Politics & Government
Township Board Moves Forward on RCOC Proposal
An ad hoc roads committee will discuss a four-lane boulevard on Orchard Lake Road with the Road Commission for Oakland County.
Will the West Bloomfield Township Board persuade the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) to retract what it initially referred to as an “ultimatum” to finish the That’s what board members hope to do.
The board unanimously voted Monday night to approve a heavily amended motion by Supervisor Michele Economou Ureste to allow an ad hoc roads committee to negotiate with the RCOC to help fund, in order of priority: a four-lane boulevard on Orchard Lake Road between 14 Mile Road and Maple Road; and a roundabout at the corner of Orchard Lake Road and 14 Mile Road; and other improvements to the Orchard Lake/Maple intersection.
The background story
The issue stems from a 2008 decision by the RCOC to deviate from its original plan to reconstruct Orchard Lake between 14 Mile Road and Maple as a six-lane, divided boulevard. The newly elected board then responded with protest and appointed an ad hoc committee to fact-find and evaluate all relevant information regarding the Northwestern Connector project on behalf of West Bloomfield.
Find out what's happening in West Bloomfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In a press release issued Nov. 7, 2008, RCOC's public information officer, Craig Bryson, cited rising costs with right-of-way acquisition and road construction in addition to an unexpected decrease in traffic volume on Orchard Lake Road as reason to reconstruct the road from five-lane road, as it is today, to a roundabout at the intersection of Orchard Lake and Maple.
According to the township, the ad hoc committee’s biggest goals were to utilize $27 million in remaining funds from the Michigan Department of Transportation, federal funds and other sources acquired in construction of other facets of the NWC, as well as to find ways to reduce the cost of a boulevard at the Orchard Lake and Maple intersection.
Find out what's happening in West Bloomfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The committee has gone back and forth with the RCOC since then to address a dwindling lack of funds, current and projected, as well as less traffic, current and projected. In July 2009, the committee succeeded in its step of agreeing with the RCOC to develop a conceptual study for the foundation of a four-lane boulevard at a reduced cost.
However, according to the township, difficulties with the conceptual study presented by the Livonia-based engineering firm Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment Inc., including conformance with the township's master plan, led in May to the board being presented with three ideas.
- The first option includes the township moving forward with a conceptual study, without regard to concerns voiced by the board, at a cost of $319,000. This option requires the township to foot the bill for any right-of-way or construction costs that exceed what's budgeted for the roundabout design, which the township doesn’t even support.
- The second option includes the RCOC moving forward with construction of a roundabout at the Maple and Orchard Lake intersection as well as a four-lane boulevard between 14 Mile and Maple at a cost on the local level of $3.9 million, to be matched by the RCOC, and utilizing $21.9 million in state and federal funds.
- The third option, described by the township as “not so much an option as the RCOC's stated plan of action,” should the board decide against Options 1 or 2, is to move ahead with “some boulevard construction” in addition to building a roundabout at the 14 Mile and Orchard Lake intersection.
According to the ad hoc committee, the RCOC asked the committee on May 24 to choose between the three options in order to complete the $29.7 million project that was approved by RCOC in 2003, or it would threaten to use the money at Orchard Lake and 14 Mile.
Recent developments
reported that since a West Bloomfield Township , Farmington Hills officials stepped up to publicly ask the RCOC why the boulevard would be given precedence over the roundabout, which would border Farmington Hills.
At a work session Monday in Farmington Hills, RCOC Managing Director Brent Bair said the Northwestern Connector project reflected the settlement of a lawsuit the RCOC had filed against the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) after MDOT backed off a plan to extend Northwestern to a proposed extension of Interstate 275.
Eventually, MDOT agreed to spend $30 million if the RCOC would put up $10 million to move traffic west, he explained.
"The proposed improvements were consistent with the lawsuit settlement of moving traffic north and west. It was always agreed 14 Mile would never be more than three lanes. Maple was going to be the east-west connector,” Bair said.
Township board could be turned away, said attorney
The option considered, amended and approved by the West Bloomfield Township board Monday offered merely a resemblance to the third option suggested by RCOC. The board hopes to stretch the boulevard from 14 Mile Road to Maple Road, which, according to the ad hoc committee, the RCOC has been unwilling to do thus far.
In early discussions in 2009, the RCOC had indicated that "a boulevard without a roundabout would have to terminate somewhere near the Daly/Powers Road intersection,” reads a report from the ad hoc committee. However, Ureste and township attorney Gary Dovre said that in discussions with RCOC and its legal counsel, the RCOC would bend.
“They indicated that it if appeared at the meeting last week that a lot of the board would be in favor of Option 3, that if we took action to that effect today, that they would be willing to negotiate that boulevard up to Maple Road,” Ureste said Monday.
Ureste’s motion elicited surprise and happiness from members of the committee who were in attendance at Monday's meeting. The ad hoc committee will continue to negotiate with the RCOC on the township’s behalf.
Committee member Richard Barr said he's concerned about the details, however.
“The physical condition of the intersection would be important, as well as the design features of how it is converted from a boulevard into the existing intersection, or some minor modifications such as an additional right-turn lane … you start to get into details like that, and you find others,” Barr said Monday.
Clerk Cathy Shaughnessy said Monday that she was concerned about the cost. Quoting figures relating to the roundabout that estimated its cost to the township at $855,000, she said the actual cost would be closer to $1.5 million.
Dovre added that RCOC could still refuse it. “Quite frankly, the basic position of the (road) commission will be talk about whether or not they will seriously consider an option that they didn’t give you. It may be a short discussion. It may be a productive discussion,” Dovre said Monday.
However, Ureste was persistent. “I feel that if we don’t take some sort of action tonight, we might lose our boulevard. Yes, we have done studies, and we’ve looked at all that and lobbied with them. But nonetheless, time is ticking, and Farmington is moving, and we need to step up and get a piece (of the $27 million in funding)” she said Monday.
Ureste added that there is no definite time table for the project to begin.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.