Bohm looking for final call on 26 Mile Road in 30 to 60 days

Less than a day after fielding an hours’ worth of questions and concerns about backing water and sewer infrastructure along 26 Mile Road, St. Clair County Board Chairman Jeff Bohm said he’d already begun lining up answers to help keep the effort alive.

The board of commissioners first agreed nearly two years ago to investigate using a chunk of the county’s $31 million in American Rescue Plan dollars to boost shovel-ready areas of an 11-mile corridor along 26 Mile, or Marine City Highway, and entice future economic development.

On Thursday, however, a small crowd of residents addressed the board in opposition to a proposed multi-million-dollar loan to Ira Township for underground infrastructure along the corridor that’d also support a new wastewater plant.

The board has yet to formally sign off on the idea amid a turnover in commissioners that may tip the scales of the discussion after last year’s county election.

Now, Bohm said he hopes to call a for a vote — one way or the other — in the next 30 to 60 days to gauge support in continuing talks with Ira officials.

“We’re going to continue to get more information. A great example is (Commissioner) Dave Rushing questioned me last night regarding the Great Lakes Water Authority,” Bohm said Friday, referencing an assertion that 26 Mile communities could connect to water and sewer from the neighboring provider.

“So, I had (an official in Macomb County) on the phone for 15 minutes to explain to him why we can’t do that,” Bohm said. “At the end of the day, Dave doesn’t support the project. (But) when any of the commissioners question something like that … I will get them the answers.

“I still don’t have the payback mechanism piece of (the loan) complete yet. Some of the other commissioners want to understand that. So, that’s what I’m trying to accomplish right now.”

After a corridor study last year and a host of other county uses, roughly $23 million of the ARPA funds are left. They must be designated by the end of 2024.

So, what is being proposed in Ira Township?

Ira township’s infrastructure plans as of late February, according to a layout from Project Control Engineering Inc., include two phases.

The first phase shows a new sanitary sewer line going east along 26 Mile to Palms Road and then south. A proposed water main is also shown. Both lines heading past Palms would be part two.

Phase one’s estimated cost lists $12.7 million and $3 million for sewer and water lines, respectively, and $4.9 million combined for the second.

Multiple residents and commissioners on Thursday questioned how much the county’s loan, if OK’d, would support.

Bohm, who’s spearheaded the effort, has previously ballparked needed funds from the county at around $14 million. On Thursday, he said they were largely only talking about a loan for the first phase.

Figuring out all of it, officials said, meant the timing was a big factor. “Just the engineering takes six to nine months on this thing,” Bohm said Friday.

Bohm also said he spoke to Ira’s supervisor looking for a resolution of support on the loan idea, emphasizing it as a township project and himself as the one from the county “that is behind this 100%.” A self-proclaimed “very jobs and tax-base guy,” he called supporting 26 Mile development, including Ira’s project, “once in a lifetime kind of stuff.”

Similar to Bohm, Board Vice Chairperson Jorja Baldwin echoed some of the potential long-term benefits a loan could have once the funds return.

“Can it turn into a revolving fund for some of the other projects in smaller communities?” she asked. She said she understood the call from residents in public comment to share ARPA funds more across the county, but she added, “I don’t know there’s a real fair way to do it.”

Rushing has pointed to the lack of support from other townships in his district, but his area also includes Ira.

“I can’t support it in its current fashion because there’s no assurance anything’s going to go to my district in a fair manner,” he said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Dave Vandenbossche listed a host of ways a new wastewater plant in Ira would alleviate any future capacity, environmental, and other concerns facing an existing facility that serves Clay, Ira, and Algonac. Commissioner Steve Simasko has largely shared opposition with Rushing, advocating for support to develop better broadband network access around the county with ARPA funds.

What concerns do county residents share?

Some residents on Thursday criticized board members’ interest in the project — Bohm’s push for development as vice president of the board for the Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County and Vandenbossche as a property owner on the corridor. Most said they wanted to keep the area a quiet, rural area and distribute the remaining ARP millions evenly across the county.

Wales Township Supervisor Liz Masters was among the latter, advocating for a “more diplomatic way to spread that money out.”

“Turn it over to the townships. We have great ideas,” she said. “… First off, to pay the loan back, we’re a small, rural township, Wales Township, and so is Ira. I have no idea how they’re going to pay this back.”

Other residents like Robert Ring, of East China, were trying to keep up with all the emerging abundance of information about 26 Mile Road plans.

“I love the area. I want the area to stay pretty much the way it is. I do know things need to be developed. … You have to keep up on your roads and sewers and stuff like that. (But) I think we should concentrate more on the water," he said. "The blue water’s the best part about this area. I rather see a lot of money go into developing it more as a tourist area than an industrial area.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.