Council approves to ‘prepare to solicit bids’ for Stanley St.
By Brandi Makuski
Following almost four hours of testimony on Tuesday night—two hours of public comment, and a little over 90 minutes of remarks from council members—the Stevens Point City Council approved a motion that appeared to move towards preparing for making changes to Stanley St.
The agenda for the May 15 meeting indicated the council would discuss “traffic lane configuration and other safety measures for the Stanley Street corridor”.
Ald. David Shorr of District 2 made an immediate motion after the 6 p.m. meeting was called to order, moving the dept. of public works “prepare to solicit bids” in June for two options on Stanley St. It was unusual language and no further information was provided as to what “prepare to solicit bids” might mean in legal parlance, as the discussion that followed focused entirely on the actual roadway proposal itself.
A request for clarification from City Attorney Andrew Beverage was not immediately answered.
The lengthy motion was prepared by Shorr, who passed out several photocopies to the crowd of more than 100.
Shorr’s motion called for a 4-3 conversion on Stanley St. between Michigan Ave. and either Indiana or Lindbergh avenues. The conversion includes a 14-foot two-way left-turn lane (TWTL) and five-foot bike lanes.
A four-way stop at the Minnesota Ave. crossing was included in the motion, along with a new crosswalk and pedestrian refuge at the Clayton Ave. crossing.
The motion passed by an 8-3 vote, with council members Mike Phillips, Jeremy Slowsinski and Shaun Morrow voting against.
A second motion was approved 10-1 and calls for the city’s public works dept. to “work with the bicycle and pedestrian street safety commission to examine the full range of near- and longer-term issues of Stanley St.” Jeremy Slowinski of District 6 was the sole vote against.
After Tuesday’s meeting ended, Mayor Mike Wiza referenced the language of the motion, which he read aloud multiple times during the meeting, saying he was surprised “no one seemed to catch it”.
*Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story inaccurately reported Ald. Mike Phillips was the sole no vote on the second item. We regret the error and have corrected.
