Editor’s note: Part 1 of this article appeared in the “Daily Mining Bulletin” on Saturday, July 10.
At the Houghton City Council meeting on April 14, 2021, the City Council approved the planning committee’s request to “approve a pre-discussion on downtown planning and understand that this may lead to design discussions or other public Participate in the process, leading to a vision or plan for the city center to complement the city’s master plan.”
(In urban planners, “charrette” is used to denote intensive seminars designed to bring together different stakeholders to help formulate solutions to complex design problems.)
Although the resulting cost of the pre-conference on June 29 and 30 is for the general situation in the urban area, rather than specifically for the Lakeshore Avenue parking lot, the driving force of the pre-conference is the controversy surrounding the area. Sadly, just before this preview, Champlain Tannan in Surfside, Florida collapsed on June 24, providing a warning of the severity and potential urgency of the Horton mission.
For decades, we have been hearing about the crumbling infrastructure in the United States. In its 2021 report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave this infrastructure a C-. The structure sometimes fails and sometimes warning signs appear.
A 2018 engineering analysis of South Surfside in Champlain Towers, Florida warned that the 40-year-old reinforced concrete structure would suffer “significant structural damage.” On June 27, 2021, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett promised to publish all city documents related to the tower. The documents published so far have been posted on the Surfside Town Commission website.
Ultimately, forensic engineering will provide a more comprehensive analysis of the causes of this structural failure. However, currently, known structural problems with towers include concrete cracking, membrane damage, water seepage, and corrosion.
These concerns are similar to those raised by Pierce engineers in a study of Horton’s 43-year-old Lakeshore Drive parking lot on March 16, 2020, and include (among other things) the following observations:
“The steel frame of the elevated deck structure (beams, beams and columns) has been exposed to chlorinated water, causing extensive corrosion in the area.”
“The corrosion of the pillars produces rust, especially where the pillars are adjacent to the sidewalk on the ground.”
“Due to the massive water infiltration and related freeze/thaw damage, we are very concerned about the integrity of the entire northern perimeter barrier.”
“Due to the freeze/thaw damage of the bricks, the bricks may fall on people and cars parked below the ground. I instructed the city of Houghton to dismantle the cars and block pedestrians below until the city initiates a solution to prevent the debris from falling in. Below.”
“If properly designed, a typical parking structure in a northern climate… The typical service life range is 40-50 years… (in the case of the Lakeshore Drive deck) direct contact with corrosive deicing chemicals will further shorten the typical The service life of the structure… As the structure ages, the corrosion rate will accelerate exponentially over time… From a life cycle perspective, the structure may have reached its useful life.”
The life of the deck may be extended with maintenance. However, during the public open day of the Lakeshore Boulevard parking lot on February 12, 2020, city manager Eric Waara reported that Holden’s general fund subsidized approximately $200,000 per year in the parking fund for maintenance.
The last major maintenance project for the Lakeshore Drive parking lot took place in 2012-2014 and required a donation of $1.3 million from the General Fund to the parking fund to cover the cost, which means, for example, from the neighborhood to subsidize the deck. (See also City Manager’s PowerPoint on the cost of parking decks on January 6, 2021.)
Horton’s limited property tax base complicates this cost burden: tax exemptions include cities, counties, states, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, religious institutions, non-profit organizations, and of course, Michigan Tech.
As the Yale University professor pointed out, “The burden of property tax exemption is usually felt at the taxation level, usually including the local city government where the tax exempt agency is located. This means that many small towns with large universities lack taxation.” (In some communities, this burden is partially reduced through taxation or PILOT, including payment in kind or PIK.)
The meetings of the City Council, the Planning Committee, and the two planning committee subcommittees are all open to the public and announced on the city website (https://www.cityofhoughton.com). They are also announced via the city’s email list. If you are a resident of Houghton and would like to be included on this list but have not yet been included, please contact City Clerk Ann Vollrath https://www.cityofhoughton.com/clerk/.
(Based on my participation in these meetings and related readings, I shared a detailed analysis of the parking deck issue with the city government. I would be happy to share the same information with others who may be interested. Please refer to the contact details below.)
Dr. Craig Waddell is a retired professor at Michigan Technological University. His research focuses on risk communication and public participation. He is also the past chairman of the West Horton Community Association, which is dedicated to parks, walkability, ageing in place, and related issues. You can contact him via email rcraigwaddell@gmail.com.
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