The Leelanau Township board unanimously approved funds not to exceed $152,700 to pursue a reduced scope of phase one work for Woolsey Airport’s terminal at its regular meeting on Aug. 12. In addition, the board also formally approved Mark Krueger as engineer to oversee the construction for the ongoing restoration project moving forward.
Approximately $100,000 of the total funds approved is part of the previously approved monetary commitment from the township for the airport restoration.
Krueger reviewed with the board the bids they had received thus far for the terminal phase one repairs. Of the four contractors contacted, Krueger said Mihm Enterprises did not bid due to their current workload, adding that the same situation may have been the case for another contractor, Grunwell-Cashero. The bids came in at the upper end of the range of estimated cost and above the $150,000 of funding currently budgeted and available. It’s also noted that the bid request was assembled in June expecting that funding would be in the range of $150,000 to $225,000.
The elimination of alternate work items in the bid request is not sufficient to reduce the phase one project cost to the $150,000 currently available, so Kreuger presented several options to the board on what they could do to proceed forward.
The first option would be to award a reduced scope of phase one work in 2025 to match the $150,000 available by having township maintenance staff perform some of the work and negotiating a reduced scope contract with the low bidder, Hallmark Construction from Traverse City. Another option would be to provide additional funding from the township’s facilities fund, and the last option would be to postpone the phase one project until 2026 when additional funds are available.
Krueger said there would be additional risk in completely postponing phase one due to the continuing structural concrete deterioration, and that the risk is currently being mitigated by “temporary shoring.” It’s been six years since the township started working on restoration efforts and first requested a pre-renovation study be completed, Krueger explained, and more than two years since himself and the Save Woolsey Airport Terminal (SWAT) group formed, but they are still hopeful that the fundraising will pick up if they can actually get started with the phase one construction. The phase one repairs are intended to keep the water out of the building as it has been identified as the most urgent safety concern with the concrete structure.
“We are also hopeful that we can keep working through this to get all of the repairs done,” Krueger said at the meeting. “Even after phase one, there’s still going to be more work that’s going to need to be done…. If any of you have been to the observation deck this year, you can see that the temporary repairs that the Lions (Club) did back in 2023 are also starting to deteriorate now, so the cracks are coming back in the concrete up there. All of this points to the urgent need to get started on this so that we can keep the water out to keep this deterioration from happening. Also there is a safety concern there because the concrete roof structure is deteriorating.”
Krueger said they have also had a meeting with the Northport Area Historical Association (NAHA) and are working towards creating a “Friends of Woolsey Airport” group, an effort that would be ongoing to try and get more use out of the building to tie into the historical facilities already in the area.
“So we’re trying to work to have more of a vision for how the building will be used to make it more of a broader public use,” he said.
Leelanau Township Supervisor Barb Conley reported that the township submitted a grant to the Leelanau Township Community Foundation (LTCF) to access funds in two dedicated accounts at LTCF in the amount of $11,377 from the Woolsey Airport Endowment Fund and $34,000 from the LTCF SWAT fund. In addition, the township has requested $69,323 from the LTCF general fund for phase one of the project, which will be reviewed in September by the LTCF. The total funds available also include the over $7,000 that has been collected in the SWAT fund that the township keeps, as well as about $1,500 raised at the recent Lions Club Fly-In, Drive-In fundraiser.
In May, the township approved a contract agreement for a grant writer, Wendy Bice, to assist in applying for funding opportunities to restore the airport. Bice gave an update on the status of grants and fundraising for SWAT at the meeting, and said they are really trying to focus on searching for funds in the areas of economic vitality, aviation, and tourism. Three grants have been sent out so far, but there will be nine more going out in the next few weeks and at least a few more going out in the fall and next year.
“With any fundraiser endeavor, the mission of the project is first and foremost what you have to be focused on and the mission has to be clear, worthy and have value and impact,” Bice said. “I believe that this project does especially for this township community.”
