Posted on January 30, 2018
By Jim Kasuba, News-Herald
The Wyandotte City Council is delaying a decision to consider declining a $1.1 million grant for a transient marina, but the city’s options appear to be limited.
At its Jan. 22 meeting, the council was asked to consider a recommendation from City Engineer Mark Kowalewski to withdraw the city’s grant agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Boating Infrastructure Grant Program.
The grant is in the amount of $1,170,500 to build a marina at Bishop Park.
The council opted to refer the city engineer’s letter to the Bishop Park Transient Marina Committee for comments and observations. Mayor Joseph Peterson created this committee to oversee the project.
In its resolution, the council stated that any decision to accept Kowalewski’s recommendation should come only after the committee has given its input.
The council tabled the recommendation, and will revisit it on May 21.
On Nov. 2, 2015, the council approved the grant, which would pay for 50 percent of the cost of constructing the transient marina.
However, the sticking point has been the dredging schedule.
“I have received confirmation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the tentative schedule for dredging is 2020-2021,” Kowalewski told the council. “The EPA cautioned that the dredging schedule is further contingent on a voluntary program from businesses to pay 50 percent of the dredging cost. As of today, the EPA has not received an application for this dredging project.”
Kowalewski said the marina project cannot move forward until dredging has been completed. The grant has a completion date of May 1, 2019, and therein lies the problem.
“This date is not achievable,” he said.
Kowalewski said the city has two options:
– The city could lapse the current grant funding and re-apply after the dredging operation is completed. Kowalewski speculated that if the city opted to re-apply, its proposal would continue to be competitive with other potential grant projects and would have a good chance of being funded again.
He said re-applying for grant funding after the dredging is complete has the added benefit of calculating the current project costs and creating a more accurate overall project cost closer to actual construction time. A request to provide additional funds because of inflation is unacceptable under the current grant.
– The city could extend the grant period. It would be expected that the city would proceed with certain components of the project, such as engineering.
The extension would then be considered near the end of the original grant period. However, Kowalewski said an extension is not guaranteed.
“I recommend the city withdraw from our grant agreement based on the inability to have the project constructed by May 1, 2019, due to the fact that dredging will not be completed by the EPA in time.” Kowalewski told the council.
The city engineer said he had no issue with the council opting to refer the matter to the Bishop Park Transient Marina Committee, of which he is a member.
Many downtown businesses have been among the most vocal proponents of a transient marina, and six of them serve on the committee.
Under the current plan, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation will partner with Wyandotte to construct a transient marina at Bishop Park, along the Detroit River.
This location is directly contiguous to the city’s Central Business District and for that reason is expected to have significant economic benefits for small businesses due to an anticipated increase in tourism-related spending during summer months.
The project includes walkways, floating piers with utility pedestals and additional amenities, resulting in 21 new slips for use by eligible boaters.
The grant is administered through the Michigan DNR. Since it is a matching grant, the city must also come up with $1,170,500, for a total project cost of $2,341,000.
The city’s Tax Increment Finance Authority has money in its budget earmarked for the city’s portion of the marina’s cost.
When asked the reason for dredging delays, Kowalewski said it’s a complicated matter getting companies to agree on their portion of the cleanup costs, largely due to determining where contaminants came from.
He said the total cost to dredge a 4-mile stretch of the Detroit River is projected to be $52 million. The area near Bishop Park is estimated to cost about $1 million.
The News-Herald asked Kowalewski what compels businesses to pay 50 percent of the dredging cost, since it’s a voluntary program.
He said 11 businesses have been paying for testing and for preliminary plans, but they’re trying to make sure all other businesses that are potentially responsible come to the table and pay their share.
Since much of this pollution occurred many decades ago, companies are resorting to historical records that detail what type of chemicals were dumped into certain portions of the river, and in what amounts.
“They have been cooperating, but it is up to the companies how they want to split it up,” Kowalewski said.
Source: News-Herald
