The Tuscarora Township DDA is proving that
stupidity is an infinite resource. The law empowering DDAs states in part that
a DDA corrects and prevents deterioration in business districts; encourages
historic preservation; and promotes the economic growth of the district. DDAs
capture and spend tax dollars that would otherwise go to schools, libraries,
and county services. Unlike the Cheboygan DDA, the Tuscarora DDA encompasses a
large area; both sides of old M-27 from one end of the township to the other
and east on M-68 to the industrial park.
Tuscarora’s Safe Routes to School, the asphalt sidewalk that
parallels Straits Hwy from the schools to Indian River’s downtown is this DDA’s
crowning achievement. I agree it is more practical than a pedestrian bridge with
elevators although it also has a bridge. Best to ignore the dangerous
cross-walk and pedestrian island sandwiched into a small area that has more
than six commercial entrances with center turn lanes including Burt Lake State
Park. This DDA project took more years than I can remember, 8 or 9, and cost $964,455.00. No, that decimal is in the right place. A
million dollars give or take is still a million dollars spent. Grants or
captured taxes, the dollars all came from us. To put that amount in perspective,
the repaving of more than two miles of S Straits highway last fall, pavement,
shoulders, and some new guardrail cost $592,000.00 and took only a few months.
Are the well meaning citizens who volunteer in these
appointed DDA positions responsible? Or is it Tuscarora Supervisor Ridley; the steady
presence and only elected official on the DDA Board who under DDA law is the
CEO? Shouldn’t Supervisor Ridley be providing guidance to these lay-people who volunteer
their time? Before the million dollar sidewalk was done, Supervisor Ridley and
the DDA turned their attention to the Indian River “Streetscape” and another
DDA idea; back-in-angle parking.
The whole issue of back-in-angle parking on S Straits Highway
in Indian River can be summed up with one single word: stupid. Back in parking
has been used successfully for years where there is a proven need to add
parking spaces in a limited area. The
best use has been side streets where there is little through traffic, often
with dedicated bike lanes, and vehicles typically parked all day or overnight.
It is a worst practice example where the majority of traffic
is through traffic and there is a steady turn-over of parking spaces. The
back-in parking in front of the Chamber office and new trailhead parking lot resulted
in a loss of more than a dozen parking spaces. It also left that block with
narrower travel lanes, inadequate ADA access, and a cross-walk that will eliminate
more parking spaces in front of the Dairy Mart. RV’s or vehicles pulling trailers can park
somewhere else, maybe the next town down the road. As you read this, the
Tuscarora DDA is fast-tracking an application to MDOT hoping to secure a TAP
Grant to build out the length of Indian River’s main street with at least three
more back-in parking pods. Supervisor Ridley has also apparently been shopping privately
for more USDA loans/grants from that Federal body that is now the patron saint
of lost municipal causes.
Last year, as the Indian River Trailhead project was
wrapping up with the pavilion and smaller off-street parking lot, the DDA
thought it would be a great idea to spend about $90,000 out of your pocket so
everyone could see how great back-in angle parking really is and showcase it
with the newly completed Trail Head. That rush-rush decision instead became an ongoing
embarrassment that delivered numerous faults including a northbound travel lane
squeezed to less than 10 feet. Further work on the rest of the Streetscape plan
now requires CCRC Board approval again as they are the “owners” of the road and
must endorse the final design seeking a MDOT TAP Grant.
At the February 18, 2016 CCRC Board Meeting, during public
comment, I personally asked the CCRC Board not to fall into the trap again of partially
funding more design work. As I sat down Tuscarora Supervisor/DDA CEO Mike
Ridley, a scheduled speaker at the CCRC meeting stood and started his pitch. He
implored the CCRC to donate half the proposed design cost of $141,950; another
no bid contract employing the same engineering firm that created the existing
mess. The balance of the project, still in
the design stage, currently has an estimated cost as high as $980,000. That does
not include the $141,950 design costs. All of these projections may go over
budget with Supervisor Ridley’s stated mantra: “plan for the worse and hope for
the best”.
We certainly got the worst from the first round of DDA
spending. After years of dithering and doing nothing, the Tuscarora DDA now may
be getting politically pressured to hurry up and get this Streetscape project
off the paper. Did I say off paper? A request to CCRC Manager Brent
Shank for the plans, as designed or as built, for the one small section already
done was answered promptly and frankly: “Attached is a copy of
the plan that was included with the permit application. We have not
received a copy of an ‘as built’ plan. The centerline was moved to be 11
feet from the where the concrete curb meets the asphalt.”
Although a TAP Grant application without any CCRC endorsement
has been submitted to MDOT, there still have not been public hearings by the
DDA or any effort to gain uncensored and unbiased input from business owners
and those who frequent those businesses. As I wrote in the last installment, the
Cheboygan County Road Commission Board is now our last line of defense against additional
impractical designs. James Johnson, David Brown, Robert Chadwick, Clarence
O’Connor, and Kenneth Paquet all serve as elected officials. The CCRC Board
listened to Supervisor Ridley’s new plea for a 50% donation for another round
of designing that will cost as much as $141,950. The CCRC Board took the
position they’ll not be fooled again and declined the request. The CCRC Board then
passed a motion to schedule a Public Hearing at 6:30PM on June 2, 2016 in to
allow people to offer comments on the use of and need for back-in angle parking
in Indian River. These five people know they answer to the people who elected
them. We should all thank them for that. The final outcome may be determined by
how many of us come out on June 2, 2016 to voice an opinion.
