the Area of Blissfield Community Development group, or the ABCD. That committee invited members from all sectors of the community including business, government, service groups, the schools, and more, to join and help form a community vision.
When Baker was selected as new chamber board president, he brought the ABCD format with him.
The new chamber is heavy on structure. The chamber’s executive committee of Baker, Bill Warner, Barb McHenry, Barb Bates, Beth Borchardt and Kay Brown meets every Monday at 9 a.m.
“In the past, we never met except the monthly board meeting. And even some of those were canceled,” Baker said. “We probably didn’t even have 12 a year.”
The Board of Directors continues to meet once a month. But that’s where the chamber branches out. Each of the nine members of the board is a liaison to a subcommittee.
“There’s a committee for just about everyone who is interested in making Blissfield a better place,” said Shelly Woods, director of the chamber.
These subcommittees meet once a month — or more. Sometimes they meet in private homes. Sometimes they meet in restaurants.
“We want people who have an area of expertise or a passion to volunteer for two hours a month, to get together and bounce ideas off each other,” Baker said.
A recent marketing committee meeting, the group discussed a new Discover Blissfield brochure, the Advance’s Visitor’s Guide and more.
“We talked about the things we like, and the things we didn’t like,” said Woods.
Another thing that came out of the meeting was the idea that the chamber lacked a marketing plan.
“Now Mick Raich expects to have a draft of a community marketing plan at their next meeting,” said Baker.
The big push, of course, is finding the people to fill the slots on the various committees. Despite the business of today’s modern parents, Woods said people will make time to serve their community.
“We like busy people,” Woods said. “Busy people get things done.”
Baker said that the chamber’s structure would allow civic-minded people to use their time better.
“There are many good people out there already volunteering their time. We’re not asking for more time. But we’re trying to coordinate their work with other’s work. In effect, it multiplies their work,” Baker said.
The chamber is reaching out to new partners. Officials from Riga, Blissfield, Deerfield and Palmyra townships have been contacted by the chamber. The chamber is also attempting to strengthen relations with the Blissfield School District.
“Schools are a significant entity in this community. School sports, for instance, can be an economic engine if we can hook on to it properly. If we work together to coordinate activities, we can help improve the business atmosphere in the community,” Baker said. “It’s a win-win proposition. The schools are talking about new buildings or renovations. We’re asking how we can help them. Because we understand that a first class school system attracts employees, attracts families and attracts business to the community.”
The chamber has also made more frequent stops in front of Blissfield Village Council, taking an active role in many village issues.
“It’s our position that village council missed the point with the village office project. There wasn’t enough understanding of the needs and wants of the citizens, and it went down in flames,” Baker said. “What we’re trying to do within the chamber is create more opportunity for citizen involvement to provide input.”
In recent months, the chamber has taken a lead role on the water tower logo project and confronted village council on the village’s refusal to enforce ordinances without a complaint. The Chamber’s recent interest has left some village trustees feeling like their toes were stepped on.
“What we’re trying to do is provide input. We’re studying issues and presenting ideas to council,” Baker said.
Last winter, Kay Brown, on behalf of the ABCD, proposed several options to council for a village hall.
“As a result, council has taken a longer-range view on the issue. They’ve stepped back from trying to get a new office built and have begun revisiting the idea of relocating the (Department of Public Works),” Baker said.
The DPW issue is one that has created much debate in the community before. The chamber and the ABCD have recently brought the issue back to life, bringing in officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and experts on brownfield redevelopment to speak in Blissfield.
Baker said the chamber would not shy away from controversy.
“The goal is to improve Blissfield,” Baker said. “The DPW is a prime commercial development site. It’s centrally located. There are not many natural features in this community that you could play on. (The DPW site) is one of them,” Baker said.
Kay Brown said that she’s been told the DPW will outgrow their site within 10 years.
“If that’s the case, then my not move now, and find a better use for the site,” Brown said.
Baker and village trustee Art Weeber have long been proponents of “finding a higher and better use” for the DPW site. Baker said he knows people are going to say that “Art and Frank” are using the chamber for their agenda. But, he said, the chamber is open to opposing viewpoints and welcome people with different ideas to work on the committees.
Baker and Woods say the chamber of commerce hasn’t forgotten about doing the things it once did, like work on brochures, improving the chamber website, and organizing car shows.
“Not only are those things still being worked on, they are being worked on by many more people,” Baker said.
Woods pointed to the recent influx of interest in the car and bike shows.
“Since the DDA took over, we’ve seen new people become more involved, and we’re tapping into the whole Blissfield DDA district instead of the same three or four members we used to count on for everything,” said Woods.
Baker said the chamber’s ability to serve its members would be even better as more people get involved.
“We know that there are people who want the chamber to do more for them. But the only way the chamber can do more for them is if they get involved. There are people who Shelly running from door to door downtown every day asking businesses what they want,” Baker said. “That’s just not going to work.”
Baker said that the tough economic climate makes chamber membership even more important.
“The benefits that come to paying members accumulate in different ways. The new website is going to get substantially more traffic, with new features offered to chamber members. We’re going to promote Blissfield with brochures and a new marketing plan. We’re going to try to coordinate activities to bring more people community businesses,” Baker said. “Why would a person come to town to visit a tanning bed if there’s a tanning bed in their town. But maybe they’d come if they were also going to get a massage. And maybe the husband might be convinced to come and spend the afternoon at the model railroad club. And then they’d go have dinner. We’re trying to get people acting in a coordinated fashion so we can turning things around.”
He said the cost of joining the chamber is equal to the cost of a night out on the town.
“I hear former members say that business is down, and things are bad, so they can’t join. But there isn’t a time when investment in the chamber was more important,” Baker said. “If nothing else, the chamber provides you with some reassurance that things aren’t as bleak as they might seem.”