Minglewood Residents Tangle with Farmington Schools Over Road

George Sarkisian says he is the most hated man in Farmington Hills. 

While that's likely a stretch, the Minglewood Lane resident is not a favorite with the school community at , only school of choice. Since September, Sarkisian has undertaken a strident campaign to get the school's parents to stop driving on his street. 

At issue: The school district's unwillingness to help foot the bill for rebuilding Minglewood, which will cost each resident on the street about $7,000, and traffic on the street, which Sarkisian says has contributed to the road's poor condition and the need for repairs. No official study has been done, but school officials speculate that parents are more likely to travel on Minglewood because the road is wider than alternative routes. 

In Farmington Hills, a majority of subdivision residents must petition the city to have their streets repaired. Traditionally, the city covers 20 percent of the cost and will in this case. Residents of Glenbrook subdivision brought their petition signatures to Hills officials at a September city council meeting. 

School officials say that even if they could use school funds for city capital projects, doing so would mean having to face obligations to fix other roads near schools throughout the community. 

Everyone agrees the street is in terrible shape, and that the school generates a lot of the traffic. 

"I don't think anybody in the city would want to live on our street, with the amount of traffic," said Sarkisian, a former engineer who has lived in the neighborhood for 28 years.

Admittedly scornful of school and city officials, he is particularly incensed that requests he has made for Minglewood residents to be included on the school board's regular agenda have been declined. Neighbors have been encouraged to speak during time allowed for public comment. 

In an email responding to one of Sarkisian's three requests, Debbie Higgins, the board's executive assistant, explained that board meetings "are not meetings of the public and the Board, but meetings of the Board held in public. In most cases, Board members will not respond to public comments or attempt to answer questions during the meeting. Issues may be referred to the superintendent for investigation, study, and/or response."

"I'm not going to waste my time going to a meeting when I know I'm going to be shunned," Sarkisian said. 

City offers street options

About a dozen neighbors, including Sarkisian, met on Nov. 30 with city manager Steve Brock. Brock said having the traffic issue come up now is timely, given that the road will be rebuilt next year, at the subdivision's request.

He spoke with residents about the city's Safe-T 3 program, which will involve them in determining what traffic conditions really exist on their street. Brock said volunteers in the neighborhood will work with city staff over time to monitor traffic, even going out with radar guns to record actual traffic speeds on the street. Speed trailers, which register a car's speed compared with the speed limit, are also used as part of the program, he said. 

"We put the onus back on the neighbors to see where it goes," he said. "Just about everybody (at the Nov. 30 meeting) said they would participate ... most people said we don't want to just push the problem on someone else, and that was heartening to hear."

Solutions if traffic speed is found to be an issue on Mingelwood could include speed humps or a traffic island; narrowing a road or adding landscaping can slow motorists down. Brock said studying the area before the road is built will help determine what – if any – measures will be taken. 

While Farmington Schools won't participate in the cost of construction, assistant superintendent David Ruhland said the district has agreed to share in the cost of a traffic study. 

"I don't believe that a school district can expend funds to repair a road in a neighborhood," Ruhland said, adding he believes the use would be an "inappropriate and unintended" use of school funding. 

But even assuming the district could, he said, "then you get to the question of whether we should. Every school is located in a neighborhood, and people or buses travel to every school. Should we pay for 12 Mile Road for (High School), or Middlebelt Road for (Middle School)?"

Ruhland said he is not aware of any similar complaint or request made in previous years. Visit any school in the district on any school day morning, he said, and you'll find many parents are driving their children to school. He also pointed out that while buses do travel on Minglewood, they are taking children to other schools, not Highmeadow.

About five years ago, to cut expenses, the district stopped offering bus service for Highmeadow students, who came to the school from all around the district. He said parents do carpool, and even before this issue arose, the district started looking into how to reduce traffic in that area.

Tensions run high on Minglewood

Sarkisian said he has been monitoring that traffic, and while officials believe his numbers may be high, he estimates 120,000 trips per year on Minglewood are Highmeadow-related. Since he first put protest signs on his lawn and started sending mass emails complaining about traffic and speeding, he said, some motorists traveling on his street have come after him.

Sarkisian has filed a number of complaints with the , claiming motorists have swerved toward him and done damage to his lawn and signs. He carries a baseball bat, wears a hardhat and has ordered a bullet-proof vest after an incident last week where he said a motorist "stuck his hand and arm out the window and appeared to be pointing a gun at me", then blocked Sarkisian's vehicle into a driveway on the street.

Sarkisian's emails worried Highmeadow staff and parents; at one point, he threatened to publish school staff names and addresses on his website. He has published license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions of drivers traveling on Minglewood.

Ruhland said he has met with Highmeadow staff and parents to address their concerns, and the district has encouraged people to use a street other than Minglewood to get to the school. There are several other routes, from both 12 Mile and Middlebelt Roads. 

While neighbors appear willing to look at other solutions, Sarkisian would like Minglewood to dead-end at Summerwood, cutting off the street from the school. At the meeting with Brock, he said, his neighbors said they want Highmeadow "to be a good neighbor, to respect us and pay their fair share of using our street. Everybody wants the traffic to go down."

Sarkisian is resigned to paying the $7,000 assessment, but is concerned about elderly residents on the street who have limited incomes and can't afford it. 

And he isn't concerned that people don't like him. He identifies himself as someone who fights for the underdog, someone who is energized when people try to intimidate him. 

"People get offended by me a lot," he said, "but if you want to live in my world, then you play by my rules."