(From left) Gail Kotajarvi-Gerard, Eric Waara, Amanday Zawada and Craig Waddell heard reports of the storm damage caused earlier in the week at Wednesday's Houghton City Council meeting. Downtown was mostly untouched with most of Tuesday's damage occurring on M-26. (Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette)

The Houghton City Council met Wednesday evening and began with a report from City Manager Eric Waara where he addressed a variety of topics including the recent storms which have effected the area, a hearing for rezoning city property on East Lake Shore Drive, an update on the U.P. State Bank and condo project on Franklin Square and plans to hold regular discussions between city officials and Michigan Tech officials.

The report began with Waara addressing the weather aftermath from Tuesday. The city made preparations leading up to the rain which helped mitigate some damages, though M-26 was impacted.

“So there’s the catch basins along M-26, (where) the storm sewer runs around the outside by the guardrail, and the manhole just south of Canal Road, where the stormwater pipes go to a manhole, and where catch basin water drops in and flows out a pipe to the next manhole,” he said. “The outgoing pipe disconnected somehow from the manhole base, and started to eat away at the fill holding the guardrail up. Then it was the fill holding the maintenance strip up. Then it was the curb, then it was the road.”

Mayor Pro Tem Buck Foltz asked Waara what will happen now after the city had several significant storm damage issues, and if there is potential for more funding improvements. Waara said a meeting would be held Thursday with the Houghton County emergency manager.

“I also mentioned at the last meeting from the previous start, in at the end of June, we were going to meet today with the engineers to start talking about some stormwater improvements in town that I’d like them to look at,” Waara said, “and maybe get some other ideas out of people. We’re going to put that meeting off till next week. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for a sunny day to do that, as opposed to a rainy day.”

The city’s planning commission set a public hearing for rezoning city property on East Lake Shore Drive for Aug. 26. A request came in from Houghton Housing, who owns property south of houses on Waterworks Street on the west side of M-26.

“They had asked for a rezoning of that property in between Waterworks and Sugar Maple to be rezoned R3,” said Waara. “They have a developer that would like to put multi-family housing in that, I’m going to call it strip of property, in there, four-to-five quad plexes in that piece of property.”

The project going on at Franklin Square for the U.P. Bank and condo building is seeing progress with a Brownfield plan presented a couple weeks ago. The plan from Moyle Construction is now being fine tuned and was presented to Waara on Thursday. Waara also shared contracts were signed for 109 Sheldon Ave and construction has begun.

Looking at Michigan Tech

After East Street residents’ concerns were raised in prior council and planning commission meetings regarding Michigan Tech potentially using a space between MacInnes Drive and East Street, Waara arranged a meeting with university president Richard Koubek. Waara is looking to make more regular meetings with the university and other local leaders called a “coffee clutch.”

“If the university is doing things, or planning to do things, and the city is planning to do things, or the police department’s got issues, we just have to chat about it so everybody’s on the same page,” Waara said. “So, we had a nice conversation today.

“He’s going to go back to his his team and kind of assemble three or four people. We’re going to assemble three or four people. We’re going to figure out a date to have that first meeting.”

Waara asked Koubek if the university was planning to build a dorm on the block between MacInnes Drive and East Street and according to Waara, Koubek said there were no plans on the board right now.

“They don’t have the money, the funds, to do it,” said Waara. “They don’t have a plan for that right now.”

Houghton police look to add to ranks

Houghton Police Chief John Donnelly reported the police department has begun the hiring process for a new officer and interviewed candidates that day.