Planning commission recommends six-year capital improvement plan to City Council

The Eastpointe Planning Commission voted unanimously Jan. 23 to recommend the city's six-year capital improvement plan (called the infrastructure maintenance plan in the presentation) to City Council, following a presentation from the city's engineering consultant and a public question about whether federal earmarked money is tied to a specific road design.

Ryan Kern, with engineering firm Anderson, Eckstein and Westrick, told the commission the plan lays out projects the city expects to design or construct over the next six years and organizes them by funding source: major streets, local streets, water and sanitary sewer.

The plan lists a federal earmark of $44,380,000 to assist with the third phase of the 9 Mile Road reconstruction, covering Tuscany to I-94; Kern said that earmark will be administered through the Michigan Department of Transportation and is general to the project, not tied to a specific design. He also said earlier phases and other major-street projects are receiving federal-aid assistance that covers roughly 81.85 percent of construction costs, with the city matching from Act 51 funds the city receives from the state.

A resident, Jennifer Nicholas, asked whether the…