Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Planning Commission members Tom Merz, Eric Waara, Norma Veurink and Brian Irizarry go over proposed language in the city’s master plan during Tuesday’s meeting. The city council approved the plan and the capital improvement plan Wednesday, a day after the planning commission recommended approving it.

HOUGHTON — The Houghton Planning Commission voted to recommend City Council approval of the master plan and capital improvement plan at Tuesday’s meeting.

The master plan, which covers 2024 to 2028, is a planning document laying out the city’s goals and priorities regarding future improvements in the city. The capital improvement plan lists specific projects to take place over the next five years, along with the funds that would be needed for them.

During public comments during Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting, City Councilor Craig Waddell said after reading other city master plans going back 20 years, the latest one is “the best that you’ve ever had.” He also offered additional priorities, such as adding a water fountain and toilet at the West Houghton Park, as had been mentioned for Bridge Street.

City manager Eric Waara said at Wednesday’s City Council meeting that edits made to the plans Tuesday will be compiled and sent on to council. The master plan should be on the agenda for the first May meeting, while no date was set for council to vote on the capital improvement plan.

The city made the master plan draft available for public comment in mid-February, taking comments from residents up through Tuesday. The planning commission addressed several of the comments at Tuesday’s meeting.

A Lake Linden resident wrote to the city asking for transit services to be expanded to county residents. As a response, the commission amended the section on public transportation to mention how a study being conducted of Houghton and Hancock’s transit systems might lead to the cities combining their transit systems, and possibly expanding to surrounding communities.

Because the cities are bound by statute to operate only within the two cities, a wider system would require involvement from the county, said Waara.

“If there was the need, or the suggestion for a countywide transit system, that is a bigger animal than the two cities can form,” he said. “And maybe that’s the start of it, maybe it transfers to a larger authority someday.”

Vice Chair Bill Leder said county residents outside the two cities do not currently have to fund the city transit system, which is funded by a mix of federal and state funds, the city general fund and the farebox.

In response to a resident comment about the need for a senior center, the commission added the investigation of possible sites as a strategy in the section on community facilities.

One goal named in the plan is encouraging redevelopment to create higher-density residential space at underutilized properties.

The plan calls for developing a marketing plan to promote the city, one of two remaining best practices needed to be completed as part of the Redevelopment Ready Community certification Houghton received in 2021. Another new goal is adding seasonal pickleball courts, and eventually enclosed ones.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the Planning Commission addressed updates to the master plan from Planning Commission members Jan Cole, Leder and Norma Veurink, primarily edits for grammar or brevity.

The capital improvement plan lists large-scale expenditures for the city planned through 2029.

A 2029 reconstruction of Montezuma Avenue is anticipated to cost $4 million, while $900,000 is budgeted for the same year for storm sewers on Military Road and Dodge Street.

Waara added $40,000 for a general fund project for repair to the metal roof on Dee Stadium, which should extend its length for “quite a while,” he said. Another new addition was $150,000 next year for the installation of a dehumidification system at the Dee, which Waara said would help the building and its equipment last longer.

At the East Houghton Waterfront Park, heavy maintenance work was added to the plan for the replacement of two docks that had been on their last legs before the ice knocked them over. Other changes to the plan involved shifting projects to difference funds, such as replacing the lift pumps on the leachate system at Huron Creek, which was moved from sewer to Tax Increment Financing Authority.

In some cases, projects must be listed in the capital improvement plan or master plan before they can qualify for grants. While the capital improvement plan has dollar amounts attached, not all of those projects will necessarily take place in that span.

One project listed for 2027 is a parking deck south of Shelden Avenue, with $6 million coming from Downtown Development Authority funds and USDA Rural Development. That could be in one of several spots, such as the Grace United Methodist Church lot — or as one student project had suggested, between U.P. Engineers & Architects and the Douglass House. Where it happened, or whether it does, would depend on what opportunities come up, Waara said.

“It’s kind of a placeholder, not planning to bond $6 million for a parking deck right now,” Waara said.

Planning Commission members discussed ways to reach out to the public, citing issues such as a proposed dog park that had been included in city plans but drew ire from neighbors whenever a firm location was proposed.

As there was in that case, there would be hearings along the way, commissioners said.

Leder saw a continuum between the aspirational stage of the master plan, the intermediate step of the capital improvement plan, and the final step of implementation.

“Just like in the master plan, it doesn’t mean we’re going to do everything that’s in there,” he said. “I doubt we’re going to do everything that’s in the capital plan. And also it doesn’t mean that something that is related couldn’t be added to the capital plan. But there is, to my way of thinking, an implementation step that needs to take place for any of these … there would be some opportunity for the public to be involved.”