Committee advances sewer, lift-station and utility easements tied to MDOT Fair Avenue project

BENTON HARBOR — The City of Benton Harbor committee reviewed and recommended advancing a package of infrastructure measures on Tuesday, including sanitary sewer repairs tied to an EGLE administrative consent order, a recommended lift-station contract award, and utility easements needed for MDOT’s Fair Avenue reconstruction.

Jason Marquardt, a project engineer with Marsh, told the committee the city’s sanitary sewer program was funded by prior grant awards (reported in the packet as “19,000,000, $577,200”) and that the work addresses items EGLE placed in an administrative consent order. “These are items that EGLE has wrote into their administrative consent order,” Marquardt said, noting completed projects such as Pipestone, McAllister and Broadway and a list of smaller segments targeted for 2026.

Marquardt described planned 2026 work on West Bridal/West Empire, Territorial/Cherry/Water Street segments, East Empire/Jennings and Ogden Avenue; he said many of the 2026 segments are smaller than last year’s projects and will therefore have shorter disruption windows. He also said the city will present a findings report on CCTV and other inspections in mid-summer.

On the city’s lift-station package, staff recommended awarding the work to the low bidder identified in the packet as Osaka. Marquardt said staff had vetted the bidder and had conversations to confirm construction approaches. When a committee member asked why one bid was nearly $1,000,000 lower, Marquardt replied staff had checked with Osaka and that “Osaka has a different way of doing their dewatering for the one station,” and that the firm was prepared to perform the work.

The committee also considered utility easements: staff introduced a resolution to approve a public utility easement from Harbor Shores to the city for water and sanitary sewer at the Champions Village We Course, and reviewed an easement request from Indiana Michigan Power (AEP) to relocate two poles onto city-owned property at 925 Bus Avenue so MDOT’s Fair Avenue work can proceed. Marquardt said staff contacted the Benton Harbor Housing Commission and received no concerns.

On MDOT’s Fair Avenue reconstruction, staff reported two project bids (presented in the packet as $24,000,000 and $26,000,000) and outlined a two-part city participation for underground utility work. The packet lists Part A (water main) participation and Part B (sanitary sewer/resurfacing within a defined segment) with the city’s estimated share at $229,200. “The city is getting, you know, is contributing 229,000 for the utility work, but the overall project cost is 24,000,000,” Marquardt said. Staff noted MDOT does not bill the city until months after the work is complete and that jurisdictional transfer will enable Act 51 road funding for future maintenance.

Committee members and staff emphasized phasing to avoid simultaneous closures; Marquardt said projects will be staggered and that the MDOT work will likely be the heaviest impact but not all projects will be active at once.

Next steps: staff will return with contract award items (including the lift-station award), final bid packages and a mid-summer report on CCTV/asset-management findings. The committee recommended forwarding the MDOT agreement, easement approvals and related contract recommendations to the full commission or to staff to execute as provided in the packet.