I may have to ask you to continue as chair if you're still present. We want that. It looks like the clock has turned and we can now call our bell l Park advisory committee meeting into a well we can open our meeting. We do not yet have a quorum, but we can certainly get our business started and I'd like to welcome you all. My name is Michelle Hodges have the honor of continuing to serve this great organization and these folks and we get to start with our Roll Call and perhaps given the addition of our new committee member we will begin to resolve our issues with quorum, but Angela Lugo Thomas, I would like to warmly welcome you to the team. It's great to have you on the team and we look forward to your leadership and if you would like to take a moment to say hello and introduce yourself we would, we would welcome that.
Thank you. Are you able to hear me?
Yes, we are. Okay, perfect.
Hi. Good morning. Wanna see as everybody is a little girl tapas very very honored to be added to the bypass board. And I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you by remaining and and see how this goes. So thank you so much. And I want to also thank a few people for calling or emailing me to welcome me prior to today, so I appreciate that.
Great, you're a great addition and I see now that we do have a quorum, so we will officially call the meeting to order at 9:01am. And as is required by the Open Meetings Act. In fact, Angela, I will bounce back to you for a second as well. We are required to indicate where are we are hailing from because we are meeting virtually so I would just ask that you share with us where you're at at the moment what jurisdiction
so I live in Highland Park so that's why I'm calling in from
great and I will do the same I am presently in Farmington Hills. And I will move on to my colleague Mr. Curtis to introduce himself and share where he is.
Is a Good morning. Michael Carus calling in from Detroit, Michigan. I want to welcome Angela I think she is an absolutely wonderful addition. She's a hard worker and such a pleasant person and just welcome you to the board.
Thank you so much.
Mr. Denker.
Good morning, everybody up by Denker and I'm here in Bloomfield. hills at my office this morning. I also want to welcome Angela and the great addition to this, this team and this organization Angela. I'm sorry, it's my last meeting as serving on the board as you're coming in, I'm coming off. But I'm confident that you'll continue on the legacy that Michelle has done here for us so so admirably over the last many years. So they got got shelled 910 years we've been on this board together Mike it's been a long time. I think over 100 meetings are close to that, right? Like over that period of time. So I've been honored to be part of this organization, part of the commitment not going away, not going anywhere. And I'm happy to see Balau continue to flourish but look forward to meeting you, Angela, personally.
We've met a few times that I'll see you out in the community I'm sure so much.
And But on that note, I think it's important we have acknowledged your leadership in your absence. But now that you're here with us, it's important to thank you for for that outstanding leadership, your professionalism, your commitment to the people of Detroit, your superior generosity, your spirit, your grace, your tenacity, your decency, your goodness, all make it a true honor to know you and to have served with you and worked with you and I believe the fingerprint that you've left on Belisle is going to be indelible. So thank you for always leading with that sense of mission and purpose. Top of Mind,
I second that motion
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Michelle.
I be given the fact we do have a quorum. I would like to make certain we cover our action items first. I do know although I don't have the list in front of me. We have a series of sets of minutes that need to be approved. Mr. Olson or somebody from the DNR would it be acceptable to do a bundle approval or do we need to have those dates in front of us in order to actually approve those and legally approve those
or you could do them all at once? That's fine. Okay.
With that in mind and motion would be order in order to approve all outstanding minutes for the Belle Isle Park Advisory Committee.
Second move by
tourists seconded by Denker. Is there any discussion? Okay, all in favor? Aye. Any opposition? Abstentions? Okay, we have approved minutes. The next item up for your review committee is committee members is our resolution approving and setting our calendar for 2024. Mr. Denker, we can add, I think six more meetings to that 100 that you already referenced to. So with that a motion would be in order to again approve that resolution that was contained in your packets providing for those committee dates for 2024. So moved. Moved by Denker second
support with some some questions.
Okay, the motion is on the table moved by Denker supported by Mr. Curtis discussion. Mr. Curtis? Yeah,
Michelle. You know, we have we have been charged with meeting every other month since the beginning of this we have met every month. And I guess I just want to feel what the what the BiPAC committee's feelings are moving forward.
Any reaction to that Mr. Denker or miss Legault Thomas?
Well, I'd say it's, it's it's it's not easy every month as we've discovered, but it's an obligation that we've served because we've been so much going on I think that we've always tried to get together every month. Sometimes we've not been able to do that because of extenuating circumstances of calendars. But if we can, if we can, if you can continue to try to do every month and then where there's opportunities where we can't because of a quorum, then we make that as an exception, perhaps and it might be eight meetings next year, maybe seven meetings next year, instead of 12. Perhaps more than six, okay. And there's a lot going on in the park next year. A lot of discussion around the boathouse, of course and a lot of you know, a motion there around that I'm sure will carry over to future meetings but try for 12 and maybe get the seven
like this little go tablets. I think you had something to say. Yeah,
I was actually wondering about that because I did see that you have a minimum of six meetings that are required. But if the community wants monthly meetings, if that's possible for us to meet monthly, I think we should continue that table. So I agree with Mr. Denker.
Well, and on that note, engagement has been such an important priority of this committee and that's our primary purpose. To be the interface between the community and the DNR and even though we've not had always full attendance by our committee members, we have had very active participation by the community and I do think the community looks forward to these meetings and it's a great way to advance information and get it out. So I would not be opposed. Well, so with that, with that if somebody would like motion motion and
yeah, you're bouncing for some reason, but I had another question. Are there going to be additional people added to the BiPAC for the other vacancies, and I noticed that there. I don't know if there are any Detroit residents that are still participating.
I can just give you an update on that good question. We some of the way the the way things are put together. There's different appointment pathways that are done and I know that the we're waiting on we have one person to take bread, Dick's place that is a mayoral appointment and we understand that the person that's going to do it is from the city staff and she is on maternity leave right now. And will we rejoin and she's just like Brad, one of the members of this city staff team and then we're waiting on on the replacement for but as well and then Brian Barnhill who was on the committee years ago, he's you you took his spot now was a governor's appointment. And then Michelle is switching gears and she's hanging on until we get a replacement for her and that's a joint one between the governor and and that but they're very well aware that we need to get these situated so that we have a full complement of people. And but that's that's up to them because that's the appointment pathway. So if that helps,
yeah, thank you. So Michelle, I'd
like to make a motion that we that the Belle Isle Park advisory committee meets monthly for the calendar year 2024.
Hey, the person who made the motion to approve the 2024 dates was Mr. Danker. Do you accept that amendment to the motion
is he still there? But
yeah, I'm fine with that. Easy for me to say Mike but
okay, so we have an amended motion to adopt a calendar of 1212 meeting 12 annual or monthly meetings at the same rotation and time and I'd like to thank the staff because I realized this has an impact on you. But I do think it's valuable for the community to have these. So with that are all in favor. Aye. Aye. Any opposition or abstention? Hey, we've approved our calendar of dates, which brings us I think that those were our only action items. So thank you, team for getting us up to date on those. We'll now move into reports and I'll hand it off to Mr. Olsen.
Yeah, thank you. I just like to first thank but for all his work, as you already mentioned, and we've appreciated all the work and I know that you know, some of the things that I know that go on on the park can be heavily debated and I know the Grand Prix which dates way back, and a long, long history. And we've been through a lot of debate about that. And this forum provided a public way for which people could chime in on that and but regardless of that, but it's been very supportive. And all of that for the park itself. And many of the things that have been done wouldn't wouldn't have been possible without some of the budget effort and his his work with what he does. So we appreciate that very much. But and and I don't want to, you know, keep going on and on, but I know that Michael and others agree for sure. So and then, Angela. We appreciate you joining on and hope that you know as we go along and if there's questions you have about anything or whatever, and a little while you you've probably attract along so you know, some of the staff, you know Karis, and Tom, and we have a couple of new staff members and you know, if there are things that come up to let us know, and we'll try to sometimes separate rumor from fact because no doubt there are things sometimes that get off the track and social media takes off and sometimes it's it's not the truth and you know, that's sometimes the world we live in, but I always tell the staff, you know, if we didn't have a lot of that, and if people didn't care about the park and all the things that are done there, we probably wouldn't have those sorts of things, but because people care a lot, and there's a lot of passionate people that go from one end to the other. We, you know, we just have to keep moving along and do our best to keep a balance because a lot of people like to do a lot of stuff on on the park. So anyway, that's just a couple of comments on that regard. So welcome to the group. And like I said, back on the appointment part of it, we're hoping that we can get the rest of the folks appointed and get get the committee back fully fully appointed and and get on with the future here but we will see. The only other thing that I wanted to mention and of course you'll be getting updates on infrastructure nap but obviously but you know, but I touched on it briefly but obviously the the conversation about the boat house is going on. We've left open the public feedback link for the month of December and then once we get all that stuff and a lot of people have chimed in, some have read and gone through all of the details to learn about the background and the facts. And then some have not it's conjured up a lot of community debate from one extreme to the other. And so, we will see what that all boils out to and then it will report out on that and see what the pathway is to for the next big step that might occur. So so I'll just leave it there because there's a we'll just wait and see what oh, how it all boils out at the end of the month. And then beyond that, what how we put things together but and that's all I have. On that front that I owe I will tell you that just for what it's worth. We just found out from the State Treasurer's office based on the statute, that recreational passport I'll roll up another dollar starting next year, because that's all triggered by the consumer price index that and that's calculated by the statute so we have no control over that but what that does is that'll go into effect January, but it'll take time for the Secretary of State to to kind of get that all situated, but I wanted to tell you, and that also goes along with non resident license plates to that that fee will go up proportionally with that, but the fee for a non resident is will be somewhere like 40 bucks for an a non resident annual sticker for the park and that's these are all statewide, by the way. So so that's all I have, unless anybody has a question for me.
Any questions from BiPAC members from Mr. Olsen? It might be helpful for the Go ahead. But sorry,
Michelle Brown back on the boathouse pieces. So just just to help us understand that because it's obviously a big issue here currently are a topic. So feedback then as is being provided for run through the rest of this month. Is that what the status of it is and then from that feedback, there will be a process that follows with the DNR what's what's how's it going to work?
Yeah, will basically take a look at the all the different things that people have had there's a forum or to capture what people's perspectives are. And we really wanted people to take the time to take time to learn about what has been assessed. Although we've had some people that that and we can keep track of how many people actually, you know, went on the links and things like that so we can keep track but there are people that have chimed in right away, that probably just, you know, just have said oh, we let's preserve it but so after that what we're going to do is look at all that and see where, what, and if there's ideas that people have or thoughts and things like that, then we'll figure out what the pathway forward is. It's, you know, there's a lot going on. And the good news is we have a lot of background data even the city in 2006 did an analysis of the condition of the building and it's been neglected since the mid 90s. And goes way back as many of you probably know, and the rowing club you know, it's the condition of the building has outstripped their ability, even though in the lease that says they're responsible for care and maintenance of it. And we do have a long term lease with them, as did the city and we honored that through the lease. So the the situation is there's really two parts one is, you know, what the fate of the building is and whether or not it could or is feasible to restore or and then the other one is is the back end, long term sustainable use of the building because even if you fix something you got to it's got to be cared maintained and it's got to be have a purpose to it. So those are things we'll be looking at. And, and so anyway, that, you know, without jumping into scenarios of what ifs and what could happen and all that, and we're certainly thinking those through but we want to and we've engaged with historic some of the historic groups already and and things like that. So we're trying to make sure we have have the whole input first is it's not you know, something we want to be very thoughtful about how we do it, but yet at the same time, we have to be realistic because you know, the building is slowly disintegrating and and that's falling apart and it and the only thing I will say is that just you know we did check with our in you know, facts are facts. And we did have an engineer recently come in to the building after the ceiling fell in and red tagged the building and there's been talk well, why don't we go and spend 5000 bucks to go patch the roof or something like that? Well, you can't go on the roof because it's unsafe because the roof could collapse if someone went up there. So the only way you could go up and patch the roof would be to erect a temporary structure that would support the roof which would be that's not a minor investment either. So that's just so just to deal with fat or matter of fact, because we don't want somebody to go in there and get killed with something and we're lucky nothing happened when the ceiling fell. And so that's a piece of fact that I just wanted to share with you all that that's sometimes you know, the cheapest pathway sometimes gets linked on and, and, but, but again, you know, we're going to see what what the the everything says and then make a tactical steps forward. But you know, I can tell you right now is not, you know, any instant thing that's going to happen January 1, I think it's going to take a little while regardless of what pathway it takes. So, that's, that's about as much as I can tell you at this point, without speculating further.
And on that topic, if I could add in one, I want to be very clear that I am now speaking as an individual and not at all as representative of the Belisle conservancy giving given my departure and there are folks on this call who are are charged with speaking on behalf of the conservancy, I'll introduce Miss Nancy Vela, the chair of the board of directors as well as mod lion who's serving as interim director. Those voices would be more qualified to speak officially on behalf of the conservancy. So with that note made I do personally believe that it's very important to vet all of the options for protecting this asset and believe there are partners and options out there that are worth betting and are worth bringing together. And you know, where there's so much talent and energy in this community that needs to be harnessed as we as we evaluate and vet this and perhaps there's a way to formalize that by I know, I appreciate the fact that the DNR is opened up these discussions and maybe there's a way to take that even further. So you can turn some of those resources into something tangible that would allow us to better understand what the options are for the boathouse and you know, what comes to mind is some kind of RFQ or RFP process because I know I personally would be very you know, interested in knowing if, if that reality is there, and it's hard when it's just words or just post on a Facebook page or that it's hard as a leader to really measure that and understand because I know even during my time with the conservancy there were a number of potential partners who came forward. You know what, they're really interested in having a presence on Belle Island, potentially at the boathouse. So how do you knit together those partners into something that potentially could make it sustainable and I'm not trying to be unpractical or unfragmented That's why I'm suggesting, you know, I'm adding a bit more science to it so we can really measure truly, what is doable and what is not, so I'll leave it at that. But don't ever want us to forget what our mission and our purposes which is to protect Palouse past, so that it's truly relevant and sustainable today and tomorrow as well. Any other discussion on that note? Before I ask one more question to Mr. Olsen, that I think the community would like some insight on
that. Thank you, Michelle.
Ron, you mentioned the Recreation Passport. And the fact that there will be an additional dollar I just thought it might be worth taking one moment to explain that funding schematic and what that might mean for Belisle. You know, does that money go into a general pot that is dispersed throughout the state system, or will Belisle benefit in some way, given that price increase? Well,
the dollar statewide goes into what's called is goes into a restricted fund it's was is protected constitutionally that can only be used for the purposes of care. And maintaining state parks, period. And so all the funds whether they're they come from license plate registrations that people have and or if someone buys a passport at a park autocycle they, that money goes into that pot. Now Belle Isle is one of the only parks that has a general fund budget to it about two and a half million dollars, plus about a million dollars for capital outlay. And then the so but that budget has grown for the needs on that up to over 3.5 million. So that fund the park Improvement Fund, it's called that the money goes into now is putting well over a million dollars into Belisle for a to make sure we can operate now that doesn't include the money that the Michigan Department of Transportation puts in. They, as you know they maintain the perimeter roadway does snow removal as well as they spent millions done on restoring and keeping the MacArthur bridge fixed now they do get weight and gas tax funds from the mileage that goes around the five and a half miles of the roadway. But that but clearly that no state police they take their policing that they're out there, we don't pay that that comes from their general fund allocation. And then the Conservation Officers that do law enforcement. There's only a small portion of that, that comes out of the Belisle budget the rest of it comes from their sources that they have. So consequently the whole budget for Belle Isle, when you add it all up as well over $6 million. And so the park really benefits from our partnership in more ways than one so that so that so and I know it's been asked before about well if we sell passports on Belisle, why does the money go back? Well, the money does go back to the park and then some we put more money in from the pot from the passport pot than then are sold on Belisle. So just and then that doesn't include the capital outlay, all the grants and all of that kind of stuff that has been allocated plus the ARPA funds which is we had $14 million for the between the conservatory which was 10 million plus 4 million for the the casino restoration the roof which is just about done. And then we now have $23 million that will go towards restoration and work at the aquarium and at the fountain and then addressing some of the problems at the zoo with the old buildings and then some other things on the park as well as some funds towards the boathouse. So, that's kind of a quick overview, but I just want to to answer to answer your question a long way It requires understanding that there's a lot of parts and pieces but the bottom line is that Belisle clearly is benefits from a lot of sources beyond the past beyond what the general fund is. I mean, it does clearly benefit from the passport revenues.
Thank you. I just thought it was important for the community to understand that complexity, so I appreciate that. Okay, moving on. We have Park updates from Mr. Bisset and Mr. Floyd. Good morning.
Morning. So just wanted to follow up. One thing Ron mentioned was the four that we're using to collect data for the boathouse. We've received almost 1800 Comments, questions and, and ideas. I want to encourage people to utilize that method to have your voice heard. I've received a lot of telephone calls a lot of emails and clearly Facebook messages and the like. And those are great, but I want everyone to kind of centralize those comments and make sure that they're still following that that forms process because the next step will be for us to compile those and to try to at least find the commonality in the questions and the concerns brought up so that we can address those. So please, you know, obviously continue to contact me or to make comments on Facebook, if you like. But also remember that form and remember to fill that out as well so that we can collect that data. I actually just spoke with the DNR intern that's going to be assisting with the project and she's already begun compiling some of that information for us. So I just wanted to bring that up. Other than that, I don't have any updates myself, but I do believe Karis and Gail are here. So I'll turn it over to them.
Hey, thank you. Good morning. Real quick I just wanted to again, thank bud and his Grand Prix team. We had a lot of projects during this nine year period. That was beyond the scope of what a ranger could do, and but never hesitated to step down with his team. To help us with several projects and one that sticks that comes off my head is the Flynn building. You know, we have use of that Flynn building because of the Grand Prix, the Scott fountain and even when we had the flood, but the team never hesitated to step up. And assist us so I just want to say thank you but and we appreciate the partnership and the work that you guys did during this period of time. We let Gail do the day to day but we are in the process of our winter operation right now. So we're gearing up. If we get any stole the team is ready. We've had a lot of arrangers that are on layoff right now and coming in 24. They'll start coming back from layoff some of our two week layoffs and some are on three months layoff so we'll get those guys back and get them back working. We are gearing up to hire two more Ranger positions. We just added a new full time janitor. And then we will be adding a new lead Ranger along with a new event Ranger so we still have some hiring to do. We are building a team I'm excited because we are heading into 24 and I think this will be the first time that I can recall that we will actually go into our season full staff so we're all looking forward to that. That's all I have and I'll turn it over to Gail
the morning. Yeah, guys, kind of piggybacking on what Kara said a little bit we are preparing for winter. Ready for snow doing what we can leading up to that. Probably the most pertinent thing that that people are interested in ask about Well notice is that we do have we have executed our seasonal closure of Central Avenue right after Portage way. There will be there assignments posted leading all the way up to it. The reason that Central Avenue gets closed through the winter is that we don't we're looking to not have salt spread in the flatwoods. So what this does is we don't have to have salt on the roadway and then the roadway can stay ready for you know it doesn't have to have sorry, it doesn't have to have snow in the roadway and stuff like they're sorry, salt in the roadway. It is still open for pedestrian traffic. So right now it's with no snow on the ground. Folks are still biking and hiking and all of that. And then once we get to the winter if somebody wants to take a snowy walk, they have that option. So just wanted to point that out. We have signage, starting at the man on the horse statue leading all the way up. And I implore folks to know if you get to the end and you're a little surprised you just double back around down riverbank to insole roo cut and sew all the way through to the strand and take the scenic route so reiterating how we're ready for winter operations and mentioning the Central Avenue closure is is all I have.
Thank you, Mr. Warren and Mr. Bisset for those updates. Are there any questions from BiPAC members?
Michelle, I don't have a question. But I do want to just comment on keratoses really heartfelt comments about but I mean, I think it's so important that everybody understands Bud's level of involvement on the island and how important he was to this island. And how Belle Isle benefited from Bud's presence. And I just again want to thank bud Denker for his all of his work.
Well, and you're so right, Mr. Curtis, I don't think the community understands the impact and what was really happening on a day to day basis and how closely the DNR team is going to feel that loss because of that operational day to day operational support that was happening, let alone the more public things that were happening and you know, even directly related to the Conservancy and the fact that you know, in some ways was really the difference between having an aquarium and not having an aquarium and the community doesn't always understand those choices that have to be made and how you go about actually managing a complex park like Belisle, that has so many assets on it and have so much need and and there's no question that without bud, we would not be as far as we are. And I thank the legislature for working to help try to fill some of that gap. But nonetheless, I think we all are just really grateful to the Grand Prix and Penske team and but in particular, for being so passionate about Belisle. So thank you for highlighting that. Okay, next. Speaking of somebody who works very hard on behalf of Belisle. Amanda Treadwell, we look forward to your updates.
Hi, good morning everyone.
Good morning. I'm got a update here for current projects going on at the park. I'll start with one project that's been you all have been seeing updates now I think since the beginning. And so I want to just celebrate that the handball courts were completed this fall. After many years of masonry and structural stabilization required. This project needed a lot more funding. There was a lot of investment out of park capital outlay to stabilize this structure, which required multiple funding cycles. So unfortunately, that's why it took a bit but it is in good shape now. Looking great. The contractors have cleaned up the pavement it's got a fresh coat of paint on it's got a lot of new masonry and pointing new coping on top of the walls to protect it for the future. And the it's ready for nets to come back up. Those lines have been reinstalled the airline cables so I'm sure folks will be happy to get out there next spring or maybe enjoy some nice weather today if that's on anyone's schedule. So moving on the overview of what is on underway now and on deck for 2024 here. Currently there's $29.2 million worth of projects. In contract. We've got five engineering projects going on and eight construction projects. For next year. We've got 10 new projects seven of those are funding with the $23 million from arpa. And then capital outlay is funding another three that but 1.4 million and I'm going to go into detail on these on the next slide. engineering projects include the multi modal mobility study, Park wide hazardous material assessment, that's what should be wrapped up by the end of the year here where we've got funds to address the lack of appropriate storage for Operation equipment we're working with park staff on that we had to revisit that a couple times because it's we're coming back in over the estimates. So we're reassessing how to move forward with that need in the park. As well we've got funds to replace shelters 19 and 20 in Maine at accessible improvements to the oxbow restroom. And then we've got a new for Scott found engineering that's to address structural needs of the fountain their projects underway are the ANA Scripps Whitcomb conservatory dome, the casino roof and drainage project. We're also working on modernizing the elevator while that casino is the Belle Isle aquarium boiler room had to have structural repairs to the roof back there so though that's just wrapping up and I'll share some photos for each of these as we move ahead but just kind of summarizing here. That also the flight is closed because we're replacing those windows that project is moving along well now that it's geared up here. The Northside window framing will all be replaced those are all being custom fabricated by historic window restoration list. Those should be done at the end of the year and then the south side will be started next year. Wilson trail phase two we're finalizing those engineering plans right now. The team is coordinating with MDOT who is going to resurface the Loop Road next year so they are incorporating additional buffer for the bike lanes in the MDOT work so we're making sure that those new lanes can be accommodated as we work to realign a few sections of the road in particular by the Yacht Club and the coastguard station. The wet music flatwoods is wrapping up. I think Gail mentioned that it's close now for the winter. And as you noted part of the maintenance plan for that $5 million restoration project is reducing the salt on the roads through set on central there. So as you noted that that that will be closed it's temporarily closed now. The gates are at the galvanizers. Once those are done, we'll get those installed. And then the sawmill is in progress to that should be wrapped up here with not the end of this year early next year. They've got some ADA access to implement at the front and new barn doors. new projects that will be funded for next year are the athletic shelter heating, shelter, nine structural repairs, you might notice as you're going around the park, that shelter is closed now. We had a couple of structural engineers confirmed that it should not be used by the public so we are going to expedite that and get a design build contract underway so we can hopefully resolve those structural issues early next year. And then again are really trying to get the casino in tip top shape before that reopens next year and have also funded money to resurface the lotia around the outside of the casino there. Here's the In Progress photo of the boiler room roof. You can see here this is the plywood decking they put on to temporarily cover that while they were investigating the beams that's been replaced with historic tongue and groove. This new LBL went in to support this beam here and we found that we have to also stabilize this hip beam at the corner so that will be done and then this project will be wrapped up. The new singles are installed. So we're just waiting to stabilize this last piece and we'll have that boiler room ready for new HVAC here. The next one to two years. So just again, remind folks I'll note it that central avenue is closed for vehicles for the winter but open for recreation through biking and hiking through their Scripps Whitcomb conservatory project. This project is moving along right on schedule the dome glass is all installed you can see here this was the top of the dome. We will all went around inspect that the glass has been cleaned and you can see these shiny new bar caps. So right now the contractors will be removing the exteriors scaffolding and removing the wrapping and they'll be cleaning that exterior glass as they work down the dome and then they'll transition to the interior and be cleaning the glass on the inside and taking down scaffolding so the dome work will probably be wrapped up here early next year and then the crews when it warms up a little bit they'll start replacing the glass on the to low houses and north and south side of the dome. So again, this is scheduled to be open probably like mid and summer in 24. Here's another picture of the scaffolding that's under the wraps. Selecting the glass there. As I mentioned before, we've got seven new projects that we've allocated ARPA funding for the Belle Isle aquarium heating and cooling project and also will be in initiating a facility planning effort prior to that. We'll be looking at future programming throughout particularly in the aquarium because that will inform how that HVAC system equipment where it's placed. We'll be looking at how the ducts work is running through the historic facility and looking at addressing facility wide ADA access and hoping to improve that into both the aquarium and the conservatory gardens.
Were also will be advertising hopefully early next year, maybe January timeframe for engineers to prepare plans to remove the zoo structures. And then also do initial assessments for incorporate incorporating passive recreation throughout that 20 acre site. We'll be following up on the hazardous material abatement study. That's wrapping up now that I'm prioritizing structures around the park. Where abatement and repairs against the boathouse there's funds allocated to address that structure. Scott found structural repairs which will primarily consist of replacing the concrete decking under the lower basin there will be incorporating some wayfinding signage that's come out of the mobility study and then park light development plan to ensure that we're aligned moving forward with prioritizing structure and structure improvements development and I want to coordinate with the community and stakeholders so that process will be a good way to encourage community engagement as we move forward with stakeholders and partners on how to dress the rest of the park. So let me just run through some images real here's the initial layout for the HVAC and the aquarium that we had some initial studies done on this sets the plans or are they significantly progressed and again, I just mentioned that we can do that facility planning study to complete those drawings. We've also worked with the BI C on us initial ADA planning for access into the conservatory gardens and that was funded by the Bilbao conservatory garden committee. mentioned previously this hazardous materials study is wrapping up. This is a real comprehensive look at all the structures in the park at any building that hadn't been assessed before was looked at. So it's certainly 3000 page document. And Previous studies have were included in this so this will be a great resource to have as we move forward with this big investment next year around the park. For those who might not have been familiar with the MSU study that was done, just sharing some information here I mentioned that in addition to removing the structures we'll have a preliminary look at costs for incorporating passive recreation in the zoo. And that was overwhelmingly the public feedback for future development of that park. We had over 7000 people respond to that online survey back in 2021. So, that is how we will intend to move forward with that site. Again, the multi mobility study we had our public meeting back in July this year, presented many strategies for improving multimodal circulation around the park. And those strategies were overwhelmingly well received, particularly people really were interested in improving the wayfinding which is why we are tackling that next year. One of the items that that people gave feedback on was converting the one way to two way and the goal there was to address a lot of concerns with confusion about how to get around the park concerns with you know it taking so long to get around once you got going one way and we're looking to traffic, calm the vehicle speeds around the park. So the two way would have addressed a lot of those concerns. What we heard back from the public was that's not that was not their way to address that per choice. So we went back with the engineering team. They're looking for alternatives to addressing all those issues. And so the final deliverables will be delayed until early next year. We'll be having stakeholder meetings in early January. So more to come on that next year. Again, I mentioned that we'll be addressing the structural concerns at the fountain with our booth funding. Primarily most of that $6 million that's been allocated is going to be looking at replacing the concrete decking here which aligns with cost estimates we received previously and so that is the priority. Although there are many priorities associated with the Scot bound and that's the number one and what will be funding for next year. And then just to reiterate what has been said about the boathouse, Tom asked folks to please provide comments on the the the link on the web page and those comments are being reviewed and compiled. So you can do that by going to the bailout boathouse information web page on michigan.gov. And we'll be risks seeming competence through the end of the month. Not well. Yeah, thank you.
Thank you very much, Amanda for yet another robust report by PAC members. Do you have any questions for Amanda?
Awesome job, Amanda. A lot of balls in the air. A lot of balls in the air regarding getting funding for everything you have going on too. So you've never continued not to not amaze me based upon all the things you have done. And other things going on as well. So well done.
I totally agree with but it's just what an exceptional report and an unbelievable amount of projects that you have going on. Thank you and I'm sorry Angela for stepping in front of you go ahead.
Now, no worries. No, I actually, I agree with both of you. They you know every time I attend the meetings and I get a listen to the update. I'm just amazed at how much is going on. And I know I have a lot to learn about how this gets done. So I look forward to learning more as we continue here on journey.
Thank you teammates I completely agree. And with that again, thank you very much Amanda. I hope you get a rest during the break coming up here the holiday and we will move forward to Lieutenant Cisco to give us a law update please.
Good morning lieutenants I'd suspend dinner a lot. Sorry, my camera's not working today are incompetent. Or Yeah. We're on winter staffing as well. We have had some people that have needed some mental health help from our officers. We always continue to have the stir throughout the seasons. It's tough on people so we were able to get those folks to help they need it and luckily they didn't you know jump into the water or take other actions. So on a bit of a better note, I would say that our stuff a truck for this year which is our annual partnership to help get toys for the children Detroit. We just finalize that and those toys all go to DPD Sergeant Santa's program that's our fifth year running, trying to support that program. I want to thank the community for coming out to the different places for drop off. Thanks to Tom and Karis and Gail and his crew at Belisle for being a drop off point Maybury State Park and Wayne County and Linda Walters in the outdoor adventure center staff and crew they throughout the year, the OAC has done a lot with us including like special visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus and they've really been very supportive of that. So I can't thank the community enough for the outpouring of that to help all these children in Detroit that we can touch with toys for this time of the year. Detroit police fair and does a good job with trying to get those out and I believe we'll be doing a press conference with them on the 20th and then go out into the community to those different precincts to get those toys out to the children that that need them. So that's all I have on the law enforcement side. I don't know if my counterpart Lieutenant workdays here from MSP but I appreciate everyone and Happy Holidays and everybody take care.
Thank you Lieutenant Cisco. I don't think we have Lieutenant cartea. I didn't see him on the distribution. But if he is feel free to take the mic, so to speak. And would any of my BiPAC members, fellow members have a question? Any questions for Lieutenant Siska? Hey, seeing none we will move on in the agenda to our next item which is a report from IO Thomas the engagement associate for the Belisle conservancy to bring us up to date on all things conservancy Good morning IO.
Good morning, everyone. Give me just one second I can get my screen up. The updates this morning are going to be fairly brief. Just a few reminders about holiday hours. And a couple of other upcoming events. See
Okay, can you Yes, we can see it. Okay.
Perfect. Um, so just a few reminders. This is the December update and I will share on behalf of the various service providers on the island. And so the Belisle Nature Center is doing their nature at night series and this month's subject will be the winter solstice and so on Thursday, December 21. You can stop by the nature center from 11am to 8pm. For programming they usually do like guided hikes and hands on activities. It's always a great time so I encourage those of us who are interested in celebrating the winter solstice on the island to check it out. Want to bring attention to the winter hours at the Dawson so of course you can see that the museum is open the 27th through the 30th closed on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. And then you can see that during the holiday week there, the admission prices will continue but every Sunday in December will excuse me the third 10th and 17th. So this upcoming Sunday is the final Sunday for that there will be well there's free admission. And so I encourage everyone to check out the Dawson especially the microplastics exhibit, which of course, for all our reasons we can understand is important to check out. So encouraging everyone to do that. Want to bring attention to the pavers on Belisle, if you are interested in having your
seven see this you'll notice that there are 612 by 12 people
to submit their legacy on Bella Island this way and then want to celebrate the fact that the Belle Isle aquarium has been named the most beautiful aquarium in the country. This survey was basically an assessment of data from TripAdvisor that was based on visitor feedback for over 175 aquariums across the United States. And 30.7% of the visitor feedback specifically for Belle Isle aquarium referenced its beauty which is part of what the foundation is for that designation and so we are so excited to celebrate and recognize the Belisle aquarium as the nation's most beautiful aquarium. And then finally want to share that the aquarium will be closed the 24th and 25th 31st of December and then the first of January and then open for regular hours. Excuse me December 27 through 30th. And as you know the aquarium is always free and open to the to the public, but we do encourage donations so that we can continue to maintain the aquarium as a free educational recreational and just important resource to our community. And then finally, for information about volunteering or any sort of staff opportunities with the Lyle conservancy you can always visit Belisle conservancy.org/opportunities To learn more about what's available at any given time. One want to encourage you to connect with us on social media whether that's Instagram or Facebook, you can do so for both Belle Isle aquarium and Belle Isle conservancy li o conservancy updates are a little more Island wide and Belle Isle aquarium is of course specific to the aquarium as it sounds. And then finally just a reminder of the regular fall in winter facility hours for the line. And that concludes my report.
Thank you very much. I have any questions from BiPAC members for i
Oh, I have a comment and Michelle. Thanks. Thanks AIOs. Another amazing report. But I mean, that is big news about the aquarium and we just can't take for granted all the special places that we have on Belle Isle and there's more and more being revitalized every day as we speak. So it's a very exciting time and and congratulations for the aquarium.
Thank you mica and thank you again I O for being here today and all that you do for Belle Isle and your service because I know it's never easy, but it's certainly an honor to be part of the Belisle family and you do a great job at that. Okay, so now we will move into the public comment portion of the meeting which is really the essence of this fellow Park advisory committee you know we are charged with being that advocate for the park and being the voice of the park user. So I encourage you if you have any feedback or input positive or negative, I certainly hope it's always constructive. That you take this opportunity now to remind you you do have three minutes we just ask that you introduce yourself and share where you hail from and that'll then we'll we'll move forward with that. So let's see, it's a little difficult to manage all this but if you could raise your hand, so to speak and let us know if you're interested in speaking we will make that opportunity available to you.
Far I'm nuts Oh wait, I do see one Mr. Mail buff. If you would like to unmute yourself. Well go to meeting and we look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you. My name's Steven Melba. I'm calling from Madison, Wisconsin. I like comments regarding the boathouse. I've wanted to say that I've been a rower out of the boathouse for 10 years now. And so I've been on the island every day for nearly 10 years and I've definitely seen the remarkable improvements have been made to the island on behalf of the DNR. And I've always been excited to see all the work that's been done and the amount of community engagement that's been done on all these projects, which is sort of disheartening to me to see the little amount of public engagement that's been done regarding the boathouse and what's being done that on that front. You say that you want people to take the time to learn about the condition of the boathouse, but the webpage that is put out there is heavily skewed to make the building seem in way worse condition than it actually is. For someone want to the amount of money that the page says has been spent spent on the boathouse is false. It says the amount of private funds that has been spent is only $199,000 or 33% of the total amount. In reality friends, the Detroit rowing has spent for nearly $500,000 on the building since 2015 alone, and in addition, the Detroit community sailing Center has spent an additional $121,000 on the site. If you combine this with the amount of money in the Friends of Detroit rowing has invested in since 1996. There's been over $990,000 worth of private funds spent on this building and also does not address 1000s and 1000s of volunteer hours that have been put lead spent on restoring and maintaining the building, that if all this work was done professionally, it also would have cost significantly more for what has been done. You know, presidential everyone's working on a room by room basis that you can see I'm using my background but that's a photo of the main hall of a boathouse it's been renovated over 80% of the third floor of the building has been renovated many rooms of the second floor have been renovated. Bought the boiler has been replaced has been roof Bruce have been rebuilt, plumbing fixed in the elevator brought back online work has been done on this building. The amount that is being said that this building needs to run at restoration is way higher than actually whatever it needs to be spent to bring this building back online. I'm not saying that those figures are necessarily wrong. It's those are for like a wish list of if you could do everything possible to this building and a train station level renovation. That's what our cost. I looked at several renovation projects that took place in Detroit around 2019 When this master plan was done, and if you look at projects such as the Metropolitan building the Farwell building, the Wurlitzer building, Metropolitan, they are all abandoned for nearly 40 years. And the Metropolitan in the Farwell are 100,000 square foot buildings where's the boathouse is less than 30,000 square feet. The Metropolitan took $30 million to restore the firewall took $40 million to restore. So metropolitans cost less than what the boathouse is going to cost according to the numbers that are being put out there. In the far wall building cost of roughly the same amount. But these buildings are four times the size of the boathouse. They've been abandoned for 40 years. And if you look at photos of the interior of the boathouse, you know, it does not look like what those buildings look like when they started their renovations. A more recent one is the added stone Hotel, which is another 50, some 1000 square foot building that was restored last year for $40 million. And, you know, again, that's still double the size of the boathouse and it also was abandoned for 30 years. The only it's not doing a service to the boathouse by only sharing photos of the worst parts of the building. It really ignores all of the work that has been accomplished in that boathouse over the past, you know, not only the last 10 years, the last 20 years, that kind of the tribe or whatever veteran there. And the survey, you know, it's only three questions regarding the boathouse and giving any comment and like the survey for the zoo. I feel like that took me a half hour to fill out and had a ton of it was done during the summer and had a lot more public notice of it versus the boathouse. One, you know, you're giving less than a month to fill the survey out around the holidays and everyone's busy, so it's just a very awkward time to be doing
all of this.
Are a building that
file apps, sorry, Mr. Melba, thank you for your comments. If you could just wrap up, please. The time is up.
Let's just we need to do more due diligence on this. It is a major historic landmark for not just Detroit than the United States. It is the is the oldest boathouse in the Midwest. It just really rolling it just really needs to be preserved and more thought needs to be put into this there are many other options that can be taken to get this building operating again.
Thank you. Thank you very much for being here today. Anybody else would like to be heard?
All right, gang. Well, that closes the public comment portion of the meeting. And do any of my colleagues have an I'm sorry, did I miss? Oh, yes. I'll go ahead.
Can you all hear me? Yes. Okay. I just wanted you all to hear directly from me that this will be my last BiPAC meeting as a member of the bill IO conservancy team as my last day will be next week. And so I just wanted to share that it's an honor to serve in this capacity and I'm looking forward to continuing as a member of the community and I'll see you all next month.
I will be sincerely missed you as a human being are one of the best and then also as a professional and really helping the conservancy to fulfill its obligation to the community and being that voice and being that interface and doing it intelligently and with grace and with dignity and passion and I've certainly enjoyed working with you and will enjoy also being individuals with you and friends with you. So thank you for all that you've done on behalf of the community and Belisle. Thank you. All right. With that, I do think that was the last comment. So I will ask my BiPAC members if you have any final comments before we move into adjournment.
Well as the new guy on the board, I just want to thank you again for you know welcoming me. I look forward to getting to know all of you. I have been waiting for this appointment for over a year so I was really excited to get the phone call and I got the phone call while I was in the hospital with my daughter. So it was like it picked up my mood because I was going through some stuff when I got the phone call from the governor's office. So I appreciate everybody who put in the word for me wrote letters. It was you know, it was a group effort. To try to get this done. And like I said, it was over a year and so I'm I'm happy to serve in this capacity. As many of you know, my grandmother ran the bailout Zoo and Aquarium for 12 years, from 1982 to 1994. So it's quite an ally. Oh, and I love that place. It's like my second home. And then so I'm just really grateful to be here and to be a community voice in this group. Thank you.
You're a wonderful addition Angela. I've always enjoyed your passion and your commitment to the island and your history of course. as well. So I'm sure you will serve well and the community is fortunate to have you working for it on its behalf. Michael, anything from you.
It's such a sad day that buddy anchors last day is today for the BiPAC committee but it's such a great day that that Angela Thomas's first day is today. So with that I just want to say Merry Christmas to everybody and have a great healthy new year.
And about two minutes you'll no longer be a rookie. She'll be a veteran. She'll have her eating under her belt and just to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa to our community. It's that beautiful time of the year although it feels like it's summer today. But it also makes me think about our history too and knowing the holiday traditions that have taken shape on Belle Isle and it's nice to know that we will continue to have Belisle to celebrate life's moments and hopefully next year we'll have the conservatory back with the beautiful poinsettias which has always been an important tradition on Belisle. So thank you to everybody enjoy the park and enjoy the holidays and we look forward to seeing you in 2024 and we are adjourned at 1010
