City Commission Approves Hickory Camp, Water & Street Projects

Traverse City commissioners Monday unanimously approved an agreement with the Grand Traverse Conservation District to revive a summer day camp at Hickory Hills. The commission also approved a trio of agenda items related to water access and improvements and a $1.3 million contract with Elmer’s for pavement projects on Oak, Seventh, and Elmwood this year. The items had originally been on the commission’s March 16 meeting agenda, but were rescheduled to Monday night due to last week’s winter storm.

Hickory Camp
Parents could find some relief in the highly competitive market for childcare after commissioners approved an agreement to bring summer camp back to Hickory Hills.

Under the agreement, the Grand Traverse Conservation District (GTCD) will operate the camp as a second location in addition to its own Nature Day Camp at the Boardman River Nature Center. An eight-week camp season will operate at Hickory Monday-Thursday eight hours a day. Camper ages would be 7-11 years old, with a maximum of 40 campers per weekly session.

GTCD would receive a $12,000 administrative fee to operate the camp, which would be covered by participant registration. Commissioners also approved paying an additional $15,000 to Universal Cleaners for the season for daily weekday cleanings of the Hickory Hills lodge, also to be covered by the registration fees. Camp costs are expected to be $425 per week. An exact start date, along with a registration opening date, haven’t yet been announced since the city and GTCD are still finalizing licensing approvals with the state.

Commissioner Mitch Treadwell asked if the city could potentially expand beyond 40 campers in the future to make more of a “dent in the potential need and demand in our area.” City Manager Benjamin Marentette said while the program will need to be evaluated, and that he couldn’t “make any commitments at this point,” he agreed that “certainly we want to provide as much as we can.” Commissioners also discussed the possibility of using a request-for-proposals (RFP) process in the future to evaluate multiple camp providers.

Mayor Pro Tem Laura Ness said reviving the camp would have a community impact. “I recently heard a father describe the summer camp registration as a chapter out of the Hunger Games,” she said. “Honestly that resonates. I think this is the right program, at the right time, at the right place, and the right partner…it’s a great step for the city to address a significant issue in this community.”

Water Projects
Commissioners approved a trio of agenda items Monday related to water access and improvements.
The first was a contract for just over $823,000 with Elmer’s Crane and Dozer for the construction of a Kids Creek culvert on Eleventh Street between Elmwood Avenue and Division Street. The project will be largely grant funded, with the Watershed Center helping secure a $550,000 state grant. The project will replace an existing undersized culvert and incorporate new green infrastructure and stream restoration elements. Work is planned to start this spring. Commissioners thanked the Watershed Center for its partnership efforts over the last decade on numerous projects designed to remove Kids Creek from Michigan’s Impaired Waters List.

Commissioners also approved an agreement with Garfield Township for a water extension that goes into Long Lake Township via Cedar Run Road. The water line was extended by Garfield Township without the city’s approval, with three developments in Long Lake Township promised to have access to it for water. Those developments will be allowed to have water connections under the agreement and will be considered Garfield Township customers, with the water usage coming out of the township’s daily capacity.

In exchange, Garfield Township has promised no further connections will be made without express city consent and will build a new water storage reservoir within the next 18 months. Township Manager Chris Barsheff told commissioners that reservoir will be built next to a storage tank on McRae Hill Road.
Finally, commissioners approved an access agreement that will allow Grand Traverse County to add two gravel access roads, reroute an existing trail, and add a crossing at the Keystone/Beitner/River roundabout to improve access within the Natural Education Reserve. The city owns a nearly 54-acre parcel within the reserve near the roundabout area. As part of a planned Beitner bridge replacement project, the county plans to close the park entrance on the north side of the bridge at the direction of the state and provide alternate access to river users through a new road running parallel to Seabrook Lane.

The county also plans to extend one of the roundabout legs north to the Oleson Bridge parking lot, which will allow for closing the Oleson Bridge lot entrance off Keystone Road and consolidating vehicle access at the roundabout. The Boardman–Ottaway River Trail will be rerouted to the Oleson Bridge trailhead parking lot and cross the roundabout area, continuing south toward Hoosier Valley Road.

Street Paving
Commissioners approved a not-to-exceed contract for just over $1.3 million with Elmer’s Crane and Dozer for mill and overlay pavement work on three streets this year. The contract amount includes a 10 percent contingency. The first project covers .45 miles of Oak Street between Seventh Street and Thirteenth Street. The second project includes .25 miles of Seventh Street between Elmwood Avenue and Division Street. The third project covers .55 miles of Elmwood Avenue between Eleventh Street and Front Street.

While the city recently purchased equipment to do its own mill-and-fill projects, City Manager Benjamin Marentette said the in-house operations aren’t “meant to totally handle all of our mill-and-fill operations. They’re meant to complement them.” After the pavement work is done, all three streets will be repainted in their existing configurations. Once the city’s new Complete Streets Advisory Committee is formed this spring, that group will look in the future at possible bicycle improvements to those streets, staff said. Construction is expected to occur this summer.