Friday morning a porous concrete section of the newly reconstructed Lake St. at the Muskegon Ave. intersection still was covered by plastic in a curing process. Nearby are brick on-street parking areas. A right is the former Whitehall Leather Company prop
The City of Whitehall will have a ribbon cutting ceremony for Michigan’s first “Green Street” Monday morning (Nov. 5), and the stormwater management portion of the street reconstruction has already passed the test by catching and filtering water from heavy rains in mid-October.
The public cutting of the ribbon and ceremony will happen at the intersection of Misco and Lake St. at 9 a.m.
City Manager Scott Huebler said Federal, State and City officials have been invited to participate in the ribbon cutting.
Invited to the election-eve ribbon cutting are: U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, State Sen. Goeff Hansen, State Rep. Holly Hughes, Mayor Emery Hatch and members of the city council, members of the city’s Tax Increment Finance Authority (TIFA), the engineers on the project, Prein & Newhof, general contractor Thompson Brothers and a representative of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which provided a $376,180 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant for the stormwater management portion of the Lake St. project.
The project includes six blocks of Lake Street from Bush Creek to Lake Street along the White Lake shoreline. Along that stretch is the former Whitehall Leather Company property which has undergone a massive environmental cleanup in a Brownfield Project in preparation for a mixed residential development. Also adjacent to the project are Alcoa Howmet manufacturing facilies.
The project includes a stormwater management system of bioswales, naturalized detention, filter strips and treatment wetlands to improve stormwater quality before it enters White Lake. The ‘green’ portion of the work will act as a filter to eliminate the initial flush of stormwater from the road surface.
The nearly million dollar project also includes road resurfacing, utility upgrades and a waterfront pedestrian/bicycle path which is connected to the White Lake Pathway. The road surface will include a section of porous concrete to enhance drainage and brick curbside parking areas.
The remainder of the project funding comes from TIFA funds, $40,000 Alcoa Foundation and $10,000 from Genesco, former owner of the tannery property.