Muskegon County board approves $443,000 engineering design to relocate force main amid fly-ash cleanup

Muskegon County Public Works on May 14 authorized up to $443,000 to hire Franin Neuhaus for engineering services to design the first segment of an A-to-C force main relocation after the pipe was found amid fly-ash contamination on private property.

The board approved the contract to prepare design and permitting work so the county can move the line before an EPA/EGLE remediation of the contaminant reduces the site’s suitability for the current pipe alignment. "This is to get the design started," Public Works Director Wade Vanden Bosch said, adding that the work is limited to the segment affected by the state cleanup.

Corporate counsel told the board the county is unlikely to prevail in litigation to require the current private owner to relocate the pipe, making design the most practical next step. "It’s our recommendation from corporate counsel that we would not succeed in going to court with this," a county counsel representative said during the meeting.

Engineers from Neuhaus described directional drilling as the preferred method to avoid digging through fly ash. "Directional drilling is basically drilling a horizontal hole through the ground and then pulling the pipe back through it," Niki Seidt said. She explained that directional drilling can place the new line below the contaminated material and reduce environmental disturbance compared with open excavation.

Staff told the board the project length for the designed segment is "somewhere between 3,200 and 3,800 feet," and that further subsurface borings and soil sampling will determine how much of the run must be bored versus open-trench. The design award covers only engineering; construction funding and scheduling will follow later in the county’s capital plans.

Board members also discussed timing: staff said a court hearing to establish a legal water level and an apportionment district (related to a nearby pond/dam matter) is tentatively scheduled for June but could be delayed by probate issues; the force-main design would keep procurement moving regardless of that schedule. Staff noted potential cost savings by bonding this work with a larger pipeline project later; officials estimated roughly $55 million for the other pipeline work cited in the meeting and suggested combined bidding could reduce financing costs.

The board unanimously approved moving forward with the engineering design, authorizing county staff to finalize the contract and proceed with permitting and subsurface investigation.

Next steps: county staff will proceed with soil borings, complete design documents required for permitting, and return to the board with construction cost estimates and a recommended procurement path.