Grand Traverse County commissioners are preparing to move forward with the planned expansion of the county’s LaFranier Road campus, called Project Alpha – a project coming down in cost but facing challenges with an old gas line running through the property. The county is also exploring options for the Governmental Center property in collaboration with the city and preparing to distribute $500,000 in marijuana revenues to local organizations.

LaFranier Expansion
The latest cost estimate for Project Alpha – a planned new combined emergency operations and 911/Central Dispatch center (pictured, rendering) along with a centralized storage facility for multiple county departments on LaFranier Road – has come down from $27-$30 million to $26.2-$27.6 million. Bobby Peplinski and Jerry Tomczak of project manager Cunningham-Limp gave an update to commissioners Wednesday. The initial price tag was based on schematic design, but the project has now gone through design development with “very realistic numbers” provided by contractors to help zero in on costs, said Peplinski.

The latest numbers do not include expenses like architecture and design services, permit fees, and options like rooftop solar or a well backup system. Couty Administrator Nate Alger said additional costs could total over $1 million – more if some of the green/backup infrastructure is included, which commissioners have expressed support for exploring. Commissioners are expected to vote at their November 5 meeting on moving forward with next steps, which include completing construction design drawings, going out for bid, and selecting a construction firm – a timeline that could allow for a groundbreaking in early 2026.

Cunningham-Limp flagged a recent challenge that arose with DTE gas lines running through the property under a 75-foot-wide easement. One of the two lines is less than three feet below grade and “not up to today’s standards,” Tomczak said. DTE recently informed the project team that the decades-old line “is not designed to have static loads on top of it,” Tomczak said, meaning new parking areas – and adjacent buildings – in Project Alpha had to be reconfigured in design documents.

Though Tomczak said those changes can be implemented without delays or additional cost, commissioners were critical of part of the county’s property being rendered unbuildable because of DTE’s gas line, saying that devalues the county land and should be addressed by DTE. Alger said the county asked DTE to bury the line deeper, which the company was willing to do – but not at its own expense. Alger said a recent meeting with DTE was “solutions-based, not adversarial,” though he noted county attorneys are involved in reviewing the situation. The county will keep working with DTE, Alger said, adding that discussions will likely extend beyond Project Alpha, which could still move forward in the meantime with the reconfigured design. “We’re not letting it go at all, and we’ll continue to work on it,” Alger said.

City Collaboration
Traverse City commissioners have voted to support a joint planning process with Grand Traverse County to determine the future of shared properties, including the Governmental Center on Boardman Avenue and the Law Enforcement Center on Woodmere Avenue. Alger told city commissioners that as the county pursues building a new jail as part of an envisioned justice center – which would likely be located on the north side of the Boardman campus between the two courthouses, though other locations are possible – consultants will help assess county needs across the Boardman, LaFranier, and Woodmere campuses.

Alger and Interim City Manager Benjamin Marentette both emphasized the importance of the city being involved in that planning process. Though the Governmental Center is 76 percent owned by the county and 24 percent by the city, the city still has a “50 percent say” in what happens to the building, Alger said. A recent joint facilities master plan determined the Governmental Center is “functionally obsolete…for a governmental entity,” Alger said, with outdated HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and security and a lack of ADA-compliant facilities. Alger noted the building shares key infrastructure with the jail, tying the fates of the two structures together. “Once we build a jail, this jail will come down,” Alger said. “And once that jail comes down, this building loses its source for water and heat.”

The facilities master plan estimated it’d cost at least $10 million just to address the material deficiencies in the Governmental Center, Alger said, with a full renovation estimated at over $32 million. The city/county planning process will help determine whether to pursue renovation, construct a new building, or potentially split up county and city services at different locations. Traverse City Mayor Amy Shamroe said a new building could be “both functional and ecologically friendly,” something that could “serve several generations of Grand Traverse County residents going forward.” A request-for-proposals (RFP) process will be used to find the firm that will help lead the planning process, with that contract to be approved by both county and city commissioners.

Marijuana Funds
After commissioners approved a process this summer for distributing the county’s annual marijuana tax revenues – dividing them between internal county and external community needs – the county recently closed its first application window for community funding requests. The county plans to distribute $500,000 in the first round to eligible applicants including nonprofits, religious organizations, schools and school districts, colleges and universities, and economic development organizations and corporations.

During the application window – which was open from September 2 to October 1 – the county received 81 applications totaling $4.8 million in requests. The county’s spending plan calls for distributing awards ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, with priority given to applications that “clearly demonstrate how they advance the county’s strategic goals, such as planning for sustainable growth and focusing on the needs of the community,” according to the county’s website.

According to a county release, county administration is “compiling a summarized report of all eligible applications to send to a workgroup comprised of commissioners, staff, and legal counsel.” That group will score the applications and determine the award recipients “at a date to be determined later this fall.”