NORTHVILLE, Mich. (WXYZ) — A legal battle over street barriers in downtown Northville continues as the group Let's Open Northville challenges the city's concrete barriers for street dining in court.
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The nonprofit organization, which recently won a two-year court battle requiring the city to remove bollards closing parts of downtown to traffic, has filed an emergency motion questioning whether the barriers can stay.
The emergency motion filed on July 18 argued that concrete barriers installed by the city last week violate the judge's order to open the streets by preventing the use of 10 parallel parking spaces. It also states most restaurants involved already have sidewalk dining options available as well.
Previous coverage: Judge orders Northville to reopen downtown streets within days
Kate Knight, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, was surprised by the latest legal action.
"We were taken aback by the emergency motion as were our restaurants," Knight said.
Both the city and DDA maintain they've fully complied with the court order and note that in-street dining has been established for more than 10 years through platform dining in parking spaces.
"There is a nuanced solution and the DDA would hope that there's some advocacy for preserving the business atmosphere we've established for many years with on-street dining. It's the reason that many people have chosen downtown Northville on a summer night for years and years," Knight said.
Previous coverage: Cars return to downtown Northville streets this summer after court order
The ongoing legal dispute has left businesses with street dining setups in limbo, including Browndog Barlor and Restaurant.
"I was really sad to hear that became the next target on the city's back," said Brian Scherle, co-owner of Brown Dog Parlor and Restaurant.
Scherle explained that his business invested thousands in expanding their outdoor capacity, which has become crucial to their bottom line.
"It gives us another 28 seats, so it gives us another half again what's in the restaurant. If you take a third of our revenue away for the summer, that's a huge impact to the bottom line and possible continued livelihood of the business," Scherle said.
Despite the uncertainty, Scherle remains optimistic, displaying a "Community over Cars" sign in his establishment window.
"We want to survive, but I think it's also that community (feel). The community, I wanted to see Northville thrive. I wanted to see Northville grow. I wanted to see it prosper," Scherle said.
The issue is scheduled to be discussed in court on Monday. Let's Open Northville has requested that the city be fined, pay attorney fees for the motion and come into compliance with the original order.
The city's stance is they are using the parking spaces exactly as they had nine years before the city council approved the special event permit in 2020 to close the streets. They maintain the barriers were added for safety reasons, and property owners have signed permission for the use of parking spaces directly in front of their properties.
Let's Open Northville declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
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