Houghton will extend the Gateway to Downtown project’s conditional zoning agreement until September. The project that will reimagine the former Chamber of Commerce building as a new UP State Bank Branch with a housing development on the other side of the lot, plans to begin work this summer. Moyle Construction will stop by the council and planning commission in the near future for a site plan review. The city approved the developer’s conditional zoning in 2024, with an 18-month time frame.
They’re working on it. They’re doing soil borings up there today so they can finalize their plans. Just requesting a motion and vote of the Council extending the call it the progress clause date for the conditional rezoning which would expire at the end of June this year through the end of September. Just to cover any unforeseen circumstances yeah, they’ll probably be started by June 30th but just in case something happens we would extend that conditional rezoning window for them to start on the project till 30 September. – Eric Waara, City Manager, City of Houghton
Work will pick up where crews left off or start projects around town as the weather warms up. Including roadwork. MDOT will have the city mediate the Canal Road traffic light installation project. City Manager Eric Waara says the state uses this practice for small projects.
You know, essentially what will happen if and when the contractor starts and goes to build it, they’re going to work. They’re going to ask to get paid. They send a bill to the city. We fill out a form that we send to MDOT. Here’s the bill plus our overhead on it. They send a check to us and we pay the contractor. So, you know, we’ve consulted with MDOT on the bids and we got two bids on this, right electric. Out of the Marquette area was $194,000 even and J-Rank Electric was $252,100 even. – Eric Waara, City Manager, City of Houghton
The project bid was awarded to Rite Electric for 194,000 dollars. Rite has done previous work in the city and works out of Marquette.
Additional action by the city council approved the purchase of a new patrol vehicle. In the past, Houghton, and other communities in the region, have used the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Grant program to partially fund projects or purchases such as law enforcement or fire department equipment. City Manager Eric Waara says there are no current awards available for the rural development program, and Houghton will need to use money from the equipment fund and the state’s Mi DEAL system.
You know, traditionally we were using, a lot of times rural development grants for it to pay for part of a vehicle. Those aren’t out there right now and we’re basically down a vehicle. We need a new vehicle for the police department. Proposing to buy a 2025 Ford Explorer police package through the Mi Deal system, which is the state buying system for municipalities. For, I guess you’ve got the Mi Deal price, you’ve got the camera system, the fitting, and then the accessories that go in the car. The total cost at the end of the day is $78,823.50, which would come from the equipment fund. There’s well over half a million dollars in the equipment fund right now. So there’s certainly the cash in there to buy that. – Eric Waara, City Manager, City of Houghton
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