Evan Vitale Consulting: $610K consulting contract to design 'vital streets' in Grand Rapids

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

$610K consulting contract to design 'vital streets' in Grand Rapids – MLive.com

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The city will pay a consultant $610,000 to craft a plan and policies for spending revenue from a 15-year streets tax that voters approved last year.

In a 6-1 vote, Grand Rapids City Commission on Tuesday, Sept. 8, authorized a contract with San Francisco-based Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates, Inc. The study will establish guidelines for where to design streets for pedestrians, bicyclists and buses in addition to private motor vehicles, said Suzanne Schulz, the city’s managing director of design and development.

“It’s not that we don’t know how to design a street. It’s what priority do you give it for what users,” she said. “If we’re designing a street for buses, it’s going to look different than one designed only for pedestrians or one designed only for vehicles.

“We keep debating about whether a bike lane should go here or whether a bike lane should go there. (This plan) will provide a clear set of guidelines and a decision-making framework.”

RELATED: How ‘vital streets’ tax is changing these 10 Grand Rapids roads

Grand Rapids voters in May 2014 passed a 15-year “vital streets” tax with two-thirds in support. City residents through 2030 will pay 0.2-percent of their taxable income into the vital streets fund, while non-residents who work in the city will pay 0.1-percent of their taxable income into the fund.

The tax revenue will pay for upwards of $150 million in street work.

The forthcoming vital streets plan and policies will guide how that money gets spent.

“The past two years (of roadwork since voters approved the tax) has been asset management, saving the streets we could save so they don’t fall into further decline and cost more money to repair later on,” Schulz said. “Starting next year we’ll focus on those streets that were in poor condition, that were lost. You have some other opportunities when you’re doing reconstruction.

“Before spending millions of dollars next year, it seems prudent to have a plan based on community priorities in place.”

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First Ward City Commissioner Dave Shaffer cast the lone vote against the consulting contract. He said various city planning efforts, including the GR Forward plan that’s nearing completion, already address vital streets.

“To spend ($610,000) to have someone compile what we’ve already worked on doesn’t seem right,” he said.

Mayor-elect Rosalynn Bliss said the plan will create a single set of guidelines throughout Grand Rapids.

“We have all this fragmentation (of design through various planning processes),” she said. “We don’t have a holistic, comprehensive plan for the city.”

Vital streets money will pay $460,000 of the consulting cost, while the city’s parking system will pay $150,000.

Matt Vande Bunte covers government for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at mvandebu@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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