Leelanau Township approved a road improvement resolution at its regular meeting Tuesday night to repair approximately 0.45 miles on Omena Point Road from W. Bay Shore Drive to Omena Heights Road.
The township will contract these improvements with Leelanau County Road Commission at a cost of no more than $200,000. Funding for the improvement project will come out of the township’s facilities fund, with supervisor Barbara Conley noting that the road commission has no room in its budget to allocate for the specific fix.
“I just want to reiterate that the justification for doing this is, one, it is something that we can actually do in one fell swoop,” said trustee Elizabeth Schwind at the meeting. “More importantly to me is that that road is used by more than just those residents, so that is a benefi t to the broader township folks than just Cherry Homes.”
According to Leelanau Township’s six year capital improvement plan (CIP) for facilities and roads, approximately $400,000 is anticipated to go towards road needs this year. With $200,000 going to repairs on Omena Point Road, the other $200,000 is expected for Cherry Home road improvements.
From 2026 through 2030, the township plans to also allocate $200,000 each year to help with repairing several local roads in poor condition. The CIP states that there will be an effort to improve roads with a PASER rating (pavement surface evaluation and rating scale) of three or less. Ratings for asphalt and concrete roads of four and lower are defined as in fair/poor condition. The Omena Point Road repair is rated at a PASER rating of three, which indicates that patching, asphalt wedging and structural overlay, crush and shape, gravel and paving is needed, with an estimated cost of between $350,000 and $450,000 per mile.
With the facilities and roads millage set to expire at the end of 2025, the township will need to discuss later this year renewing and potentially increasing it to accommodate for continued road needs.
