Plymouth reviews $46 million, 5‑year capital plan and flags parking, solar for council boost

Plymouth Township staff presented a draft five‑year comprehensive capital improvement plan on Aug. 3, laying out 129 inventory items with an estimated total cost of about $46,000,000 and asking council to indicate what to fund in the 2027 budget. Matt, who led the presentation, said the plan sets a $20,000 one‑time threshold and a minimum five‑year useful life for capital designation and ranks projects using five scored factors.

"We settled on a one‑time cost of $20,000 and a useful life of no less than 5 years," Matt said, explaining the baseline used to decide what qualifies as a capital item. Staff described how each department director contributed estimated replacement costs and projected timing to create a ranked ‘laundry list’ of needs.

Kellen, the project analyst, described the appendices that translate the inventory into a prioritized five‑year program: "In all, we have a 129 projects items listed in this document and they total about $46,000,000." He said Appendix A isolates high‑priority projects for 2027–2031 while Appendix C models funding scenarios showing that doing every listed project would leave the capital reserve with a roughly $11.2 million deficit by 2031 under current assumptions.

Council members pressed staff on tradeoffs and grant dependence. Staff said mission‑critical projects would proceed regardless of grant awards, while projects labeled "planned" would only move forward if grant funds or other additional sources materialize. The presentation called out several notable items: vehicle replacements (a recurring fleet burden), locker and door work at the GPCC, sewer‑infrastructure projects, a medium‑priority solar array estimated at about $1,000,000, and a proposal to create new parking at 421 Lucetta adjacent to JFK Park.

Matt walked council through three cost scenarios for the Lucetta/JFK parking concept: a revised estimate of about $100,000 for fully designing and building a new lot (up from an old $30,000 placeholder), an additional $20,000 estimate to take dedication of a private driveway, and an optional $30,000 to repave the existing lot — for combined options in the $100,000–$150,000 range. Council discussed whether to apply a five‑point "boost" to move that project into the high‑priority band. Several members favored the boost but asked staff to mark the project as "planned," meaning it would be pursued only with additional funding such as grants.

Staff recommended posting the draft plan publicly and returning with a short presentation at the next Monday business meeting for possible adoption; council agreed to post the draft the following day for public review. The plan is explicitly a planning tool to guide budget choices and is not itself a financing or funding commitment.