Market Renovations - Financial

On May 7,2007 Council was asked to approve a contract with Becket and Rader for consulting on the proposed modifications to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. The services were to include concept drawings for site plan review, construction drawings for construction bids and construction management. Council approved the contract and a project budget of approximately $1 million.

The Community Services Administrator is now asking Council to approve transferring funds to add another $100,000 to the Becket and Rader Contract yet very little of the work described in the original memorandum to Council has been done.

Council is asked to expand the project budget to over $ 2 million. But there is very little documentation of the advantages of this project. Considering the current economic situation Council should review this project carefully before proceeding.

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Farmers Market Renovations

There are two basic issues with using storm water fees to fund the Farmers Market renovations. The first is whether this is an appropriate use of the storm water fees and second, even if it is, is this a good storm water project. Education is now claimed as a primary reason for doing the project at the Market. Is the education benefit worth the expense of the storm water treatment? The final question is whether this expensive storm water project is a requirement for the Market renovations.

USE of STORM WATER FEES

Jeff Dehring presented a brief history of the Market renovation project to the Parks Advisory Commission (PAC) on January 20, 2009. Mr. Dehring stated that the Market project had been divided into phases so that initial work could begin while additional sources of funding were found to complete the project. He described a loan from the State of Michigan, obtained through the County Drain Commissioner's Office, as the funding now available to complete the project. The loan is to be paid back over the next 20 years from the storm water fees that are part of our utility bills.

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