Judge hears truck route arguments

By CHRISTOPHER DIEM Journal Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — Is the city of Marquette’s truck traffic ordinance in south Marquette unfairly targeted at one local trucking company, or is that company only concerned with the cost of using a less convenient route?


Those are issues that 25th Circuit Court Judge Thomas Solka will consider when making his decision on the lawsuit against the city brought by L. Blondeau and Sons Trucking.


On Friday attorney Kevin Roragen, representing Blondeau, asked the judge to declare the ordinance unreasonable, illegal, and unenforceable. City Attorney Ron Keefe asked the judge to dismiss the case. Following arguments by both sides, Solka announced he would write an opinion on the case but did not give a timetable for his decision.


In August 2007, the Marquette City Commission voted unanimously to put a weight limit of 10,000 pounds on Genesee, Division and Grove streets. Residents said trucks from Blondeau Trucking and other companies kicked up dust and created noise and other unsafe living conditions.


The trucks, which are loaded with limestone at the Shiras Steam Plant’s loading dock, traveled up Genesee Street and onto Division Street to get to M-553, before delivering the limestone to be used in Cleveland Cliffs Inc. operations.


The trucking firm filed suit challenging the ordinance in September.


Roragen argued that in restricting truck traffic on Genesee, Division and Grove streets in south Marquette, the city was targeting one company: Blondeau.


“The fact that this ordinance only addresses the Genesee, Division street corridor — I think it leads to an inescapable conclusion that this is targeted at Blondeau Trucking,” Roragen said, adding that Blondeau trucks have used Genesee and Division streets for over 20 years in their daily operations.


Keefe said the ordinance targets all trucks that meet the weight restriction, not just Blondeau’s trucks.


Roragen said while municipalities have the right to enact ordinances, the state constitution requires those ordinances to be reasonable.


Keefe said the ordinance is not an “unreasonable burden” for Blondeau because it allows Blondeau to use all other streets in the city.


“It doesn’t deprive Blondeau of any suitable way through the principal streets. We think it gives them a better route ... in terms of more space and more roadway. What it really comes down to is economics,” he said.


Keefe said though it may be more expensive, it was not unreasonable to ask Blondeau to use U.S. 41 to get to McClellan Avenue to get to M-553.


David Blondeau, president of Blondeau trucking, said half his trucks currently use the McClellan route and half continue on U.S. 41.


Roragen said these alternate routes present an “excessive” burden on interstate commerce because they are “less efficient, it’s more costly to use the route, it takes longer.”


Solka asked for quantitative evidence of the costs involved but Roragen did not have any available.


By enacting the ordinance, Roragen argued, the commission ignored the advice of the city’s traffic advisory committee which said the routes were suitable but the presence of Blondeau’s trucks amid regular traffic on those routes at certain times of the day presented a “safety concern.”