By ANDREA POTEET
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – More steps have been made toward the city’s longtime goal of a transient marina in Bishop Park.
During their regular meeting Monday, city councilors voted to approve two grant applications to the Waterways Planning Unit of the state Department of Natural Resources for more than $2 million to fund the project.
The first grant would be $2.3 million for the entire project with matching funds of $1.17 million from the city’s Tax Increment Financing Authority. A second grant for floating docks would be $252,000 with matching funds of $126,000 from TIFA.
The grant applications were delayed two years because a permit had not been granted by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. A permit was issued Feb. 10.
The project had long been discussed in the city as a way to bring foot traffic into the city’s downtown through use of its waterfront, but was formally begun by the council in 2008 when it paid $40,000 for an engineering study to research the project’s feasibility. The discovery of contaminated sediment near the planned site sidelined the project for years, but dredging work now is slated to begin in June.
Councilors also approved a resolution, submitted by Mayor Joseph Peterson to reactivate the defunct Marketing and Business Committee for the marina, to formulate a business plan for the site. The committee is to consist of Councilman Leonard Sabuda, and representatives from the Recreation and Engineering departments and from the Wyandotte Business Association, the Downtown Development Authority and the Recreation Commission.
“We already have a million dollars into it,” Peterson said. “We know we need that plan to go forward.”