May 8 Update: The Elberta Beach Project
Concrete pours, the Pavilion, and fencing
News in today from project engineer Ken Mlcek: gravel and concrete installation should be done by the weekend. The pavilion will be assembled first, and *then* its concrete base will be poured. Split-rail cedar fencing will be coming in the next couple of weeks.
Some good news regarding the lighting: at the urging of Susan Schankin, a member of the Michigan chapter of Dark Sky International who closely looked at the beach project plans, bulbs for some of the lights for the project will comply with that organization’s standards. Unfortunately, according to President Wilkins, it was too late in the game to get shorter light poles and different bathroom lighting, as Schankin suggested.
In an April 29 email to Schankin and council members, Wilkins wrote:
From Justin Towle (DPW): The road down to the beach (beginning at the top of the overlook) is closed to vehicular traffic until further notice during the beach project. Homeowners along the beach road who need access should get in touch with DPW at 231-651-9626 should move the barricades and then replace them, please! [4/11/24, 4 p.m.]
Foot traffic down the road is allowed, at your own risk.
As of today, Towle said, the septic and drainfield for the bathrooms are prepared, with plumbing to begin soon, the roundabout has been roughed in, and work has begun on the extended parking lot beyond the gate on Lakeshore Blvd. (the undeveloped road that runs parallel to the beach).
Towle and Chris Cervantes have been taking a lot of photos to document the project, so we’ll look forward to seeing some of those. Incidentally, Justin said he found a huge stash of old Polaroids in the Village office, depicting old council meetings and other vintage scenes, so stay tuned for some of that as well as we go through them.
In case anyone besides me is wondering, EGLE is overseeing and signing off on the removal of trees and other vegetation as necessary down at the beach, and disruption of the critical dune will be kept to a minimum. New plantings of native species will also be EGLE approved.
Towle said the bathroom building will be unobtrusive and kind of “blend in” to the surroundings.
And, elsewhere in the Village in Penfold Park, DPW is going to start installing the new kayak launch tomorrow (4/12).
4/10/24
Well, I just found out today, via Instagram, that the Elberta Beach Project started last Friday.
No heads-up from the project manager (Fleis & Vandenbrink), or from our Village President Jen Wilkins, who, to be fair, didn’t find out they were starting until last week herself, she said. DPW also didn’t know until Justin was called down by AJ’s last week.
This grant-funded project has been in the works for about five years. It was thrown off course by the pandemic and by inflation after the pandemic, which caused it to be reduced in scope; it’s been a topic of conversation at council meetings, and we knew it was going to start this spring. Still, I would have loved to have been able to let you all know before the ground was actually broken.
A preconstruction meeting was held March 15 and at that time, the exact timeline and even the name of the foreman were not finalized, according to Wilkins.
I posted the project plan on the Village website in October 2023 (a selection of photos from that plan are below). It calls for an expanded parking area beyond the houses, barriers to keep offroading from occurring, and plumbed bathrooms where the old defunct restrooms used to be. It’s possible that the scope of work has changed, but I guess I wouldn’t know, because I haven’t seen a recent plan.
Most of the funding comes from a grant from the DNR, and some came from Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy. I am told that Critical Dune Act guidelines will be followed and disruption to the ecosystem will be kept to a minimum. Sure hope so.
2 p.m. 4/10/24: I just spoke with Ken Mlcek, of Fleis & Vandenbrink. A rough timeline for the project was established at the preconstruction meeting, with work set tentatively to begin about April 1. It was tentative, he said, because of wave activity. The weather has just recently gotten favorable, so work began.
Mlcek says most of the earth-moving work will be done by Memorial Day. The timeline for the pavilion and restrooms and boardwalk structures are dependent on the manufacturer and materials availability. Fleis and (I guess) the Village (aka Wilkins) have not yet reviewed and approved the restroom building. These structures will be installed as they become available through the summer. Dune grass will be (re)planted in the fall, which is botanically appropriate, Mlcek said.
The scope of work has not changed since the plan below, per Mlcek, so what you see there is what we’ll get.
Mlcek himself is supervising the project and will be onsite once or twice a week. He says he’ll update me as things go.
