Farmington Hills, Farmington

Officials seek Heritage Route designation for Eight Mile

FARMINGTON HILLS — Lois Makee has been traveling Eight Mile Road for decades and continues to see changes and improvements along the road, which serves as a baseline for the state.

As a member of the Finnish Cultural Center, 35200 W. Eight Mile Road, in Farmington Hills, for more than 30 years and its manager for more than two years, Makee looks around the property to see thriving businesses, senior housing and well-maintained properties.

“There have been a lot of changes, and they’ve all been for the better,” Makee said. “You don’t see the buildings that have been boarded up and left vacant. I think they’re doing fine, all the way up and down, east and west.”

That’s not what many think, instead picturing worn out buildings and rows of strip clubs, a reputation the Eight Mile Boulevard Association hopes to further combat when it is granted the designation of being a Heritage Route.

“Eight Mile has a great story to tell,” association Director Tami Salisbury said. “There’s so much history that people don’t even know about in this state. We feel it’s a story worth telling.”

Municipalities on either side of Eight Mile Road will submit to the state of Michigan an application for Eight Mile to be named a Heritage Route, naming the association as its administrator. If it receives the designation, which in past years was granted to Woodward Avenue, the association will receive extra money for transportation, beautification and other upgrades.

“We feel being identified as a Heritage Route elevates people’s minds about Eight Mile,” Salisbury said. “We’re trying to counterbalance that Eight Mile is a dividing line and instead show that it’s a place where people can come together and celebrate.”

Some say that is easier said than done.

“I totally support the effort, but I think it will be a more difficult task than (it was making) Woodward Avenue (a Heritage Route),” Ferndale Mayor Craig Covey said.

But Ferndale City Manager Bob Bruner points out the road’s rough reputation might not always be warranted.

“The reputation of Eight Mile is worse than the reality,” Bruner said. “I make it a point to travel along Eight Mile and Woodward on a regular basis. I try to avoid the freeways.”

In recent years, the association has enacted a façade improvement program, through which it will offer free architectural services and up to $10,000 in matching funds to any business wishing to upgrade it’s façade and landscaping.  A recent grant allowed for 200 new bus stops along the 27-mile road. Areas of Eight Mile Road have been resurfaced, and the association has planted 27 perennial gardens in medians along the road.

“The association has been working very hard,” Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence said. “We have been doing some great things with our cleanups and our economic development. I’m very proud to be a part of it.”

Salisbury said she would like to see the north and south sides of Eight Mile look consistent in style and with improved signage letting drivers know which cities they’re going through as they move along the corridor. She said that could include stamped concrete, uniform street signs and mast arm traffic signals.

The association will meet Nov. 21 with representatives from Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties — through which Eight Mile Road runs — and the Michigan Department of Transportation to plan working together on potential future projects.

“I think it’s a win-win for everyone in the area,” Farmington Hills City Council member Michael Bridges said. “From Farmington Hills’ standpoint, we would love to see the Eight Mile area be more consistent in regards to economic development, and it’s great if we can get additional dollars for infrastructure improvement. Anything we can do to encourage economic development, I think, is a good thing.”

While only about a quarter of a mile of the road sits in the city of Farmington, City Manager Vince Pastue agrees that the improvements can positively impact the whole area.

“I think Eight Mile is recognized as a pretty significant and historic corridor along southeast Michigan, and leveraging that for potential grants and funds for streetscape and other types of improvements only makes sense,” he said.

Lawrence said receiving the Heritage Route designation will help promote the Eight Mile corridor beyond the region.

“Eight Mile is the baseline for the whole Midwest, going all the way to Milwaukee,” she said. “It’s so important, even from a tourist standpoint on a national level. It will be a place where people who trace history and look at the country from a historical perspective will look into.”

Salisbury is hoping improvements and upgrades along the corridor will inspire property owners to maintain their properties and could bring in new business.

“When you make public improvements, the private investment seems to follow,” she said. “I think we have a different objective than any other organization in the state. We feel this will kind of put Eight Mile on the map and that we’re worth something.”