How to Keep Center Avenue Pristine is Subject of Group Planning

Heritage Route Involves Residents, Stakeholders, in Visioning Now Underway

February 25, 2003       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

Printer Friendly Story View

Will Center Avenue continue to be the first place many visitors to Bay City ask to see?

Will it remain a stately promenade lined with magnificent 19th century mansions, each with a tale to tell?

Or will it disintegrate into a sleazy, unattractive highway spur used mainly as the fastest route out of the city?

Only time will tell. But planning for the best of futures is now well underway, with many concerned local participants, headed by Ellie Majchrzak, a Center Avenue resident and associate broker with Hollister Realtors.



Center Avenue is targeted for major improvements in 2008, according to MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation).

But long before those improvements are made, stakeholders on Center will have decided on "a shared understanding of the desired character, aesthetic goals and project improvements for the corridor."

These decisions are part of a "visioning" process now going on under guidance of several state and local entities.

The Center Avenue Historic Heritage Route Trust (CAHRT) has been formed to preserve and enhance the road's history and its future.

Expert help has been recruited to aid the local folks in their visioning, says Majchrzak. These experts include Giffels-Webster Engineers of Rochester Hills, the consulting firm working on a Corridor Management Plan for Center Avenue, which was designated a Historic Heritage Route in 1997. Other guidance comes from HNTB, a Lansing engineering and architectural firm, and Jane Busch LLC, a historic preservation consulting company from Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

"We're very excited about working with the Giffels-Webster team," said Majchrzak. "Their approach is based on a lot of citizen input and a gooddeal of research."

The corridor is one and a half miles of Center from Madison Avenue to Livingston Avenue. That is the stretch which has the Heritage Route designation.

Not just city residents are concerned about the future of Center. William Tacey, supervisor of adjoining Hampton Township, says: "It's important to Hampton that we have coordination. Center Avenue shouldn't look like this government group went this way and that group went that way. This is an opportunity to start the mindset that cooperation between governmental units needs to be a priority."

Funding for the planning is provided by a $43,750 grant from MDOT.

Shirley Roberts, CAHRT secretary, and executive director of the Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, says:"Ultimately, the plan is intended to identify strategies that will preserve and maintain the historic and scenic character of the Center Avenue Heritage Route Corridor, provide residents and visitors with information about the heritage and cultural assets that exist along the route, and help to coordinate resources to perserve, maintain, protect and enhance the intrinsic value of the corridor."

---

Printer Friendly Story View

	Prior Article February 10, 2020 by: Rachel Reh Family Winter Fun Fest is BACC Hot Spot for 2/10/2020
	Next Article February 2, 2020 by: Kathy Rupert-Mathews MOVIE REVIEW: "Just Mercy" ... You Will Shed Tears, or at Least You Should

Agree? or Disagree? Leave a Comment!

---

Dave Rogers
Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read, respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City. (Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com) More from Dave Rogers

---

Send This Story to a Friend!       Letter to the editor       Link to this Story
Printer-Friendly Story View

---

--- Advertisments ---