By Tom Gilchrist
For The Advertiser
MAYVILLE — The plan to remove Mayville’s only stoplight didn’t pass go on Dec. 17, when the Mayville Village Council voted to keep the light in place.
“I think the stoplight gives Mayville a lot of recognition,” said Clare Fryers, village president in Mayville, population 950, where some residents had asked leaders to remove the traffic signal.
In September, Planning Commission Chairwoman Barbara Fowler said a resident approached her about removing the stoplight at Main and Fulton streets. Fowler said she did her own research about whether the traffic signal creates an unnecessary delay for motorists.
“Am I sitting there waiting for nothing?” Fowler said. “Mostly, I’m sitting there waiting for nothing.”
Fowler, who grew up in Mayville, said the stoplight was put in place in 1962.
Publicity about the stoplight debate via local and social media energized those wanting to keep the light, said Rafe Barber, 49, a Mayville High School graduate who created a Facebook page called “Save Our Stoplight — Mayville, Michigan.”
As of Monday, the page had received 574 “likes” — more than half of Mayville’s population.
Rod Leach posted a comment on the page stating “Every time someone asks where are you from, the first words were always ‘Well I grew up in a country town with one stoplight.’ Don’t take that away from me.”
However, Tony Budreau sent a Facebook post stating “They should rip (the stoplight) out and put it in Fostoria.”
Pandora Wallace, as a class project, posted an item on the Facebook page entitled “Time Lapse Mayville,” consisting of more than 2,300 photographs of the stoplight and its intersection on Nov. 8, 2013.
“The whole (Facebook page) was started tongue-in-cheek, but to a lot of people it seemed like it was a serious issue,” Barber told The Advertiser on Monday.
“Some people were pretty passionate about the fact it needs to remain a traffic light,” said Barber, who lives near Ann Arbor in Washtenaw County’s Pittsfield Township.
“It’s not always busy at the light, but as they pointed out on the Facebook page, there are times when the stoplight is really important, like when school lets out,” Barber said.
Virgil Drzewicki, a Mayville resident, has said “a lot of people” favor taking down the stoplight, and replacing it with a four-way stop using stop signs.
But Fryers said Village Council members sided with the town’s majority.
“We listened to the people,” Fryers said. “This was one of the best publicity things that has gone on in Mayville in a long time. A lot of good responses came out of this. A beautiful response.”