Traverse City commissioners will vote Monday on putting two proposals on the November ballot that would allow the city to acquire 528 acres to expand the Brown Bridge Quiet Area. Commissioners will also vote on committing $421,449 to the expansion of the TART Trail downtown and approve proceeding with issuing $13.5 million in bonds for the buildout of a citywide smart grid.

Brown Bridge Ballot Proposals
Commissioners will vote Monday on approving ballot language for two proposals that would go before voters on November 7 to expand the city-owned Brown Bridge Quiet Area (BBQA).

The proposals – which are tie-barred, meaning both need to pass for the project to move forward – would allow the city to acquire 528 acres directly north of BBQA, expanding the preserve’s size by nearly 40 percent. The Elmer J. Mueller Land Trust currently owns acquire 228 of those acres – including Spring Lake – while the remaining 300 acres comprise the southern half of a large property owned by Rotary Camps & Services (pictured, map). The properties are valued at over $3 million, but the city could acquire them for $746,245, pending a successful grant application to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund for the remainder.

The BBQA could provide the funding for its own expansion. Oil and gas royalties from the property go into a dedicated fund called the Brown Bridge Trust Fund. In 2019, residents passed a proposal to cap the fund’s principal at $12 million and direct excess revenues into a separate trust fund to be used for city park improvements and acquisitions. That separate fund, called the Brown Bridge Trust Parks Improvement Fund, has paid for several city park projects in recent years.

One of the two proposals commissioners will consider putting on the ballot would ask for voter approval to tap into the original Brown Bridge Trust Fund to access $746,245 to cover the preserve expansion. That would still leave over $11.2 million in principal in the fund. The second ballot proposal would amend a 2019 stipulation stating that no single allocation to a city park project or acquisition can exceed $250,000.  

City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht notes that the ballot proposals are required to be reviewed by the governor and attorney general, in addition to city commissioners. “In order to stay within the timeline for that review process, the attorney general has graciously provided initial review of the ballot resolutions,” Trible-Laucht wrote to commissioners. “Therefore, I do not anticipate that the language should pose any issues.” In the event the ballot proposals failed, the city could withdraw its application for state grant funding for the project, Trible-Laucht said.

TART Funding
Commissioners will vote Monday to commit funds to the expansion and extension of the TART Trail downtown, as well as to support a state grant application for the project.

The City of Traverse City, TART Trails, and the TC Downtown Development Authority (DDA) are partnering on improving the trail between the West End Beach parking lot and the intersection of Garfield Avenue and East Front Street. A concept plan calls for expanding the segments of the existing trail width to 16 feet, with 10 feet dedicated to bi-directional bicycle use and six feet dedicated to pedestrian use. The plan also envisions future trail connections east of the Senior Center along East Front Street and Peninsula Drive.

TART Trails is preparing to apply for a state Revitalization and Placemaking Program (RAP 2.0 Program) grant for $500,000 for trail improvements between the Murchie Bridge and Senior Center. “This extension of trail east will provide new community connections to public assets including Sunset Park, NMC’s Great Lakes Campus, and the newly constructed Senior Center,” according to City Planning Director Shawn Winter. He notes that while the project partners have had numerous conversations with the Delamar about using part of the hotel property for the trail – which he calls the “preferred alternative” – the group is “prepared to move forward with a connection within the right of way” if needed.

Engineering on the trail segment will be completed in the coming months. Winter says the goal is complete the trail construction next year in conjunction with the state’s reconstruction of Grandview Parkway/East Front Street. “Coordinating our efforts maximizes the impact of both projects, results in cost savings, leverages opportunity through the fund balance, and minimizes disruption to the community,” he says. The total estimated cost for this particular trail segment is $1,242,898. Proposed funding sources include the state RAP grant ($500,000/40 percent), the City of Traverse City ($421,449/34 percent), DDA ($200,000/16 percent), and TART Trails ($121,449/10 percent).

A final design for the entire trail project area – including cost estimates, funding sources, and projected timelines – will be completed in August and presented to the city commission, DDA board, planning commission, and parks and recreation commission for approval.

Fiber Bond
Commissioners will vote Monday to proceed with issuing up to $13.5 million in bonds to complete the citywide buildout of a smart grid network through Traverse City Light & Power. Commissioners voted in April to provide public notice of the city’s intent to bond the project and completed a required waiting period during which voters could petition to put the bonds on the ballot. No petitions were submitted, meaning the city can now move forward with issuing the bonds.

Funding will include up to $10 million to cover additional expenses to build out the grid, plus $3.5 million to cover drop costs for connecting customers to the fiber network. The total project cost is approximately $28.2 million, including nearly $14.7 million provided through a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan. While the city charter requires the debt to be approved by commissioners and backed by the city’s full faith and credit, TCLP is solely responsible for paying it off. An agreement between the city and TCLP holds the city harmless for any financial liability for the project.

City commissioners and TCLP board members Amy Shamroe and Tim Werner previously noted the project isn’t just about providing citywide fiber Internet, but updating the grid for the modern era. “Even if we weren’t interested in being on the Internet...we will need a smart grid,” said Werner, adding the infrastructure was crucial to meeting the city’s future energy needs and climate change goals. Shamroe pointed to the increasing importance of municipalities upgrading to more secure, sophisticated grids in an era of surging cyberattacks on energy infrastructure. “This is all to reinforce our grid,” she said. “This is huge for us, for our security, for our ability to operate, for our ability to operate decades into the future.”