Scottville Update, posted Aug. 23, 2023

Scottville Update, posted Aug. 23, 2023

By Jimmy Newkirk, Scottville City Manager

Street and parking lot maintenance 

Starting Monday, Aug. 28, some repairs and sealcoating will begin on South Main Street between State Street (US 10) and the railroad tracks. This portion will be closed Monday and Tuesday and will reopen as soon as the material has cured and street lines have been repainted. 

At some point after the South Main Street project is started, work will begin on the far north and far south sections of the west parking. While these sections are the better portion of the west lot (compared to the western portion), the condition allows them to be repaired and seal coated instead of resurfaced. Vehicles that typically park in these sections will need to park in the center section by the pocket park until the work is completed. In addition to the downtown work, over 20 crosswalks will be repainted along the main walking routes to all Mason County Central Schools buildings. All this work will be completed by Sept 1 at a cost of approximately $37,000. These are much needed updates to help preserve our streets and parking lots and also to help keep pedestrians — especially our town’s children — safe.

On Monday, Sept. Aug. 28, the City Commission will decide whether to change the parking pattern from angled to parallel.  This has been discussed several times in the past, most recently in 2020 when the Downtown Development Authority surveyed downtown businesses. With the businesses and DDA support a proposal was presented to the City Commission, but no action was taken. A lot has happened since then and many of the downtown buildings have new owners. But, the desire to move to parallel parking is still there. A wide variety of commercial traffic passes through downtown, including RVs, semi trucks, and a variety of farming equipment. No two of those types of vehicles can pass each other if there are longer vehicles parked across from each other. 

The sidewalks were widened, and bump-outs added during past infrastructure projects added to the congestion. Attached are the well known 1941 picture and a current picture taken just a couple days ago from a similar vantage point. There are vehicles parked parallel to the sidewalks and there is plenty of room for larger vehicles to turn south. This will eliminate the worry about clipping the backs of vehicles, mirrors from oncoming traffic, or being rear ended because they had to stop to let oncoming traffic pass through a narrow space between two oppositely parked vehicles. 

East alley water main

The long discussed east alley water main replacement project is slated to being at the end of September. This 4-inch, 90-year-old line will be replaced with an 8-inch line that better serves our businesses and residents. It also will move a portion of the current line that is on private property into city property. This project should last four to six weeks and will include repaving the alley being the east side downtown businesses. More details will be announced as they become available. 

Fall Celebration 

South Main Street from State Street to the railroad tracks will be closed from Friday, Sept. 15 until Sunday, Sunday September 17 for the Scottville Fall Celebration. Shorter road closures will be in place on Saturday, September 16  only. Those closure include:

• North Main between State Street and Broadway Avenue.
• State Street/US 10 between Columbia and Reinberg avenues. Residents living on State Street will have limited vehicle access on Saturday. Please park a vehicle outside the closure if you know you need access between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. We understand that this may cause a little inconvenience but this event is a great way to show some town pride for a day. 

Speaking of town pride. The Fall Celebration planners are naturally looking for people to help with the event. This is a time for our town to shine and we could really use some help. If you would like to help, please contact the Chamber Alliance of Mason County at 231-845-0324.