Petoskey council previews large Wheelway restoration plan; no decisions, work session proposed

City Manager Shane Barnes told the Petoskey City Council on Oct. 9 that the Wheelway restoration package from Baird & Associates is effectively bid‑ready but large and technical, and recommended an open‑house style work session so the public and council could review the basis of design in detail before any formal action.

Barnes said the basis of design is about 300 pages and that Baird’s contract work on the project has an allotment of $181,923. He told council the project has an $800,000 grant and a $200,000 local match but that permits have not been submitted pending council direction. “We received a grant, $800,000 grant. We matched that with 200,000,” Barnes said.

The presentation and discussion focused on engineering options and costs. Barnes described value‑engineering steps and the potential to use numerical modeling to refine the design. He said such modeling could cost on the order of $100,000 but “in Rory’s experience, it can cut millions of dollars off of a project.” He also flagged transportation constraints and raw‑material costs: “That that was $13,000,000 just for stone,” he said, describing one cost estimate for cobble used in the proposed shoreline work.

Councilmembers generally supported a separate work session or open house with Baird’s engineer, Rory, present in person to walk through the design and answer questions. Staff agreed to make the Baird report available online in advance so residents can review it before a scheduled public forum. Council members emphasized that the suggested work session would be informational only and would not authorize permits or obligate funding.

Next steps identified by staff and council include publishing the basis of design on the city website, scheduling a work session that fits the consultant’s availability, and using public feedback from the open‑house to inform any future decision about permits, bidding, funding sources, and phasing.