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On Tuesday, June 17, Peninsula Township Supervisor Maura Sanders met with Grand Traverse County Road Commission Board members Alisa Korn, Alan Leman and others, along with Drain Commissioner Andy Smits. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the plan to re-open the section of Bluff Road that was closed in 2020 due to erosion issues.
The meeting began with a discussion of funding “dead ends,” including FEMA, Senator Gary Peters’ office, Rep. Betsy Coffia’s office and ARPA funds (although pursuing un-used ARPA funds was discussed).
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Alternative funding sources were also reviewed, including the Road Commission (which can provide up to half the cost of the project), Peninsula Township via a special millage vote (Sanders noted that the Township has budgeted $25,000 towards the project), a 20-year bond secured through the county (low interest rate, no public hearing required), utility companies, a rural development grant through MDARD, affected property owners through a special assessment district, and other beneficiaries who might use the road such as biking groups.
In 2022, the Road Commission’s “Bluff Road Working Group” cited an estimate of $3.6 million to fix and re-open the road. At the time, the fixes proposed by consultant GEI included deep trench dewatering, shoreline stabilization and surface water control. In November 2023, permanent barriers were installed on the north and south ends of the closed area. The closed section of road was removed from the Road Commission’s certified road mileage, which officially closed the road but kept the right-of-way available for future work.
In January 2024, then-Township Supervisor Isaiah Wunsch and Trustees Maura Sanders and Armen Shanafelt, along with Mission Hills resident Jim Raphael, met with members of the Road Commission. The group discussed moving forward with a scaled-back plan, using the plan originally presented in 2022 as a basis, but making it less extensive and less costly than the initial cost of $3.6 million – which the Road Commission said at the time they could not justify spending for a stretch of road with little traffic.
However, at the meeting on Tuesday, Sanders noted that “Bluff Road truly is a north-south thoroughfare, and it’s not fair for them to have restricted access … the only other routes are Center Road and Peninsula Drive.”
Also of note is that Josephine Roek — the developer of Mission Hills, the subdivision most affected by the road closing — is suing the Road Commission for damages. She requested that the Court: 1) issue findings of fact and conclusions of law that the Road Commission has violated its duty to Roek and the community; 2) issue a Judgment sufficient to compensate Roek for the loss of value to her property; and 3) compel the Road Commission to “do its duty to certify Bluff Road and repair it such that it’s reasonably safe and convenient for public travel.”
Read the full Complaint filed by Roek’s attorney Craig Elhart here.
At the meeting on Tuesday, Leman proposed an even more scaled-back plan — a “farmer fix,” he called it — that would cost $400,000, while also noting that other sections of Bluff Road are also experiencing serious erosion issues that may require work. This would include creating migration trenches and installing culverts along the road closure, and might require travel and weight restrictions once completed.
“If we fix it in the most simple way, we can maybe, between the Township and the Road Commission, just get it done,” he said.
Other highlights of the meeting:
No millage money spent on local roads. Leman noted that road millage funds collected from Peninsula Township are used “for the benefit of everyone in Grand Traverse County.” However, Korn noted that the Road Commission Board was surprised to learn at a recent meeting that no millage money has been spent on local roads in the past five years.
Roads turned to gravel. The Road Commission has discussed turning secondary roads throughout the county into gravel roads due to lack of funds. This idea actually surfaced in a story on MLive.com in 2015. The story noted that “more than 1 in 10 Michigan jurisdictions have ground up at least one paved road instead of paying to fix it in the past five years, according to the results of a recent survey of local government officials conducted by the University of Michigan.” The story also noted that “In general, 39.1 percent of road funding stays with the state, 39.1 percent goes to county agencies and 21.8 percent goes to cities and villages. Townships, which do not receive direct funding, rely on county road agencies for maintenance and repairs.”
Too rich for grant funding? Korn mentioned the idea of creating a tourist tax, and also pursuing grants from non-motorized groups; however, it was noted that grants for road projects are rare and generally depend on a community’s median household income, which would likely exclude Peninsula Township.
Drainage issues with Mission Hills pond. The large pond at the Mission Hills subdivision, which is outside the road’s right-of-way, was noted as a source of runoff and erosion issues.
What’s the plan? Sanders noted that it’s been five years since the road was first closed and nothing has been done. The Road Commission did not give a timeline for moving forward with the project, but the meeting agenda included next steps of: 1) Road Commission Staff Review; 2) Stakeholder Buy-In; and 3) Engineering/Survey Work.
See all Bluff Road stories and opinions here. Listen to the full meeting below (you might need to turn up the volume on your computer or phone).
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