Plans are in the works for a new safety path along a power line corridor from Sashabaw Road to Pine Knob Road and Maybee Road, ending at Sashabaw Middle School.
‘It’s a fairly simple project,? said DPW Director Linda Richardson.
Township Supervisor Pat Kittle has been working with ITC Transmission representatives on the project.
‘An approval with ITC cannot be secured until plans for engineering the project are completed and submitted to ITC,? said Kittle.
Richardson said the township bid the job to five engineering firms, and received four quotes back.
Out of the bids, the township’s current engineering form Hubbell, Roth & Clark, Inc. and another company were the most cost effective.
The HRC bid was $900 cheaper than the bid received.
‘Since we know HRC, and know what they are capable of doing we should continue to use them,? Richardson said.
HRC said costs for survey services for the path is $9,700. In January, the township trustees approved a budget amendment of $24,600 to award engineering services to HRC.
Kittle said plans for a 36-inch Vector gas pipeline coming through the township must also be considered when planning the project.
In 2014, the fire millage was lowered a tenth of a point to .35, and the safety path millage was increased by a tenth, which added an additional $130,000 a year to safety path funding. The amount of tax charged to residents was unaffected.
The change was made to bring additional revenue into the Safety Path Fund. The way funding was previously structured just covered maintenence costs and did not provide additional funding to construct more safety paths in the community.
Kittle said it would cost $150,000 to $200,000 per mile to install the eight-foot-wide paths along the corridor, cheaper than installing new paths in areas with natural features, which cost more for engineering and constructions. A Safety Path Plan has been in the works since the late 1970s. In 1992, officials adopted the safety plan into the township’s master plan.