Planners Favor Mall

A resolution recommending that Mam Street be converted into a shopping mail during August and September was unanimously approved by the Arm Arbor Planning Commission Tuesday night. _ In order to go into effect, the resolution must receive approyal from City Council. It is expected to appear on council's agenda within the next two weeks. The proposal recommends that Main Street be closed to automobiles between William and Huron Streets for those two months to test the effect of a mail on the downtown area. Streets crossing Main Street would remain open to cars, and regular Main Street traffic would be diverted to nearby pairs of one-way streets: Ashley and First Streets to the west of Main, and Fifth Ave. and División St. to the east. The resolution includes no provisions for decoration or landsCaping of the street for the months that it would not carry traffic. AccoKfmg to John Hyslop, assistant director of city planning, the action was taken as an experiment. "This time of year gives us a good opportunity to test the possibility of having a mail downtown, and to gather data on the effects of such a mail. We want to get an idea of how well it would be received." The test would include a comparison between the levéis of activity on Main Street during the University's summer and f all terms, he said. If the experiment is successfully completed, the commission may recommend the installation of a permanent downtown shopping mail on Main or Liberty. The effects of the experimental mail would be tested in a variety of ways, acc o r d i n g to Hyslop. Traffic counters would be set up in surrounding areas, and a monthly measure of sales tax receipts would be taken to measure business in the downtown area. Attitude surveys of shoppers might also be carried out. "We (the commission) don't think that the downtown is dying, but it is losing [ ground as the focal point of the community," Hyslop said in explanation of the projects. "We would like it to evolve more into a community center, where people can come for special activities as well as for shopping." Hyslop has suggested that a number of special activities be scheduled to take place on the temporary mail, including art exhibits, music programs, street dances, craft fairs, and sidewalk sales. He has also recommended that concessions such as flowers, ice cream, vegetables and specialty foods be allowed to opérate on the mail, and that restaurants be permitted to place tables out of doors. The Ethnic Fair is already scheduled to use Main Street from Washington to William Sept. 6-8. In other action, the commission elected its officers at the Tuesday night meeting. They are: John Laird, chairman; Eunice Burns, vice-chairwoman; and Robert Potts, secretary.