As city staff work to identify funding sources for the complete reconstruction of Eighth Street, the corridor likely won’t receive even temporary resurfacing improvements until at least spring 2018, if not later. City commissioners will discuss the road at their 7pm meeting tonight, along with possible changes to the city’s accessory dwelling unit (ADU) policy and a proposed increase in commission compensation.

Eighth Street
Though a planned design for Eighth Street was identified through a public charrette process back in 2016, uncertainty surrounds timing for the actual reconstruction of the road due to the “tremendous price tag” accompanying the project, according to City Planning Director Russ Soyring.

At least a few projects associated with the Eighth Street plan will proceed in this year’s fiscal budget, including redecking the Eighth Street bridge and converting the Station Street alley – which runs parallel to Eighth between Franklin and Wellington streets – into an actual street with two travel lanes and on-street parking. The latter project is on commissioners’ agenda tonight to approve under a $237,740 contract with Alper’s Excavating.

But early estimates for reconstructing Eighth Street itself between Barlow and Union streets list a $7 million-plus price tag to tear up the road and design it according to charrette standards, with three traffic lanes, two cycle tracks, pedestrian sidewalks/mid-block crossings, and green landscaping. “We’re trying to figure out how to finance it,” says Soyring. “It’s not possible with the funds we have to reconstruct Eighth to the charrette design, at least not in one project…we’re working on getting more definitive costs beyond a ballpark figure, but the price is still going to be extremely high. It would take some extraordinary money from outside or bonding to pay for it.”

Further complicating matters is that the design relies heavily on closing off driveways along Eighth Street, with customers accessing businesses instead from side streets and alleys. “There are 31 driveways, and we need to have a discussion about closing all or most of them,” says Soyring. “Otherwise the design doesn’t work as well with the cycle tracks, because of so many conflict points.” Staff have begun discussions with property owners about closing their driveways, but the process is likely to be a lengthy one, according to Soyring.

In the meantime, city staff solicited bids this summer for a possible temporary repaving project on the corridor. The bids came in at an “unexpected high cost,” according to City Engineer Tim Lodge, with the lowest option costing $163,008 for resurfacing that would only last three to five years. After reviewing both temporary and long-term project costs, city staff “do not recommend investing in the temporary resurfacing,” Lodge wrote in a memo to city commissioners. “We recommend that any funds for Eighth Street be for the actual reconstruction project.” The recommendation means city street crews would continue short-term “extensive repair and maintenance of the street until the project is constructed,” Lodge continued. He added that if necessary, staff “can assess the street condition in the spring and decide to proceed with temporary resurfacing (then).”

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
After nearly nine months of Traverse City planning commissioners studying possible changes to the city’s accessory dwelling unit (ADU) policy, two city commissioners believe the time for action has come and are asking their fellow board members to approve several changes tonight.

Commissioners Amy Shamroe and Brian Haas are asking commissioners to vote on changes that include eliminating the 10-per-year cap on ADUs in the city, eliminating a 5,000 square-foot lot requirement, eliminating a minimum size requirement of 250 square feet, and expanding ADUs to the R-2 district (two-family dwelling district). Shamroe and Haas called the annual cap on ADUs “arbitrary, burdensome and…intended to be temporary when the ordinance was enacted in 2015.” The other changes are recommended to “address deficiencies in the original ordinance and at the suggestion of staff,” the commissioners wrote in a memo to board members.

If given a green light by commissioners, the changes would be scheduled for introduction and enactment at the commission’s September 5 meeting.

Commission Compensation
An outside commission tasked with setting salaries for city commissioners will present a proposal to increase board compensation for 2017 and beyond.

The Local Officers Compensation Commission (LOCC) is recommending the mayor and commissioners’ annual salaries be increased by 1.009 percent each. The increase would raise payment for Traverse City’s mayor from $7,526.04 to $7,593.77, an increase of $67.73. The proposal would also eliminate a special rate for mayor pro tem and instead make salaries equal for the mayor pro tem and all other five commissioners. The LOCC is recommending raising the mayor pro tem rate from $6,021.36 to $6,075.55 and bringing all other commissioners up to that salary from their current rate of $5,418.43, an increase of $657.12. The increase would go into effect automatically and apply retroactively to commissioners’ salaries in 2017, unless specifically rejected by commissioners.

The LOCC noted the increase is still below the average compensation for local municipalities, which sits at $6,665. “The city commission should consider this compensation not from the standpoint of it being compensation for you, but rather that this compensation is being established for the health of the city commission in removing barriers to service, while not making it the reason for service,” the LOOC wrote. 

The LOCC indicated it also plans to consider a new framework for determining city commission compensation in 2018 and beyond by benchmarking Traverse City against comparable micropolitan statistical areas.