SALINE, MI – Weeks before outdoor summer events were set to take over a downtown street in Saline, safety concerns from the area’s fire chief appear to have officials ready to force organizers to find an alternate location.
The events — including a Thursday night concert series known as Salty Summer Sounds, the popular Saline Summerfest slated for August and Oktoberfest scheduled for September — have in years past relied on the closure of South Ann Arbor Street to vehicle traffic.
But that poses a serious risk in the event of a fire, according to Saline Area Fire Department Chief Jason Sperle, who took his position last year after serving as Pittsfield Township’s longtime fire marshal.
At a Monday, May 16 joint meeting of the Saline City Council and Saline Main Street, a nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing the city’s downtown, Sperle said the closure for the events violates 20 different fire codes, many dealing with access for emergency crews.
The city once lost the better part of the block to fire, a tragedy memorialized by a plaque there and the nearby Leather Bucket Alley, named for the containers once used to carry water to a blaze, the chief said.
“I don’t want to be part of history repeating itself, so it’s my job to point out when I have issues. This isn’t my personal opinion, this is fire code,” Sperle said, adding he fully supports the community events but couldn’t ignore the problems.
A similar street closure could take place in nearly any other part of the city, he said.
Among the concerns is how firefighters would get to a four-story building on South Ann Arbor Street that lacks appropriate access from the rear, Sperle said.
“Fire grows rapidly and if we’re not going to be able to get to it, bad things happen,” he said. “Fire codes don’t just magically appear. Lots of people die for them to become a fire code.”
The stern words appeared to resonate with all of City Council, which had in December approved 2022 event applications for the summertime concerts and festivals.
Even though the South Ann Arbor Street closure has been past city practice, Sperle’s review can’t be ignored, said City Council Member Janet Dillon, echoing similar concerns from her elected colleagues.
“If there is some sort of incident there, we’re just negligent, plain and simple. We knew that there was a risk, we knew that there was a public safety issue and we chose to ignore it,” she said.
The location wasn’t chosen by accident, according to Saline Main Street Board President Jill Durnen. The economic impact of the road closure is a key boost to downtown businesses and ensures pedestrian safety at a busy intersection, she said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, city leaders supported closures of the block just south of Michigan Avenue for restaurants’ outdoor seating throughout much of the summer, a measure not yet renewed for this year.
While downtown boosters and city officials have had conversations about continuing the area known as Umbrella Square, at this point Saline Main Street was only asking City Council to honor the closures for already-approved events, Durnen said.
In a memo to City Council, she proposed allowing a fire lane to remain open on one side of the street alongside the creation of an emergency action plan for the events, saying similar arrangements are in place in downtown Ann Arbor.
Read more: Downtown Ann Arbor street closures for restaurants to return in May
But even that plan doesn’t solve the fire concerns, Sperle said, adding it is as simple as his crews not being able to reach a hose to buildings there in case of a fire.
Having the summer concerts in a nearby public parking lot could be feasible, Sperle said, though Durnen said Saline Main Street wouldn’t consider that possibility because it would hurt businesses that rely on the parking.
As it stands, organizers must quickly search for an alternate location, which could potentially include letting bands perform on North Ann Arbor Street — a location Durnen said was the second best option, though there’s no guarantee a plan B could be developed in time.
City Council took no vote during the meeting scheduled for discussion only, but each council member signaled they would support nullifying the event approvals at the council’s next meeting.
Some of the issues stem from decisions made by the city planning commission in the 1990s as much of the area was redeveloped, Saline Mayor Brian Marl said, referencing fire access issues in the parking lot behind businesses on the east side of South Ann Arbor Street.
Those problems are haunting the city to this day, and it’s “appalling” they weren’t addressed then, the mayor said.
Saline Main Street leaders took the opportunity to urge better coordination with the city.
“We never want to host an event that’s going to create unsafe conditions,” said the group’s executive director, Holli Andrews.
But the events take a tremendous amount of planning and are a key lifeline for downtown establishments, as visitors flock to the city, she said.
“Saline itself cannot sustain our small businesses downtown,” Andrews said.
“I do support you, I support what you’re doing,” Sperle said at the end of the discussion, pledging to work with organizers to find appropriate locations for this summer’s events.
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