Two long-discussed city projects – repairing the West End Beach parking lot and installing new sidewalk network on Eastern Avenue to improve student safety – are poised to move forward. City commissioners will vote Monday to approve contracts for both projects, along with several other infrastructure-related items on the agenda.

Commissioners will vote to award a not-to-exceed contract of $387,788.78 to Popp Excavating to repair the West End Beach parking lot and complete site preparation work for new restrooms planned to be installed on the property this year. The parking lot was damaged by high water in 2020, with half the lot remaining unusable since then. The city subsequently received a state grant for just over $200,000 to replace the West End Beach bathhouse with a new ADA-accessible restroom and to install another restroom off the RB parking lot next to the volleyball courts. The existing bathhouse was demolished and removed from the site last fall.

City commissioners had multiple discussions with staff about plans for reconstructing the parking lot over the last year-and-a-half. Per commission feedback, the latest plans call for reducing the number of parking spaces from 25 to 14, including four ADA spaces (that’s compared to one ADA space that existed pre-damage). Commissioners previously said they wanted to see less pavement and more park space, as well as increased handicap accessibility. Non-disabled beachgoers can utilize the dropoff/loading zone to drop off beach gear or family members, then park across the road and walk over if needed, commissioners said. The proposed landscaping will use all native plants and natural stone, with no geotextile or permanent plastics used. New bike racks are also planned to be installed.

Popp Excavating was the lowest of four bidders. Funding sources will include $197,535.25 from the city and $155,000 remaining from the state grant, for a total of $352,535.25 – plus a 10 percent contingency, which raises the amount to $387,788.78. City Manager Liz Vogel noted in a memo that the city is “actively pursuing” an application to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for improvements to coastline areas, providing the opportunity for the West End project to received additional “substantial grant funding.” That application is due April 16. The Popp Excavating contract needs support from at least five commissioners to move forward Monday.

Five commission votes will also be needed to approve a contract with Molon Excavating for $158,719.84 for a long-discussed sidewalk project on Eastern Avenue. Plans call for installing new sidewalk on the south side of Eastern between Peninsula Drive and Milliken Drive. Many pedestrians and cyclists use Eastern Avenue, which connects West and East bays and has three schools located in a one-mile stretch: Traverse City Central High School, Eastern Elementary School, and Northwestern Michigan College (NMC).  

Last October, Commissioner Tim Werner asked the board to pursue the project. In a memo, he wrote that neighbors have asked for upgrades for years but that the project has repeatedly fallen by the wayside. According to the city’s Bay Brief, the project will include “shifting the curb line northward and constructing a six-foot-wide sidewalk with an attached one-foot buffer, totaling seven feet of concrete. This improvement aims to enhance pedestrian safety and connectivity, particularly to the crosswalk at Peninsula Drive.”

Molon Excavating was the lowest of five bidders, with funding to come from the city’s capital improvement fund. The new sidewalk is targeted to be completed before the start of the 2025-26 school year.

Commissioners Monday will also vote to approve a contract for up to $75,000 with Hubbell, Roth & Clark to provide continued construction engineering services for the city’s ongoing work to fix water connections to lead goosenecks. The city has replaced 333 water services so far and plans to replace 130 more this upcoming construction season under a state mandate. 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.  

Also on the water front, commissioners will vote to approve a $83,695 contract with Hubbell, Roth & Clark for construction engineering services – and a $1.129 million contract with Performance Pipelining Inc. for the actual construction work – on a west side sanitary sewer lining project. The project includes “lining approximately 6,900 feet of 8-inch to 15-inch diameter old clay sanitary sewer mains on the west side of town,” according to Krueger. “In addition, private sewer lateral connections and lining the first five feet of the associated laterals were included as a bid alternate. This addresses the lowest elevation and most vulnerable segment of the lateral to inflow from groundwater.” The project, which was included in the city’s budget this year at an estimated $1.2 million cost, is scheduled to start this spring and be completed by fall.

Pictured (L-R): West End parking lot, Eastern Avenue (photo credit: City of TC)