Lincoln Park City Manager James Krizan presented the proposed Phase 1 spending plan for the city’s American Recovery Plan Act funding during the city council’s Sept. 20 Zoom meeting.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
LINCOLN PARK – Pump stations and retention basins will benefit the most from the city’s American Recovery Plan Act funding, with $11 million allocated to infrastructure investment during the first phase of spending.
City Manager James Krizan told the City Council that of the $19.2 million that the city will receive over two years of disbursement, he recommends, with the input of Plante-Moran, that $1.48 million be spent on revenue replacement programs, which will support city services, and that $11 million be spent on infrastructure during the first of two phases.
The Emmons and Lincoln pump stations each will receive $4 million in investment, with $1 million allocated to the Riopelle pump station. In addition, $2 million will be spent on retention basin upgrades.
The revenue replacement spending will allocate $55,000 for new zoning, $60,000 for the city website, $310,000 for the first phase of animal shelter work, and $150,000 for the city hall windows and front door, for which a permanent wheelchair ramp will be added, to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Also, electrical upgrades and the generator project for city hall will receive a $205,000 allocation, with $175,000 earmarked for police department upgrades.
The community center pool removal will have $40,000 allocated, with the Paun Park wading pool removal slated to receive a $60,000 allocation.
Krizan said the higher cost to remove the wading pool in comparison to the community center pool is attributed to the reinforced concrete in the wading pool.
A downtown placemaking project, spearheaded by the Downtown Development Authority, with have $125,000 allocated, while $300,000 will be set aside for alley cleanup and improvements.
Krizan said that the revenue replacement projects are focused on providing better city services, improving the efficiency of services, and providing economic development components.
He said the downtown placemaking project will try to make the downtown more pedestrian-friendly and develop a sense of place, which refers to the relationship between people and spatial settings, particularly those characteristics which make a place special or unique, and create a sense of belonging.
City Councilman Larry Kelsey questioned how placemaking improvements would be protected from vandalism, such as graffiti.
Krizan said part of the appeal of placemaking projects is it makes the areas less appealing to vagrants.
“It is not an attractive place to try and hide out, because it’s visible, it’s got lighting and it is easier to see,” he said. “Places that have done this have not had the same type of issues that you are expressing.”
DDA Director Carl Malysz said if a city doesn’t create active spaces where residents will congregate, you will attract homeless people.
“All these activated sites would have lighting at night, and they are not going to be hangouts – they are going to be prideful places in the community, in the downtown,” he said. “If you don’t create activities in the downtown, if you don’t make the area more appealing to pedestrians, then, yeah, you’re going to have issues.”
Malysz said that is what Lincoln Park’s problem is right now.
“It’s not because we have people tagging, or homeless people walking about – that’s happening because there is nobody down there, there is nobody interested in walking the streets of the downtown,” he said. “We are talking about scattering half a dozen site activations, including the Mellus park site.”
The Mellus Park site, an empty mowed grass lot, is in the 1600 block of Fort Street, a block northeast of Southfield Road.
“If we don’t do any of that stuff, there’s not going to be any appeal to come downtown,” Malysz said. “You can’t expect stores to get filled up if you don’t have pedestrian traffic.
“If we get more activity, more foot traffic, we are going to get more people interested in filling spaces, and there will be fewer vacant buildings in the downtown, which are targets for tagging.”
Malysz said if the city council doesn’t try this, little else is likely to develop in the downtown on its own.
Kelsey said residents cite the lack of security in the downtown area as a concern, and he is concerned that there is no plan in place to curtail vandalism.
“I would like to see it succeed,” he said. “All I am saying is, to succeed, you have to correct the issues that you are already aware of.”
Other issues which need correcting exist within the Police Department building.
Krizan said the Police Department work would include bathroom remodeling, flooring replacement, sealing off the garage port, securing the parking lot, replacing the gun rails and lanes in the shooting range, and recovering and repainting the jail cell floors.
He noted that the infrastructure projects, which are part of the sewer system, must be done either voluntarily or at the behest of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, and said that using ARPA money to pay for these big-ticket items avoids the need to pass on the cost to residents through even higher utility rate increases.
Following discussion during the Sept. 20 council meeting, the body unanimously approved the proposed first phase of the ARPA budget.