City Commissioners Approve Parking Deck Repairs, Beach Bathrooms, Service Line Project

Traverse City commissioners voted Monday to move ahead with multiple city projects, including making repairs to both downtown parking decks, purchasing new bathrooms to be installed at West End Beach and the volleyball courts this fall, and accepting $2 million in state grant funding to replace galvanized water service lines throughout the city. Commissioners also approved updates to the city’s appointment policy for boards and committees and placed three new members on the TC Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board.

City Projects
Commissioners approved spending up to $1,000,098 – with funds available in the city’s auto parking system fund – to make repairs to the Larry C. Hardy and Old Town parking decks. That figure includes $909,180 in repair costs with contractor Pullman SST, plus a 10 percent contingency. The Traverse City Downtown Development Authority (DDA), which manages parking on the city’s behalf, recently commissioned a condition assessment of both decks – a review that occurs every five years.

The latest assessment flagged numerous required repairs, including addressing “cracks, failed joint sealants, leaking tee flanges, and other miscellaneous repairs,” according to a memo from DDA Transportation Mobility Director Nicole VanNess. “The work is recommended to maintain the parking structures in good or better condition and to avoid costly repairs that would arise from deferred maintenance. For the first time, the assessments included stair tower windows at both locations, and the brick facade at Hardy.”

Work is expected to start on the decks in May and be completed by October, according to VanNess. “However, if the contractor is not able to complete all items identified, they will return in the spring of 2025,” she wrote. Additional repairs are expected to be needed in the coming years, with the assessment identifying nearly $2.5 million in total repairs between both decks in a five-year window. The DDA is reviewing possible parking rate hikes to offset those costs.

Commissioners Monday also approved a purchase order with CXT Inc. for up to $284,903 for two new bathroom buildings, which will be installed at West End Beach – replacing the existing restroom facility – and in a new location off the RB parking lot next to the volleyball courts. The city received just over $200,000 in grant funding – with the city providing an identical funding match – to help cover the bathroom projects at both beaches.

The new restrooms will be ADA-compliant and are designed to withstand “heavy snow, high wind, and category E seismic loads,” according to Parks and Recreation Superintendent Michelle Hunt. “All-concrete construction also makes the buildings easy to maintain and withstand the rigors of vandalism. The buildings are prefabricated and delivered complete and ready-to-use, including plumbing and electrical where applicable. The buildings are planned for installation in September or October and require four to six months for construction after purchase.”

Commissioners also voted to accept $2 million in state grant funding to replace private galvanized water service lines in the city that were once connected to lead goosenecks. A lead gooseneck is three-foot-long piece of lead pipe “used as a transition between the brass connection at the water main and a threaded galvanized pipe,” according to City Director of Municipal Utilities Art Krueger. Michigan determined in 2017 that galvanized water service lines are considered ‘lead’ lines and must be replaced – at the utility’s expense – from the curb stop near the right of way into the building or home if at any time they’ve ever been connected to a lead gooseneck.

Krueger noted that the city obtained a state loan in 2022 for $3.5 million to replace approximately 300 private service lines over three years. In the first year, 118 replacements were completed. “We are working to determine the remaining number of remaining ‘lead’ service lines needing to be replaced, but a current estimate is about 700,” Krueger wrote in a memo, adding that the new $2 million grant “will help fund a good portion of the remaining required replacements.”

Appointments
Commissioners approved several updates Monday to the city’s policy guiding how interviews and appointments are conducted for city boards and committees. The new rules update the definition of city residency – a requirement for many boards – to state that a resident must sleep regularly within the city’s corporate limits but need not be a property owner. That is consistent with how voter registration works, according to City Clerk Benjamin Marentette, and means that an unhoused individual or an individual who doesn’t own a residence in the city but regularly sleeps there can be considered a city resident.

The new rules also state that if only incumbents are applying for seats on a board – with no new applicants in the running – those incumbents do not have to be interviewed to be recommended for reappointment. The updated policy allows board interviews to be conducted either virtually or in person, instead of having to be all virtual or all in person. However, if multiple candidates are being interviewed at the same time – such as in a panel-style interview – those interviews must all be in person. Finally, while not a change in official policy, staff have also updated board applications – based on feedback from commissioners – to ask incumbents to share anything the city should be aware of regarding their service on the board when reapplying for a seat.

Finally, commissioners approved appointing three members to the TC DDA board Monday. Seven applicants were interviewed for three open seats – high-profile positions given the nature of the DDA’s workload right now, including creating a new TIF plan. Gary Howe, Mike Powers, and Shelley Spencer were recommended to fill the three seats by an ad hoc committee of commissioners who interviewed the seven candidates. The entire commission voted 5-2 to approve the appointments, with Commissioners Tim Werner and Jackie Anderson opposed.