Kristi Faulkner: Giving Ferndale Residents a FAIR Shake
by Derek Lindamood | Photo ©2014 Bernie Laframboise
Currently there is a major downtown Ferndale development project in the works, called the “Ferndale 3-60 Project”, which is a mixed-use development currently in the public input and planning phase. It includes new parking, office, residential and retail space on two city-owned parking lots — Withington and Troy Street. The developer, 3-60 LLC, recently entered into an “exclusive negotiating rights agreement” with the City of Ferndale for a potential public-private partnership. Project plans are currently only preliminary concepts, and your insight will help shape the potential project as it moves forward.
The following interview is with Kristi Faulkner, who recently started an organization called FAIR — Ferndale Association of Invested Residents — specifically to provide citizens with a voice regarding this and other future projects. Kristi, originally from Toledo, went to New York for Graduate school then moved to Ferndale in 2010 to stay and start her own professional dance company.
Q: What is FAIR, when did it start, and what prompted the need for this organization?
KF: FAIR started a month ago, because of the meeting at Rust Belt about the Ferndale 3-60 Project. The concept for this organization had existed for a few years, but it came to fruition after the Rust Belt meeting when my partner, Maria Gahry, and I realized that residents needed an outlet to be heard and express their concerns.
It wasn’t a one-issue thing, although the 3-60 Project was an impetus… for a while we’d been considering forming our own group, FAIR, to specifically advocate for resident’s interests. After the Rust Belt meeting, there was a real pulse in the community for something to occur for people’s voices to be heard, which didn’t seem at the time to be funneled or channeled in a productive way or taken seriously. FAIR gives residents a cohesive voice.
Q: How does FAIR differ from the organization Citizens for a Fair Ferndale?
KF: Most significantly, Citizens for Fair Ferndale does not take a particular stance on issues like the 3-60 project, which is why it was so important for us to form an organization that could advocate for residents who are opposed to it. CFF serves the broad Ferndale community, including businesses and other groups. FAIR focuses spe- cifically on residents having a voice. It’s more powerful to have a point of view coming through an organization, rather than an individual.
Q: What is the current status of the 3-60 Project?
KF: City Council had a few closed door sessions — we’ve been keeping an eye on the Council meeting agendas because we are waiting for the reveal of the plans signifying “Phase 2” of the project. We’re hoping they are taking the resident’s concerns and feedback into account. We’re waiting for them to unveil their current plan. They presented to us, the citizens, their initial plan… and now they’re working to develop it further, and we’re hoping they will show us a more organized plan.
Q: What are the issues with this project?
KF: There are a number of issues for residents and small business owners. Residents believe that something on this grand of a scale doesn’t really fit our community. The location of it will be adjacent to residential properties and the plans will infringe upon our neighborhoods. Traffic, logistical issues, increases in population density, how we can accommodate an increased traffic flow without endangering the surrounding neighborhoods… these are just some of the concerns that have been brought up by residents at our meetings. The major concern for business owners is that the construction process will take 18 to 24 months and they won’t be able to survive it. Ferndale would lose two of the most utilized parking lots during the building process.
In Royal Oak, small businesses are going under because they can’t afford the rent and don’t have the foot traffic promised by the development projects that occurred. Because of this project, the entire landscape of Ferndale could change. We could likely lose the boutiques, book stores, mom and pop shops, yoga and martial arts studios — all the things that make our community special and unique. And when that happens, the burden falls on us, the residents and taxpayers. City Council keeps hearing what we don’t want to be, and they don’t think we’re voicing our opinion on what we do want to be — but we are. We are what we want to be — right now — a community of unique and independent small businesses that are growing organically and with a commitment to community. The 3-60 project threatens that.
Q: Detroit is undergoing construction right now. What if things go well down there, could it change your opinion of the 3-60 Project?
KF: We’re not against development, we’re against where it’s being placed, the grand scale of it, and the lack of planning. There’s a danger sitting back and waiting to see what happens. City Council has made comments on how we don’t want to “get left behind” — and that’s a real concern, we don’t want to be stagnant, settle for the status quo, but we can approach a project like this with caution, and with a responsibility to the integrity of the community — not just developing for the sake of developing. We have to ask: Who will this benefit? The City Council has not given us enough information to trust that our community will not suffer or be destroyed.
My partner and I have lived here for four years, and we’ve seen so much change in this time. Things are going so well right now, and it would be such a shame to see current businesses suffer because of the construction — we have to think about how to integrate development with the community — but if it’s not done thoughtfully and with the interests of everyone at heart, it can be very dangerous.
Q: What if the City Council tried to develop the strip of small businesses along Livernois? There’s a bike path, it’d link us to Palmer Park and Detroit, what if they tried to expand development down there?
KF: It’s a great idea. Residents have offered numerous options for locations throughout this first phase of the project – developing Livernois and utilizing the Save-A-Lot space just to name two. But, there’s a number of things at play — for one, there’s a developer bankrolling this, so it’s really on him and the arrangement he has with the city. Is that the location that he wants?
Q: Does the city have applications for people who want commercial space, but cannot get it?
KF: In a letter from 3-60 LLC to the City regarding their exclusive negotiating rights agreement for this project, they referenced a market analysis done by the DDA which stated there was a potential need for Class A office space in Ferndale. However, this market analysis — which they are using as the rationale to support the project — also indicated many concerns and threats for a project of this size and scale, and does not provide a definitive yes/no answer regarding the need for the community. It is essentially inconclusive. The analysis does say that trying to compete with the development in Detroit poses a significant threat — and we believe it just doesn’t make sense to do so. So, this project shouldn’t be about not getting left behind, it’s about what’s good for our city, and how to define ourselves independently as a community.
Q: Most of the businesses downtown have a sign in their window of “Do a 180 on 3-60.” How can City Council ignore this? How can they even bother planning a “Phase 2” when so many businesses in town is publicly opposing this?
KF: I feel some of the members of City Council are on this mission, thinking that this is a good idea, and they’re trying so hard to convince us that they’re not listening to us. They’re just planning, talking — they’re not breaking ground yet. So who’s to say that seeing these signs peppering the entire downtown community will not affect them or slow down or stop the current state of this project? There’s been some friction between those who are opposed to the project and Council, and what we’re trying to accomplish. Councilwoman Piana gave an intense speech at the last meeting, about her frustration over the opposition to this project. But I think there’s a level of not really hearing each other, not really understanding the narrative of the residents. It’s not that we want to maintain the status quo, it’s not that we’re against change, we just want it done in a way that benefits our community and doesn’t destroy it. I think if Council opened up a little more, and heard what we have to say about a vision for our future — that’s where the disconnect is happening. Opposi- tion can be polarizing, but it doesn’t have to be. We’re not trying to stop it for the sake of not changing, we’re just trying to protect our community.
Q: Ferndale has really boomed the past couple of years, things seem to be going so well in this town. Why do we need such a drastic change, and so soon?
KF: This is an exciting place to be, we’re happy, we love it, we’re starting to boom again — we shouldn’t be greedy about it by forcing massive growth. We need smart, organic growth, and we need to make sure it’s in line with the vision of the residents, because they are clear stakeholders in the community. The market analysis shows the ratio between retail and restaurants/bars has flip-flopped. We’ve got far more bars and restaurants than retail. What the market analysis says is that we need a more equal balance, and we’re not sure the 3-60 Project will bring a balance, it could tilt it even more unevenly.
We can look to Royal Oak as an example — retail can- not be sustained so to fill space bars and restaurants go in. Plus, landlords can charge more per square foot for restaurants and bars as opposed to retail. We don’t even know if there’s a second stage tech company that even wants to move here. It sounds sexy, but has anyone even expressed interest in this? That’s a very important element to the success of this project and the last time we asked, it’s not there. Jake Siegel is the developer, and adding to the complications, he’s not a real estate guy, he’s a tech guy — this is his first project. I’m a big fan of supporting people, they’ve got to get their start somewhere, but this project is just so massive and could drastically alter the landscape of our community. It threatens the livelihood of our small businesses so he’s got to instill some confidence that we have a plan and it’s good. Up to now, that confidence is just not there.
Q: How does someone get involved with FAIR?
KF: We have a Facebook page, and you can email us at fair48220@gmail.com. We hold meetings open to the community; we’re waiting to hear on the “Phase 2” plans on the 3-60 Project to announce our next meeting regarding this issue.
Q: How does FAIR represent citizens to the City Council?
KF: We represent FAIR at the call to audience during City Council meetings on Monday night. We also encourage our members to email City Council Members, and speak to them after meetings. We hope City Council is beginning to recognize us as a positive organization for residents, as elected officials they should want to know directly what their residents think.
Q: I think this organization is a great idea.
KF: Yeah, and this 3-60 Project is our first issue. It’s emotional for a lot of people, because their livelihoods are at stake. There are other things we would like to take up in the future, such as recycling. Ferndale does a great job with recycling, and we’d love to see larger bins to accommodate all the materials — not a hot button issue, but it’ll never be heard unless we collectively voice it. Another issue- revising the noise ordinance, it’s behind the times. Many other cities like Royal Oak and Dearborn have more sophisticated ways of measuring noise, and we must be cognizant of developing a down- town that the city’s own residents can enjoy while not being disturbed by it. Having residential areas and business areas co-exist peacefully is very important, especially when looking to expand development projects into neighborhoods.
To learn more about Ferndale 3-60 Project, go to www.downtownferndale.com/userfiles/ 360FerndalePresentation.pdf
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