Bessemer DDA considers colored concrete

By CHARITY SMITH

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Bessemer - The city of Bessemer Downtown Development Authority is considering applying for a loan against its future revenue in order to be able to have a more aesthetic curb appeal following the U.S. 2 project. The city has the option of having colored concrete laid down to provide a visually-appealing separation of the highway curb and the sidewalk from Mill Street to Peck Street.

"It's all about what's going to make this town stand out as different or make people want to come back to the town," said Mayor Adam Zak.

He said he would like to see as much colored concrete laid down between the curb and the sidewalk as possible. However, he said the entire nine block stretch would cost the city $345,000. The DDA is considering obtaining a revenue anticipation bond to cover the cost. A revenue anticipation bond is a type of governmental loan against the agency's future revenue. According to city manager Charly Loper, doing so would leave the DDA with a very tight budget. According to Zak, the overall cost would be slightly less than projected, as Kwik Trip agreed to pay for their block.

The DDA looked into having just a couple blocks done to lessen the cost, but because the contractor would be coming from lower Michigan, the cost was still extremely high.

"I feel our goal as a DDA is to attract businesses and help existing businesses and I just don't see how two blocks of concrete does either," said DDA member Dave Osier. "Sixty thousand dollars is a year and a half of our income. That's a year and a half of our income that we can't do anything with because it's tied into two blocks worth of concrete. To me, that just doesn't make sense."

The city has to either go with having grass laid down to separate the curb from the side walk or the colored concrete. The Michigan Department of Transportation will not allow the city to lay standard concrete there, as it would blend in too much with the sidewalk and could cause safety issues.

"We are making a lot of improvements to increase safety along U.S. 2. We feel that if the green space, looked and felt just like the sidewalk, this would encourage pedestrians to walk along the curb," said Steve Cadeau of MDOT. "Any options to increase aesthetics shouldn't sacrifice any safety improvements like providing a buffer space between the roadway and sidewalk."

Zak said he is concerned that if the city goes with the grass option, that it will only look nice for the first year as it will require a lot more upkeep and cause those businesses to have a greater expense for the maintenance of the grass.

Member Dan Whitburn suggested that the DDA pay for an additional summer worker to be charged with the upkeep and maintenance of the grass. Loper said she liked that idea.

"Grass that is maintained looks beautiful. You could pay a worker to do that for $3,000 a year, which wouldn't even take a worker that much time to do," said Whitburn. "So for $1500 a year, you could make sure that it is maintained and not a problem for the businesses."

Zak pointed out that while it sounds good, the city isn't always able to hire summer workers and said last year, the city was not able to get even one summer worker.

Osier said he would rather see the DDA keep up with the pop-up shop funding and decorating the downtown district for the holiday season.

Councilman Terry Kryshak, who attended the meeting at Zak's request, pointed out that Munising had done a similar project and used grass. He said that the first year it looked beautiful, but by the next spring it looked horrid.

"The whole idea is to try and get more people coming through Bessemer to stop at your businesses and not just fly through here," said Kryshak. " So, you got to look at how we can aesthetically improve our visual pass through Bessemer. Grass will look great when it looks great. It will look like crap when it looks like crap. Most of U.S. 2 is all businesses."

He said the concrete is easier to plow and easier to maintain. Kryshak said the funds are not available from the city. However the DDA can apply for the revenew anticipation bond. Doing so would tie up a lot of the DDA's funds for years to come, according to Loper.

"We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something in this community to make it aesthetically welcoming for people coming through. Not only the people that live here, but the people coming through," said Kryshak.

He said if they finance it over the 10-year period, it will not cause the DDA to go broke. He said the longer period would allow the DDA would still have funds for other projects.

The DDA asked for Loper to inquire further as to the total costs for the bond with interest, the amount of the payments, the timeline and the process. The DDA has to make a decision on the issue soon, as the U.S. 2 project will commence at the end of May.