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If a proposed bond is placed on the August primary ballot, Huntington Woods hopes to use the funding to fix up some of its parks, such as new play equipment at Reynolds Park.
Photo by Mike Koury
HUNTINGTON WOODS — It’s looking like Huntington Woods voters will have a major decision on their hands during the August primary election.
At its Jan. 20 meeting, the City Commission reviewed a proposal to place a bond up for vote during the primary that will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
The bond would be for $17 million, of which $13 million would be allocated for roads, water main and sewer work, $2 million for rear-yard sewer lining and repair, and $2 million for parks and recreation improvements.
“The reality (is) our infrastructure, it’s aging,” Huntington Woods Finance Director Amy Zurawski said during the meeting. “There’s a lot that needs to be done. It needs to be addressed now to avoid further deterioration, as well as additional costs … that we’ll incur by moving anything out in the future.”
The bond would be over the course of 20 years. Huntington Woods estimates that the average annual cost for taxpayers would be $429, or $35.75 a month.
According to the city documents, about 25%, or 6.2 miles, of Huntington Woods’ roads are in need of full reconstruction, but the bond work would not cover the costs of all construction needed.
Mayor Pro Tem Jules Olsman told the Woodward Talk that there’s no option in regard to the road repair work that’s needed
“This is just part of the road restoration and road improvement project that’s been going on for years. It’s very expensive, but there’s no way around it,” he said. “The residents want good quality, safe roads, and it’s part of our obligation to make sure that the roads are kept in as good a condition as we could possibly keep them.
The city estimated that $3 million is needed for costs that would cover renovations in the parks and recreation master plan.
Areas of focus for the funding include repairing the city pool, construction at Val Jones Skate Park, updating play equipment and including accessible surfacing at Reynolds Park, permanent restrooms at key parks, and updating amenities throughout the parks with new benches, picnic tables and park signage.
“For a small city, I think we do a pretty good job with (the city’s parks), but we can do better and we will, but in order to do that, we need financing,” he said.
Zurawski stated that, historically, the city has used bonds and bond millages in order to fund major construction projects. But now, Zurawski said, unforeseen cost increases over the past three to five years because of inflation, rising construction costs and tariffs have presented additional costs that the city either has to absorb or else delay portions of projects.
“Without new funding, essential improvements will stall and every year of delays results in approximately 4% inflation costs for anything that we’re delaying to the future,” she said. “If we don’t start and do something now, these costs are just going to continually increase as we go along. And acting now is the best solution just so that we can get ahead of things so that we can make sure that we’re avoiding these escalating costs.”
The bond has not officially been approved for the August ballot, but it’s expected to come back by the March meeting for a vote. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, at City Hall, 26815 Scotia Road.
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