Capac council discusses Main Street project

Roundabout coming to M- 21 and Capac Rd.

 

CAPAC — The heavy rain and winds blowing outside set the tone for both residents and City Council members Monday, May 18 at the Capac City Hall.

Along with the storms, the topic of Main Street’s bumpy roads was among the important and anticipated conversations of the meeting.

According to City Council, there will be a final bid in sight for the reconstruction and repaving as part of the Main Street restoration project that has been in the works for the past several years.

Village officials will be going through and finalizing bids from contractors next month. This action precedes the approval of renewal of the 2026-27 road millage that’s been in place since 2017 and would last four years, which would then go on the November election.

Youatt expects to open bids June 10 and possibly hold a special meeting to award a bid to a contractor.

Along with work being done on repaving the roads, according to Village Manager Travis Youatt, the Road Commission, with the backing of federal grants, has proposed a plan to build a roundabout.

According to Youatt, the “peanut-shaped,” two-lane roundabout would be constructed at the intersection of Capac Rd. and Imlay City Rd. (Old M-21). Although construction was originally planned for this year, Youatt said he is hoping to delay it until next year.

He voiced concerns over the issue of digging up the new water lines.

“The Road Commission is the one who wants to put this roundabout in, and it has nothing to do with us. It’s not even in the village, and it’s their project. But, of course, they want us to pay for moving a water line that runs underneath the intersection, 400 feet of it. And it is going to be expensive to move. I’m guessing it will cost as much as $200,000 and we have to foot the bill. It’s a bad deal. I’m still looking in to it,” said Youatt.

“My argument is that we have water mains under streets all over the place.” The project is expected to start next year.

A request for proposal (RFP) was issued by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) for a developer on the former Mussey Township Building, putting an offer on the building and looking to purchase the frontage of the office.

Eventually, the plan is to fully sell the building and move offices out. The developers would put in around $750,000 in renovation. The sale of the building would bring in money on a 10-year agreement, bring in jobs, and establish a tax base from it.

“I put it out there to be available because I knew that the Mussey Township Building isn’t big enough for what we want and the village and the DDA have expressed, they would like a restaurant.”

During the meeting, a motion was passed, on recommendation of Police Chief Dealca, to begin setting regulations on how the city trades and sells guns and equipment when previous equipment is replaced.

In the quaint crowd of residents, the presence of the storms coincided with the concerns of those wishing to address the council during public comment time.

A local resident proposed to the council a consideration to pass an ordinance in the case of fallen branches and debris from neighboring properties that cause property damage. The ordinance would then give grounds to cite the neighbor for damages.

According to Youatt this would be placed in the category of a civil matter and take a more complicated turn.

“We’ve had issues in the past where we had dangerous trees that were close to like our sidewalks and stuff like that. A lot of times, we just approach the property owner at that point,” He said. “You can do a local ordinance and you can enforce that, although it’s tough because it is private property.”

The next Village meeting will take place June 15 at 6 p.m.