Commission authorizes Brownfield water‑main design while urging State Street decision soon

The Traverse City City Commission on June 1 authorized preliminary engineering and geotechnical work for a Brownfield water‑main and street reconstruction project while debating timing tied to a planned decision about State Street’s traffic configuration.

City staff told the commission the city has approximately $1,000,000 available in Brownfield funding for a water‑main replacement stretching along Boardman and State Streets. The commission voted to authorize an agreement for preliminary design and engineering not to exceed $206,839 (including a 15% contingency) and a soils and geotechnical contract not to exceed $30,879.73.

City Engineer Anne Pagano addressed concerns about whether design work should wait until the commission decides whether State Street remains two‑way or returns to one‑way. Pagano said, “We can make this project work either way, whether it's one‑way or two‑way on State Street. We just need to know eventually... but we can do a lot of the work to start out.” Staff emphasized that some surveying and outreach must begin soon and that the project could be held later if a final decision is not made within roughly four to six months.

Several commissioners warned that delaying design can multiply costs and cited a recent example where delayed design work increased project cost by months and higher expense. Others asked for the cost comparison for one‑way vs. two‑way conversions; staff said those cost estimates were provided to the Complete Streets Advisory Committee to assist their analysis and that committee will report back before the commission finalizes any operational decision.

Next steps: staff will proceed with the preliminary design and geotechnical work, begin surveying and outreach, coordinate with the Complete Streets Advisory Committee, and report progress and cost updates to the commission as design milestones are reached.