A series of tax increment revenue bonds not to exceed $6 million was approved by the Van Buren Township Downtown Development Authority at its regular meeting on Sept. 23.
The bonds, which will provide funding for the Belleville Road Widening Project could be issued in November with the bond proceeds available in December.
Financial advisor Andy Campbell, of Bendzinski & Co. Municipal Finance Advisors, said it depends on when they want the money. He said it will take approximately 45 days from when they say “go.” The bonds will be sold through a negotiated sale with Huntington Securities, Inc. The money is to be used to do the project and cover the cost of issuing the bonds.
Campbell was hired at the DDA’s April 22 meeting (at an amount not to exceed $28,500), along with the law firm of Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone (at an amount not to exceed $38,500) to work on the bond and be paid out of bond proceeds.
The DDA currently has three other revenue bonds.
On April 22, the board approved the Reimbursement Resolution Tax Exempt Bonds so it could be reimbursed for prior expenditures associated with the Belleville Road Widening Project.
The project will widen Belleville Road between Tyler and Ecorse roads to include a center, left-turn lane, realignment of the intersection at Belleville and Tyler with a dedicated left-turn light for westbound traffic on Tyler Road, a 10-foot, non-motorized pathway on the east side and the completion of the missing five-foot sidewalk on the west side of Belleville Road.
DDA Executive Director Merrie Coburn said they had talked about a $5 million bond, but now that the project has been pushed back and won’t be able to start in 2025, they are not sure where the costs will fall. She said they will try not to exceed the $5 million first projected.
Campbell was advised the road widening should take from 18 months to two years to complete and they would have three years to spend the proceeds on the project.
The 15-year bonds have maturity in 2037. Director Coburn said the DDA expires in 2038. There has been talk of extending the life of the DDA.
She noted a 2022 grant of $90,000 from Wayne County has been withdrawn since it will not be used by 2025 on the road widening.
In other business at the Sept. 23 meeting, the DDA:
• Approved paying Wade Trim engineers $94,750 for additional services for the Belleville Road Widening Project design concept. Coburn said they’ve had several challenges arise during design reviews and comments received back from both MDOT and Wayne County. This additional work required by Wade Trim was not initially anticipated and is required, she said. The design was submitted in February and this is the third approval and it was said someone missed checking a box, some misunderstanding, and it now needs more work. It was noted that the county had a lot of turnover on other projects. The delay reportedly is due to the relocation of the intersection to straighten it out;
• Approved the quote of Madison Electric in an amount not to exceed $35,267.22 for the purchase of three light poles and 30 banner arm assembly kits to replace the damaged light poles along Belleville Road. Coburn said DTE said of the 71 poles only three need to be replaced, but she disagrees. She said they have five in stock. She said the poles are rusting out and look very unsightly. There was discussion about looking into maintenance;
• Approved the renewal of the lease, installation, removal and on-call service from Grosse Ile Lawn for holiday lighting for Harris Park buildings and the triangle area of Belleville and Quirk roads in the amount of $10,550. This is the seventh year the firm will do this service. Coburn said the DDA can lease the lights or buy them. The DDA agreed it was too late to make a change this year, but they can talk about it and do something different next year if they want to;
• Tabled the proposed purchase of an 18-foot, pre-lit Christmas tree for $14,054.75 with free shipping from Christmas Designers in Florida to build up the annual Light Up the Park event. Coburn said the tree could be stored in the DDA garage and the company that installs the holiday lights would be able to put it up for an additional charge. She said the Goodfellow items now stored in the garage will not be stored there after they are removed this season. But before the meeting, DDA members showed preference for a real tree and Joyce Rochowiak said she could get a price the next day and it would be a lot less than $14,000. DDA chairman Craig Atchinson said his business got a bagged tree and decorated it for a few years and then planted it on someone’s property when they were done. He agreed the cost of the pre-lit tree was a lot. The DDA agreed to investigate a real tree and there was time to do so;
• Was introduced to Jeffrey White, one of the District Advisory Citizens Council appointed by the township board, who was present at the meeting to see how the DDA works. Coburn said a round-table session of the council had been scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sept. 23. Also, the council will meet jointly with the DDA at its Oct. 28 meeting. The nine-member council is required by law. Other members of the council, besides White, are: Jackson Pahle, Aubrey Pruitt, Carrie Castino, Kathleen Springer, Dean Trudeau, John Cothorn, Linda Stevenson, and Margo DeLibera; and
• Heard Coburn announce Scarecrows in the Park are scheduled to be up Oct. 6 – Nov. 3. The Light Up the Park event is 6 p.m., Nov. 19. Also, the contractor who performs landscape maintenance at the park will install a French drain to correct the pooling of water and eroding of soil on the southeast end of the patio behind the building to eliminate the need for the sandbags and any potential damage to the stamped concrete that may occur from the loss of soil.
The meeting was held with a bare quorum with six members present and five members absent.
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