Reuben and Mary Ann Chapman will have to wait until after the Empire Village Council's budget work session held last night to find out if the village will pay for new screening for their house along M-22 as part of a street beautification project slated to start in August.
At the work session on the 2008-09 budget last night, the council was expected to review how much revenue it will have for the new fiscal year that runs from March 1, 2008 to Feb. 28, 2009. At its regular meeting on Jan. 22, the council members agreed to wait and see if the village will have money available to pay for new screening for the Chapman’s home as part of the Michigan Department of Transportation’s “streetscape” project along M-22. The $620,000 project is being funded through a federal transportation enhancement and local match grant. According to council member Karen Baja, chair of the council’s streets committee, the village will have to provide $128,000 as its match for the grant.

New sidewalk is planned along the west side of M-22 from the south edge of Robert Foulkes’ property to Salisbury Street on the north end. The Chapman’s home is adjacent to Foulkes’ property, and the new sidewalk would come within 6.9 feet of the east side of their home. Baja said even if the sidewalk stops at Michigan Street, just north of the couple’s property, some or all of the trees that provide screening for their house will be removed as part of the project.

Baja presented the council with a request from the streets committee for the village to pay for some or all of the costs for placing new screening between the Chapman’s home and M-22. The council deferred a decision until after the budget work session.

The council will also consider paying to extend the sidewalk farther than the south end of Foulkes’ property. Baja said she would have more information on the cost to extend the sidewalk past a wetlands area just south of the property. She said she had talked with MDOT engineer Gary Niemi about alternatives for extending the sidewalk. Since the path would impact a wetlands area, a traditional cement or asphalt sidewalk is not practical.

Trustee Susan Michner said she favored keeping the sidewalk in the plan as is and extending it south beyond the Foulkes property, depending on the cost.

The council will also consider two other sidewalk extension requests forwarded from the streets committee. One would install sidewalk on the east side of M-22 from the north edge of the Village Inn parking lot north to Ottawa Street. The second would extend the sidewalk on the north side of M-72 from the east-most driveway into the BP gas station east to the main entrance to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore visitor’s center.

The council will consider both requests after it has determined how much funding it will have for the coming fiscal year.