Poppleton Park Development Debate Is Pitting Neighbors Against City Of Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, MI — The future of Poppleton Park is a hot button issue and it's pitting neighbors against the city. Poppleton-area residents consider the park a neighborhood treasure that should largely remain untouched. Meanwhile, the city of Birmingham considers Poppleton a community park in need of some park TLC.

The brouhaha stems from the city's recently released concept site plan, which calls for a litany of improvements for the 17 acre park. Including more parking, trees, a covered picnic area, bathrooms, a bigger play area, a new walking trail and an improved ball field area.

"We were blindsided," Lisa Greene Kaminski told Patch. Kaminski, an 18 year resident of Birmingham, is at the forefront of the Poppleton Park neighborhood group, which has started a letter writing campaign to Birmingham City Hall in hopes of altering the proposed concept site plan.

She continued, "I'm not trying to put the city in a bad light. I'm trying to explain where we are in the process. The city had a meeting in October and there was no public notification. No notices sent out. No signage. You have to stalk the webpage to find out what's going on. The plan was already so far along and had been approved by Parks and Rec. We're not against better play equipment or better drainage. What we're all against is a Woodward access parking lot and a covered picnic pavilion. We feel that it is going to turn into a permanent Dream Cruise hang-out. There's going to be loitering, trash, noise. We don't want it to turn into a rest area."

The proposed plan calls for 88 additional parking spaces. Where did that figure come from? According to the city's website, the rule of thumb is 60 spaces per field to provide parking for players, coaches and spectators. In addition to the spots needed for other people at the park who are there playing tennis, at the play ground or walking in the park. Poppleton Park currently has 14 spaces.

Kaminski reveals it wasn't just the size of the lot that has many Poppleton Park residents worried. The neighborhood also was reportedly against the proposed parking lot one day turning into an RTA parking lot. The RTA millage, which was voted down in a razor thin margin this past election day, would have brought mass transportation to Metro Detroit and connected Washtenaw, Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties for the first time in history. Kaminski says, "There were concerns about the RTA that just went down. Are they going to put a stop there? We didn't know but we thought it might so we voted against it. Once it's a parking lot, what's to stop them from turning it into a parking lot for the RTA?"

To be clear, the city has never mentioned the possibility that the Poppleton Park proposed parking expansion could one day become an RTA parking lot.

The neighborhood also has concerns over the decision-making behind Birmingham's spending rationale. Kaminski says, "We can't get a crosswalk but we can get an 88 spot parking lot? We'd like to have a crosswalk by Tim Horton's because we all like to go to the farmer's market and go into town and go out to eat but parking there is a premium. Kids in our neighborhood go to Holy Name Catholic School and they can't bike or walk there because we can't cross safely. They're going to spend $1.8 million for the new park and put an eight foot wide walking path which will run up alongside all of the houses of people that live along the park. We have so many miles of sidewalk in the city. Why do we have to have paved walkways?"

So, what's the next step for Poppleton Park? Kaminski and her neighbors hope to work with city hall to create a plan that works for everyone. The next meeting about Poppleton Park is scheduled for Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Birmingham City Hall Commission Room. Kaminski has reached out to city hall to change the venue however, explaining "The room at city hall holds 100 people. At that time of year we've got the Santa house, the holiday tree, the restaurants are busy. There's not going to be enough parking for all of the people who want to go to the meeting."

Patch has reached out to the city for a comment. We will keep you posted about developments and if the meeting location changes.

Photo by Mera McKenna/Patch