City staff reported that the Emily Park flood-resiliency project has entered the 90–100% engineering design phase and that Van Beaver Park progressed from 60% to 90% design work under a NOAA and Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative partnership. The commission received and placed the update on file.

Melissa, sustainability staff, said the Emily Park project is a large wetland scrape with additional recreational amenities including river-access stone steps, a forewalk area, an overlook, shade structure, steel railings, and path connections. The project has multiple consulting firms engaged: EOR on Emily Park and Dewberry and Limnotek on related services.

Council accepted a $150,000 grant from the Fund for Lake Michigan at the previous council meeting, and staff received notification that the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund selected Emily Park for $244,900. Melissa said those awards increase secured grant funding for the project to $830,900. She described the Emily Park effort as an over $2 million project and said additional grant applications are pending; construction is planned to start in 2027 if remaining funding is secured.

Staff said current and near-term grant funds will be used for geotechnical work (groundwater monitoring, soil probes) and to finish the final engineering design. Melissa noted that some grants will serve as matches for others and that in-kind staff time is part of the city's contribution. "If that [additional Great Lakes Cities application] is awarded, that would cover all of the rest of the costs for Emily Park," she said, noting the competition for those awards.

The commission voiced support and filed the update. No construction contracts or appropriation votes were taken at the meeting; the update described grant awards, secured funding totals, pending grant applications and the planned 2027 construction timeline.