Members of the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission were updated on the Metronet project by Brent Martin during their meeting Tuesday evening.
Martin said a pre-construction conference was held on April 28th with the notice to precede allowing contractor, Michiana Contracting 125 day of construction time for the project.
Michiana Contracting said they had two INDOT projects they needed to complete by the end of May so they have delayed their start date on the project until the second week of June. Martin explained that this delay will not change the original completion date for the project. He was a bit concerned noting that it’s nearly a quarter of the construction time being lost. He also indicated that the city has a $500 daily penalty in their contract if the project goes past the completion date.
Martin attended last week’s construction meeting with CSU, the county’s contractor for their portion of the Metronet project. They have already started placing conduit in the ground near Hoosier Tire in Lakeville and are headed north to South Bend. Next week a second crew is expected to join the team and begin working south to Marshall County. It’s anticipated they will be to the county line in 3 weeks. CSU told the county their portion of the project will take 70 to 75 days because they are placing 2,000 to 3,000 feet of conduit a day.
Martin also warned members of the Redevelopment Commission of possible businesses wanting to connect to the project when they see it passing near their business. He told members they should determine if they would consider extending the backbone of the project in the right-of-way or have the interested parties pay for those costs along with their lateral connections. It was noted that a handhold would cost approximately $1,000 for the business.
City Attorney Sean Surrisi will be creating a resolution on the concept of new businesses wanting to join the Metronet project for next month’s meeting.
In other business City Clerk Treasurer Toni Hutchings told commission members they need to determine which TIF districts would be paying for the city’s share of the Metronet project. The total contract to install the conduit for the city’s portion is $887,914. The County is to reimburse the city $35,513 for the portion of the project that is outside the city limits leaving the Redevelopment Commission to pay $850,400. Clerk Treasurer Hutchings said TIF 1 and TIF 3 have adequate funds but TIF 2, the downtown area does not have the cash flow necessary due to the bond payments for River Park Square.
The clerk treasurer also noted that members will need to determine the amount of Assessed Value that will passed through from TIF 1 for the coming year. She also suggested looking at the various projects on the TIF District’s lists to see where they are at.
