The new Pleasant Ridge Arts Council seeks civic-minded, art-loving individuals who want to support the community and bring positive change to Pleasant Ridge. The Pleasant Ridge Arts Council will be dedicated to enriching the culture of our City by providing civic, educational and creative experiences. As part of its mission, the Arts Council will:

The Arts Council will be an official body of the City with members appointed to staggered three year terms, with each member being able to serve for two terms. The Arts Council will work with the City Commission and staff to create and implement the City’s arts program. The City and the Pleasant Ridge Foundation have committed to provide seed funding to help establish the arts program. The City has dedicatead its marijuana excise tax revenue for this year to the Arts Council, and the Foundation will be donating funds raised at this year’s auction.

It is envisioned that the arts project will include both indoor and outdoor art, including all types, styles, and mediums of art. It is also envisioned that educational programming will be a part of the arts project for residents of all ages. The Arts Coucil will have the opportunity to take the City’s initial brainstorming ideas and determine how the arts program is implemented over time.

If you are interested in applying to be a member of the Arts Council, please apply online today at www.cityofpleasantridge.org/boardapplication. The City Commission will make appointments to the Arts Council in May or June of this year.

The Water Infrastructure Citizens Advisory Committee has completed its work and delivered a recommendation to the City Commission. The City Commission received the recommendation on April 12, and is taking that under advisement as it develops the City’s June 30, 2022 through July 1, 2023 budget (referred to as Fiscal Year 2023 or FY23 from this point forward).

CAC Recommendation

The CAC made a recommendation to fund the water infrastucture project using three components to each raise one-third of the necessary revenue. For FY23, that revenue need will be about $900,000, so each component would generate about $300,000 of revenue. The CAC considered many options before arriving at their recommendation. The CAC was also focused on reducing the spread between the lowest and highest cost for households in the City. Under the full 3.5 mill option, the highest annual cost increase was $1,771 while under the CAC’s recommended option the highest annual cost increase would be $1,314, a reduction of 26%.

If the CAC’s recommendation is implemented, the three components will be as follows in FY23:

The CAC also recommended that each component be adjusted equally to maintain a one-third funding share if the City receives external funding that reduces the cost of the project, or if costs increase and additional revenue is needed.

The CAC considered water usage rates as a method for raising infrastructure revenue, but did not include that method in their recommendation. Water usage rates will be reduced for FY23 compared to FY22.

Next Steps

The City Commission is in the process of reviewing the FY23 budget, which includes the millage and water rates. The budget and water rates will be introduced at the May 10 City Commission meeting, with a budget public hearing on June 14.

If approved the average water customer will see a 7.75% reduction in water/utility bills with an increase on property tax bills. The amount of the property tax increase will depend on each property’s taxable value and the City’s final FY23 millage rate, which includes the water infrastructure millage and all other City, Ferndale School, Oakland County, and other taxing jurisdiction millages.

The final test project on Woodward Heights is a speed hump, located at Bermuda (south) by the Heights Market. This location was chosen as it is a gateway entrance into the City. The speed hump will slow down traffic entering the City.

The City Commission will be considering whether to make this speed hump permanent at their September 8 meeting. In the meantime, we will be measuring traffic speeds at various distances from the hump to see how it influences traffic speeds.

If you have ever wanted a speed hump on your street, this is an excellent opportunity to go out and see, hear, and feel what is is like to live next to a speed hump. While it does limit traffic speed, there are noise impacts from these. As such, we will be surveying the residents who live within 300 feet of the test speed hump to obtain their thoughts.

Please see the following from the 45th District Court:

In light of Governor Whitmer declaring a State of Emergency in Michigan regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, the 45th District Court is modifying its usual operations and procedures as described below until further notice to ensure the health and safety of the community, while continuing to provide access to justice.

  1. Currently scheduled cases that can reasonably be postponed are being adjourned for 60 days. If a case is being adjourned, you will be notified by the court.
  2. If you receive a traffic ticket, contact the court by phone for further instructions.
  3. All jury trials are adjourned. No jurors are required to report.
  4. All individuals on probation must contact their Probation Officer by phone or e-mail for instructions on how to report in the future.
  5. Until further notice, all walk-in arraignments are cancelled.
  6. No weddings will be scheduled until further notice.
  7. If you have a court date that has not been adjourned, but you are unable to attend, you may contact the court by phone and request an adjournment.
  8. If you must report to court, please refrain from bringing any unnecessary people with you.

Please consider the health of your fellow citizens and our court personnel.  If you suspect you may have coronavirus or believe that you have had contact with someone who may have coronavirus, please refrain from entering the courthouse.  If you have any questions, please call 248-691-7440.

The survey is closed and the results are in. Click Here to view the full survey results.

Overall, about 75% of residents are satisfied with curbside leaf pickup. About 30% think it’s great,  48% think it’s okay, and the remaining 22% find it unsatisfactory.

There were a few recurring themes from the survey comments, which are consistent with what we hear from residents during tougher leaf pickup seasons like the one we just had. Below is a summary of those themes and what we’re doing to address them.

We hope that the above gives some clarity about why leaf pickup is scheduled the way it is, the issues and concerns we have with making changes to the schedule, the capacity constraints we have and must consider when planning leaf pickup, and what we may change in future years.

We’re looking for input on how you thought this challenging leaf season went. We’ll use this input to find ways that we can improve leaf collection next year. The survey is short – two questions – and will be open until Friday, December 20.

Click on the link below to go to the survey:

Leaf Collection End of Season Survey

Hartwell Cement has been contracted by the City to remove and replace degrading joints on our streets. They will be working throughout the City over the coming weeks. All streets will remain open and passable during this project, but the streets will be narrowed while they are working.

The replacement project is focusing on areas where the joint between concrete slabs is degrading along most or all of the joint. Corner areas that have been spray patched are not being replaced at this time. All areas to be replaced have been marked with spray paint.

You may have noticed the new street signs at Cambridge and Woodward. These are a new style of sign that we will be installing as needed in the City. The first batch of these signs are being installed at intersections along Woodward. Following is further information about the new signs:

Finally – what is MMUTCD? It’s the Michigan Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which is a thick set of standards for everything about signs and traffic control.

Have you taken the marijuana business survey yet?

If you haven’t, and if you have an opinion about whether Pleasant Ridge should or should not allow marijuana businesses to locate in our City, you can click on link below to take the survey.

The survey is available until Wednesday, May 8.

Recreational Marijuana Business Survey

We need your input!

Pleasant Ridge and Ferndale have partnered on a safety audit of Woodward. This is part of our ongoing efforts to improve the walking and biking experience along our stretch of Woodward from 8 mile to 696.

The study will assess current conditions, engage the community, and provide detailed design recommendations walking and biking along and across Woodward safer and more enjoyable. Toole Design, an international sustainable transportation design firm, is leading the study. Primary funding is provided by a $40,000 SEMCOG grant.

You can get involved in this process in the following ways:

If you have any additional questions, please contact Ferndale Planning Manager Justin Lyons at jlyons@ferndalemi.gov or Pleasant Ridge City Manager Jim Breuckman at citymanager@cityofpleasantridge.org.

Have an opinion or an observation about the stop for pedestrian signs on Ridge at Oakland Park? Then please share them with us by completing a short survey at this link.

We will consider making the pedestrian signs permanent in the spring based on our observations of the test and your input.

The survey will remain open until Wednesday, October 3.