Report Outlines Development Near Dearborn Train Station

The new Intermodal Passenger Rail Station due to open next year in Dearborn will be the first step in a longterm vision to redevelop the city's westside business district.

That was the message city planners Liz Hendley and Jessica Turner brought to city council members during a briefing session with Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr. on Sept. 3.

The Dearborn Transit-Oriented Development Project PlacePlan Concept Report focuses on the station's ability to draw more visitors, businesses and residents to the city.

"A lot of the recommendations could happen five, 10 or 20 years down the road, but this document gives us a place to start," O'Reilly said.

The report focuses on quality-of-life issues based on feedback from meetings conducted by Michigan State University and the Michigan Municipal League last year.

The $28.2 million, 16,000-square-foot station is under construction on the south side of Michigan Avenue, between Brady and Evergreen Road.

The PlacePlan addresses development in the area within a 10-minute walk of the station, including Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford, areas near the Dearborn Historical Museum, and just southwest of the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Henry Ford Community College, and the businesses in and around Fairlane Town Center.

Recommendations include:

• Train Station: Development of a larger public space/plaza, connections towards west Dearborn with Newman Street becoming a pedestrian “street," enhancement of the proposed at-grade crossing of Michigan Avenue with potential of a future above or below grade crossing, a bus terminal with parking structure, and a hotel with parking structure.

One acre of land in front of the station owned by the city will be used for a fast-food restaurant. Once the land is paid off, the lease money will go toward an improvement fund for the station, with the goal of not having to use city general fund dollars.

• West of train station (to Brady Street and Oakwood Boulevard): Mixed use development of commercial, housing, entertainment and offices begin on the west edge of the train station site and extend west to Oakwood Boulevard.

Car dealerships remain in the land use mix but evolve to more of a “boutique” urban character. This area becomes a major pedestrian friendly, year-round area that focuses on a major public plaza at the Newman/Brady intersection.

• North of Michigan Avenue and East of Brady: The museum is retained and designed in context with a mixed use complex that includes commercial and student housing. Access to the trail system and Rouge River will be been improved. Connections to University of Michigan-Dearborn will be improved.

• Michigan Avenue: Michigan Avenue should be transformed into a “complete street” concept, narrowed to two lanes of traffic and a turn lane, with bicycle lanes and wider sidewalks.

• Connection to The Henry Ford: The entire area between the train station and Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village can be redesigned as a major entrance to The Henry Ford. This entrance serves both visitors from the train station and also a new, consolidated vehicular entrance that ends in a major parking structure that can serve The Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company employment center. This area can become a park or other area attraction.

O'Reilly said the idea is to make the city more welcoming for visitors traveling to and from Dearborn via rail.

"It will be up to the community to decide what projects they would like us to work toward in the future," he said.

O'Reilly said implementing the recommendations will be based on how quickly the city can apply for and receive federal and state grants. In order to do that, the city needs to justify the station's usage.

In increase attraction for rail travel, O'Reilly said plans are underway to offer "event trains” to take people from Dearborn to attractions like the Ann Arbor Art Fair and pro sporting events in downtown Detroit.

"If that works, we can really see usage taking off," he said.

The final PlacePlan report is available online at http://www.cityofdearborn.org/tod.