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County hears Project Alpha update as team flags DTE gas-easement constraints and adds well allowance to budget
Summary
Design team told Grand Traverse County commissioners the Project Alpha design-development drawings are complete with DD budgets down from schematic estimates; the presentation highlighted a DTE gas-easement that restricts parking, added mezzanine scope, and a $250k–$300k allowance for a backup well to be included in budgets before a likely November 5 approval.
Design consultants told the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners on May 4 that Project Alpha(central operations and ECC/EOC facilities) has moved from schematic design to completed design-development (DD) drawings and that updated DD budgets are lower than earlier estimates.
"With those SD drawings, we did an internal estimate and unit rates, as well as reaching out to key subcontractors," said Bobby Peplinski of Cunningham-Limp, who led the presentation. He said subcontractor pricing and value-engineering choices reduced costs: the EOC/ECC DD budget declined roughly $900,000 from schematic estimates and the Central Operations Building (COB) DD estimate fell about $700,000 on average while the team added scope such as a mezzanine.
Jerry Tomczak, the project lead presenting the DD numbers, gave more detail. "We're now at 14.1" million for the EOC in the updated DD figures (he described a range of roughly $14.2M to $14.9M depending on options), and he placed the COB DD estimate at about $12.0M to $12.6M. Tomczak said the team absorbed geothermal (about $450,000) and a radio-tower allowance (about $145,000) into the DD figures and that the COB mezzanine is roughly 3,300 square feet and represents roughly a $600,000 added scope.
The presentation also flagged a site constraint raised by DTE Energy that could affect parking. Tomczak said surveys identified two gas lines in a roughly 75-foot easement; an older east line installed in the late 1950s sits only about 2 feet 10 inches to 3 feet below grade and "is not designed to have static loads on top of it, meaning parking lots." He said DTE inspected the older pipe and called it "sound," but then insisted that parking not be located directly over it without mitigation.
The design team proposed several mitigations, including reworking drive and parking layouts, designing precast concrete bridging structures to span sensitive areas, and shifting the COB 25 feet west/south to preserve vehicle turning radiuses without encroaching on the easement. "We can accommodate what they want with some restrictions," Tomczak said, adding that the team expects DTE to respond with options by the end of the week and that the easement negotiation may extend beyond Project Alpha.
Commissioners pressed for the financial and program implications of the DTE request. One commissioner said the existence of a 70-year-old pipeline under a prime parking area "diminishes substantially" the property value and noted the county had purchased the parcel without a restriction disclosed in that form. Tomczak replied that design changes and alternative parking on the southern acreage should preserve the projectschedule and not materially increase the budget unless DTE declines to participate in cost sharing for structure solutions.
The team also discussed energy and resilience options. Tomczak said the EOC's flat roof (~14,000 square feet) could support roughly 150 to 200 kilowatts of rooftop solar; he recommended roof-mounted panels for longevity and lighter roof penetrations, while commissioners debated battery-storage tradeoffs. "We're hearing between 12and 15 years for ROI," Tomczak said of solar systems. Commissioners raised the prospect of joining utility pilots for batteries and noted that batteries add cost and hazardous-material considerations.
On water resilience, commissioners pressed staff for irrigation and potable-water backup numbers. Staff said an allowance of $250,000 to $300,000 for a well or reserve tank was included in budget notes and that they would refine and confirm those figures before the next action. "We can certainly validate that and get you honed in on," Tomczak said.
Staff said the project will return to the board likely on Nov. 5 for approval to move forward and that the well allowance and other adjustments will be added into the upcoming budget materials.
What happens next: the design team expects to finish construction documents in about 10 weeks, put the project to hard bid (about four to five weeks), and present a guaranteed maximum price for board approval later this year. Commissioners asked staff to continue negotiations with DTE and to provide refined costs and options for solar, batteries and water-backup before the November decision.
