As the state Legislature works through its budget year, the Midland Business Alliance’s Infrastructure Advisory Committee has begun setting priorities and planning if funding should be received in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
The Advisory Committee’s goal is to reduce the frequency and severity of flooding in and around Midland.
So far, Sen. Christine McDonald Rivett (D-Bay City) has secured $25 million for flood protection infrastructure approved by the Senate Revenue Committee on April 26. That objective in the 2024-25 budget.
Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland) is working to fund Midland’s flood prevention infrastructure after proposing $117 million in EGLE budgets for the city, which was rejected by the House Appropriations Committee.
The MBA’s Infrastructure Advisory Committee won’t know how much money the city of Midland will receive to help with flood prevention infrastructure until early June, when the state budget is finalized and signed by the governor.
In the meantime, the committee is coming up with a list of priorities, but he said the city is planning for different scenarios to determine how much money it can get and when.
Committee Chairwoman Lee Ann Keller said Midland will receive $25 million in the upcoming budget to get a head start on engineering and design projects.
Co-Chairman JW Fisher emphasized the need to be proactive because the process from receiving funds to complete infrastructure takes about three and a half years. The committee is speeding up the process by starting earlier and saving time in planning.
By Spicer Group, Inc. The resulting committee’s current flood mitigation plan is capped at $117 million — $73 million for Sturgeon Creek flood control, $34 million for Snake Creek flood control and $10 million to assist neighboring communities.
“This seems huge,” said committee member Bill Schuette. But Midland has always been a place for big ideas, big dreams, big achievements, so this is in the wheelhouse.
The Advisory Committee was established in 2021 to find the best ways to work with local, state and federal partners to address long-standing flooding issues in and around Midland.
“We want the community to be aware that there is a chronic problem with flooding,” Keller said. “The collapse of the dam (in May 2020) was a call to action. We always come back to ‘it’s the third year of the flood’. of flood. (But) it’s not just a flood.”
The committee focused on small and large projects. Raised $16.4 million for a variety of projects including the City of Midland storm/sanitary sewer improvements, the Michigan Medical Center Midland Boiler Plant and Flood Protection Project, the Sylvan Pump Station and more.
Included in that funding was a second study by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The first study will be completed in 2024, focused on collecting data and creating a hydraulic/hydrologic model of the Titabawase River Washshed.
According to a letter sent by Congressman Dan Kildee (D-Michigan) to the U.S. Appropriations Committee, the second three-year study will “identify solutions and the feasibility of these solutions to reduce the frequency and severity of flooding.” .
Kildee requested a $500,000 grant from the Corps of Engineers earlier this year to conduct the comprehensive investigation, and President Joe Biden included the money in this year’s proposed federal budget.
Fisher said Midland must complete both studies before completing infrastructure work. Once the studies are complete, Midland City Council will decide which projects to complete.
“Even if we didn’t get the dam breach in 2020, we would get the same type of flooding[asin19862014and2017],” Bill Schuette said. We are talking about 600 families and 50 businesses… We have a public health crisis here because it will put people in the hospital at risk in 2020. When they affect public health and the Michigan system, they cannot be ignored.
The advisory committee, along with the Army Corps-Detroit District, will provide process updates and answer questions from the community at an open house on May 22 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Dow Diamond on the east end of Midland Main Street.