Plymouth Redevelopment Commission Supportive of Adding Veterans Parkway Extension to TIF Project Lists

Last week, members of the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission were presented with plans to re-apply for federal funds to extend Veterans Parkway from North Michigan Road westerly to Pioneer Drive.

Representatives from USI Consultants meet with INDOT after the grant application for the project was not awarded last fall.  In those discussions INDOT indicated splitting the project into two separate applications with a Memorandum of Understanding between Marshall County and the City of Plymouth detailing the responsibilities would make the applications more competitive. 

While the project would be funded by both the City of Plymouth and Marshall County, the city’s share is about one-third of the project cost with the county’s portion being the remaining amount.  The project would be split with the County applying for the extension from North Michigan Road to Oak Drive and the City applying from Oak Drive to Pioneer Drive.

Another recommendation from INDOT was to show local buy-in to the project by moving forward with the preliminary engineering.  USI’s recommendation was to only complete the preliminary engineering to stage 1 and then apply for the remaining engineering through federal funds with an 80/20 split. The city’s cost would be $210,000.

After additional discussions members of the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission agreed to place the project on the project lists for TIF #1 US 30/Oak Road and TIF #3 US 30/Pine Road.  Adding the project to the TIF project lists also will require approval by the Plymouth Plan Commission and City Council.  A public hearing will also be conducted on the additional project at the next meeting of the Redevelopment Commission on August 17^th.

Redevelopment Commission members also approved having Baker Tilly present a proposal to conduct a feasibility analysis on the additional funding the project will require.

USI said the applications for the projects, both the city and county will be submitted in December with anticipation of award notice in January or February.  While funding for the project would be in 2027, INDOT indicated that additional funds may be available as early as 2024 and having the environmental completed and working on the preliminary engineering will make this project a candidate for earlier funding. 

It was noted that both the Marshall County Commissioner and the County Council have put their support into moving the project forward.