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South Bay Corridor Study Alpena Township, Michigan

February 4, 2016

Background
TheSouthBayCorridorStudyareaincludestheUS23corridorandsurroundingneighborhoodsextendingfromthe
AlpenaCityLimitstoSquawBay,aswellasDNRownedlandonPartridgePoint.Aftervisitingthecorridorandmeeting
withkeystakeholders,themainissuesweredeterminedtobethefunction,aesthetics,andlandusepatternofthe
corridorasitrelatestothevehicularandpedestrianexperience.
Beckett&Raederdevelopedpreliminaryideasandconceptsandpresentedthematameetingopentothepublicon
January26th,2016attheAlpenaMallGallerySpace.Theconceptspresentedintheplaninclude(butarenotlimitedto):

Land use

Creatingdeeperpocketsofmixedusedevelopment
CreatingdesignatedBusinessParkstoincludelightindustrialandheavycommercialbusinesses
Developingpocketsofhigherdensityresidentialtosupportthemixedusedevelopments
Protectingexistingtraditionalneighborhoods

Circulation

Betterintegrationoftheneighborhoodstreetsintothecorridor
LimitthenumberofdrivewaysonUS23whereappropriate
Narrowingtheroadtotwotravellaneswithamedian
IntroducingroundaboutintersectionsonUS23atWerthandRipley
Sharedparkingwithinmixedusedevelopments
Introducingservicedriveswithparkinginfrontofbusinessestoprovideaccesswithoutadirectdriveway

Nonmotorized and Pedestrian Transportation

ExtendingtheAlpenaBiPath
CreatingotherbikepathstolinktheUS23Southcorridorwithsurroundingneighborhoods
CreatingadditionalpublicaccesspointstoLakeHuronforpublicviewingandenjoyment

Parks and Recreation

Developinganaccessiblecanoe/kayaklaunch,parking,limitedtrails,andpossibleotheramenitiessuchasa
shelterorrestroomsattheDNRownedpropertyonPartridgePoint
Developingascenicoverlookparknorthofthe45thparalleltoaccesstheviewofSquawBayonboardwalktrails

Thefollowingisabriefsnapshotofsomeofthegraphicspresentedtothepublicdescribingthepreliminaryideasfor
thecorridor.

Thegraphicabovewasusedtoillustrateideasrelatedtolandusechangesinthecorridor.Blueareasarepotential
mixeduseareas,orangearebusinessparks,darkyellowishigherdensityresidential,andlightyellowrepresentslower
densityresidentialneighborhoods.Mixedusedevelopmentswereconcentratedaroundthecoreofthecorridor
betweenRipleyandWerth.


ThegraphicabovedepictstheideasrelatedtocirculationontheUS23corridor,whichweredesignedtolimitaccidents
relatedtoleftturns,improvethevisualcharacterofthecorridor,andkeeptrafficflowingsmoothly.AmedianonUS23
canbeseen,aswellasroundaboutsatRipleyandWerth.

TheabovecrosssectionshowshowthecorridorcouldbetransformedbyamedianwithMichiganleftturnpockets,a
landscapebufferwithameanderingbikepath,andservicedrivestoparkinfrontofbusinessesonthecorridor.

Findings
Thirtythreeresponseswerecollectedfollowingthepublicpresentation.Mostquestionsaskedforafavorabilityrating
from1to5,with1beingstronglyunfavorable,3beingneutral,and5beingstronglyfavorable.

Existing Conditions
Theexistingconditionsofthecorridorwereseenassomewhatunfavorable.

Land Use
Alloftheideaspresentedpertainingtolandusereceivedanaverageratingofsomewhatfavorable.Thehighestrated
ideaswere:

Mixedusedevelopmentsonthecorridor
Creatingbusinessparksforheavycommercialandlightindustrialuses
Protectingtraditionalneighborhoodsfromdeteriorationbycommercialbusinesses

Theideaofprotectingresidentialpropertiesalongthesouthernpartofthecorridorbydiscouragingcommercial
developmentwasratedclosertoneutral,butstillfavorable,at3.7.

Circulation
Theaverageresponsetoalloftheideaspresentedaboutcirculationwasfavorable,withafewideastrendingtoward
neutral.Thehighestratedideaswere:

MinimizingthenumberofdrivewaysontheUS23corridor
Integrationbetweenneighborhoodsandthecorridor,bothvehicularandpedestrian
CreatingamedianandMichiganleftturnsonthecorridor

RoundaboutsatRipleyandWerthscoredthelowest,butstillfavorable,witha3.5.

Trails and Public Access Points

Therespondentswereinfavorofadditionaltrailsforbicyclesandpedestrians,withthemostfavorablebeing:

ExtensionoftheAlpenaBiPath
PartridgePointRoadloop

Partridge Point
ThehighestrankedpotentialamenitiesforPartridgePointwere:

Kayaklaunch
Trailsandboardwalks
Parking
Preservingopenspace

45 th Parallel / Squaw Bay

Thehighestrankeditemswere:

ProvidingtrailsandboardwalksnearSquawBaytoaccesstheview
Providinginterpretiveandeducationalsignage

ProtectthenaturalenvironmentoftheSquawBay