Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Houghton will seek additional feedback from residents on subdivisions west of M-26 on whether streetlights should be added to their neighborhoods.

HOUGHTON — The Houghton City Council voted Tuesday to get more input from West Houghton residents this spring before making any decision on adding streetlights to the subdivisions.

After some residents in subdivisions west of M-26 requested streetlights for safety reasons, the city surveyed the neighborhoods last year. Almost 62% had been in favor.

After discussing the survey in October, the council had voted to table the issue until the first February meeting.

Built more than 30 years ago, the neighborhoods had been designed without streetlights, though houses are required by charter to have some form of lighting in their front yards. Not all do, some respondents said.

“The question is really ‘Does the council feel it’s in the public best interest to install some street lighting up in the West Houghton neighborhoods?'” City Manager Eric Waara said. “If the answer is no, then that’s that. If the answer is yes, it would be where.”

Waara said UPPCO had informed him any light fixtures added would be “dark sky compliant.” The International Dark Sky Association sets guidelines for DarkSky certification, which among other things requires restricting the amount of upward-redirected light, using dimming and other lighting controls and avoiding glare.

In last year’s survey, 77 residents backed the idea of streetlights, while 38 were against. Ten had no opinion.

The residents were given a map with 10 proposed locations, which Waara had chosen based on the location of intersections and existing Upper Peninsula Power Co. infrastructure.

When the council voted to table in October, Councilor Mike Needham had asked for another survey be sent to residents after they’d had time to talk with each other. He reiterated the request in a motion Wednesday night. Some people may have changed their minds, and the city might also hear from the 62 people who hadn’t responded to the first survey, he said.

“We can compare it to the prior one, we can see if the trends and opinion have changed,” he said. “We could send them out, give it a couple-week deadline and then put it on the agenda again.”

The version the council approved was broader, directing generically for data collection to compare to the earlier survey results. Councilor Robert Megowen suggested a public workshop where residents could talk to each other and indicate their preferred location for streetlights by putting stickers on a map. Mayor Pro Tem Joan Suits backed up the idea.

“This could be a pain, but it’s public, it’s their neighborhood, and I think they should have an input into what’s going on in their neighborhood,” Megowen said.

Feedback to the council at Wednesday’s meeting about the streetlights was mixed. Residents who preferred keeping streetlights away said lighting would detract from the bucolic nature of the neighborhood. Resident Jill Johnson described a culture of night-time walking groups with flashlights and reflective gear, co-existing with a nocturnal population of bats and squirrels.

“I hope you’ll decide to not move forward with this unsupported and unnecessary proposal,” Johnson said in a letter to the council. “It would be a detriment to install permanent lighting that would forever disrupt our quiet, peaceful, dark-by-design neighborhoods.”

Supporters said more lighting would make the neighborhood safer.

Teresa Trewhalla has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, having kids in the school system the entire time. During the winter, she said, she drives her children to school rather than have them wait at the bus stop in the dark in the morning.

“I respect what they said about the dark sky and light pollution, but I think the safety of kids is more important,” she said.

In other action:

The council approved using $200,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funds for the reconstruction project on Lakeshore Drive. Of that, $161,000 will be used as matching funds for a Michigan Department of Transportation grant, and up to $30,000 will go towards engineering costs. The rest will be used for sanitary sewer system work.

“We’re going to completely redo the trail pretty much from the Lakeshore Circle almost to Roy’s, widening it out, repaving it, leveling it and whatnot,” Waara said.

Previous ARPA projects have included a culvert project in Kestner Waterfront Park and match funds to replace water and sewer infrastructure.

The city still has more than $100,000 in ARPA funds remaining. It must decide what to do with the remainder of the money by the end of the year.

Police Chief John Donnelly reported since the previous meeting, there had been 81 calls for service, 11 misdemeanor arrests, 16 civil infractions, two city tickets, eight crashes and four calls for health and safety.

The council approved budget adjustments. Many of the changes involved shifting winter maintenance funds to other activities, such as patching potholes, Waara said. With the state tax case between Houghton and Walmart settled, tax revenue had also come in for the Tax Increment Financing Authority district.

The council adopted the annual update to federal poverty exemption income guidelines to determine the minimum level below which people do not have to pay homestead property tax. The 2024 level is $15,060 for a one-person household.