Alpena applying for grant for Culligan Plaza improvements
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ALPENA -- Alpena is applying for a nearly $1 million grant to help cover the cost of an expanded project downtown that includes improvements to Culligan Plaza and a restroom facility.
After a public hearing on Monday, the Alpena Municipal Council voted to apply for a Public Gathering Spaces Initiative grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
The grants can range from $750,000 to $2 million and require a minimum 10% cash match from the city.
The project will need to be pushed back until next year, because the city won't know if it receives the grant until this summer. Then it has to do an environmental assessment of the plaza and nearby area and submit updated and more detailed plans to the state.
The initial timeline was to have work on the plaza begin this fall after the tourism season winds down.
City Engineer Steve Shultz said that, because of the amount of money available, other improvements around the plaza could be achieved if the grant application is approved.
"In addition to proposed improvements in the plaza, the proposed project was expanded to include repairs to the curb and pavement as well as improve the pedestrian area in the parking lot to make it more accessible and draw visitors into the plaza," he said.
Shultz said a small public restroom was also added to the plan, which would fill a longtime need for the downtown area, where there are currently no public restroom facilities. Today, visitors downtown who need to use the bathroom have to go into a store or restaurant or walk down to the boat harbor to use a portable toilet.
"We have also added a small public restroom facility at the south end of the parking lot near the Alpena Downtown Development Authority building," Shultz said in his report to the council. "Though much needed, restrooms centrally located within the downtown were never considered for this project. We elected to include them due to the larger range of availability of funding and because they are specifically mentioned as a suggested project within the grant application instructions."
Shultz said the estimated cost of the project is about $1.2 million and the city would pay about $118,555 as a match, which would need to come out of the general fund because terms of the grant disallow the city from utilizing any of the money it received from the federal government's American Rescue Plan Act.
Shultz said Alpena also anticipates receiving approximately $75,000 from the First Federal of Northern Michigan Legacy Foundation toward the new water feature for the plaza.
Once completed, the new plaza will feature a performance stage, fire feature, and a rolling river with miniature waterfalls, many trees and flowers, and feature concrete, rock, and brick out of respect for Alpena's history.
The annual Christmas tree will also be displayed from the stage each winter.
The new plaza will also allow people with disabilities to navigate the plaza much easier than the current plaza allows them to.
The plaza, which was built in the early 1980s, is in drastic need of repair and updates and has been a project in the city's Capital Improvement Plan for many years, Shultz said in February. Replacing failing cement and repairing underground leaks and piping are part of the plan that needs to be done sooner rather than later and before the more detailed portion of the project commences.