Flint Township View

GB Township to hire project manager for DPS, fire department project




GRAND BLANC TWP. — Grand Blanc Township will hire a project manager to help lead the way in planning, developing and constructing the new fire station and Department of Public Services complex on the old Playland Park on Dort Highway.

“We have a fairly aggressive timeline, so we want to get moving on this,” said DPS Director Jeff Sears. “The fire department has an urgent need (for more space). Also, in the DPW, we’re running out of space; our mechanics are running out of space. We just don’t fit in the facility we have anymore.”

The overall project could also include a park with walking trails and “other amenities” for public use, Sears said.

The project manager would help select an engineer, architect and contractors, and oversee all of the work, he said.

“None of us here are builders of any kind,” Sears said. “It helps to take knowledge from the community and put it into a process like that. It’s all about bringing that expertise into the township. We hire the experts to do those kinds of things.”

The next step is to go through the process of selecting a qualified project manager, which Sears said he hopes to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

The project was estimated to cost $8 million for the DPS, plus $5 million for the fire department, based on a cost analysis performed two years ago, said Superintendent Dennis Liimatta.

Whether those numbers are still realistic, given the recent spike in construction material costs, remains undetermined, he said.

The township will conduct an up-to-date cost assessment, but if the numbers come in significantly higher than previous estimates, the project could be delayed allowing time for prices to stabilize, Liimatta said.

“And we still have to figure out how to pay for the whole thing,” he said.

Some money already is available in the capital projects fund of the DPS budget and other areas of the township coffers.

The township purchased the shuttered Playland property in May 2018 for $530,000 and invested another $331,000 for building demolition. The township also owns two adjacent parcels.