landscape architects & planners, inc.

133 Pages·2015·21.52 MB·English

October 28, 2015

Special Meeting

The New Buffalo City Council will hold a special meeting on Friday, October 30, 2015 at
8:30 a.m., in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 224 W. Buffalo St., New Buffalo, MI
49117 to consider selection of an engineering and urban design team for the North Whittaker
Street Redevelopment.

This meeting is an open meeting. The notice is posted in compliance with Open Meeting Act,
Public Act 267 of 1976 and the Americans with Disabilities Individuals with disabilities
requiring auxiliary aids should contact the City Clerk by writing or calling the following:
Allyson Holm, City Clerk [phone], 224 W. Buffalo St., New Buffalo, MI 49117.

Allyson Holm
City Clerk

CITY HALL • 224 WEST BUFFALO • NEW BUFFALO, MICHIGAN 49117 • 269/469-1500
FAX [phone]
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
October 30, 2015 at 8:30 a.m.

1. Call Meeting to Order & Pledge of Allegiance
2. Roll Call
3. Approval of Agenda
4. Public Comment
a. Sign-up sheet provided – Five-minute time limit enforced
5. Special Meeting Business
a. Consider selection of an engineering and urban design team for the North
Whittaker Street Redevelopment
6. Adjourn

CITY HALL • 224 WEST BUFFALO • NEW BUFFALO, MICHIGAN 49117 • 269/469-1500
FAX [phone]
Whittaker Street Redevelopment
City of New Buffalo
October 16, 2015
October 16, 2015

Robert Anderson, City Manager
City of New Buffalo
224 West Buffalo Street
New Buffalo, MI 49117

Re: Whittaker Street Redevelopment

Dear Mr. Anderson,
At Abonmarche, we know how important projects like the City of New Buffalo’s Whittaker
Street Redevelopment can be. These types of projects not only improve the lives of City resi-
dents, they also serve visitors and provide everyone with an engaging and convenient expe-
rience as they visit, shop, and eat in the City’s downtown.
Our experience working with lakefront communities along the Lake Michigan shoreline gives
us a unique insight into the constraints and issues of working in communities with a large
amount of economic activity tied to their waterfront. We understand the need to keep the
waterfront and downtown accessible to residents and visitors alike during the peak econom-
ic season, as well as ensure that the community has a quality product for use by those same
residents and visitors when the project is completed. Careful scheduling and segmenting are
critical to project success.
Our project team has worked together on several projects and all have experience with the
City of New Buffalo. Our team is focused on delivering projects that are completed within
budget, on time, and with minimally adverse impact on the community. Houseal Lavigne is
currently working on the City’s Master Plan, with a focus on the downtown. With them on our
team, we can ensure unparalleled coordination with the Master Planning process and will
help to expedite implementation of the physical improvements. New Buffalo’s location near
Abonmarche’s Benton Harbor office positions us well to quickly and efficiently utilize whatev-
er resources are necessary to ensure that the projects are successful. Furthermore, our ability
to secure additional project financing on behalf of our clients will enable the City to stretch
their resources for the best project possible.
We look forward to working with you and the City on these projects and are committed to
ensuring your success. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via
email at [email protected] or on my mobile phone at [phone].

Sincerely,
ABONMARCHE ABONMARCHE

Christopher J. Cook, PE Tony McGhee
President/CEO Director of Development Services
1
Abonmarche Firm Overview
  The best professional services consultants are visionaries, looking years—even decades—
beyond today's world to determine what physical structures and systems will be needed,
and where. Visionaries help to create great places, and great places do great things.
An area where Abonmarche truly differentiates itself is in its ability to create a sense of
place with our projects. While this term has become trendy the last few years, it is a corner-
stone of our project approach that is engrained in the culture of our firm. We approach
each community and project without any preconceptions and work with the community to
create a shared vision for the project which we then execute.
At Abonmarche, our reputation is built on trust, passion, reliability, and quality. We are
committed to exceed the specific needs of each client which has established an outstand-
ing portfolio of referrals. We work closely with our clients to understand what they need to
accomplish, what they hope to achieve. Then we put our expert technical and creative
skills to work—and help you create a great place.
We undertake every project with our client’s best interests in mind and truly seek to become
partners during the course of the project. Our business strategy is centered upon building
long-term client relationships. During our proud history, we have attracted and retained
clients by providing superior customer value—in fact, the majority of our work is repeat busi-
ness from loyal clients.
Abonmarche’ s tradition of service dates back to 1979 when our company was first founded
in Southwest Michigan to provide clients with surveying, civil engineering and marina devel-
opment services. In 1984, we diversified, adding architecture, planning, and landscape ar-
chitecture to our range of services.
As our client base and geographical service area expanded, Abonmarche continued to
grow, opening additional offices to better meet our clients’ needs and carry on the tradition
of service upon which the company was founded. With more than 35 years of experience,
Abonmarche has become a premier provider of a wide array of professional services,
providing superior customer value, and improving communities for a variety of private- and
public-sector clients.
Abonmarche will be the lead firm and will be involved from concept to completion.
W
h
itta
k
e
r S
tre
C e
ity t R
o e
f N de
e v
w e
B lop
uffa me
lo n
t
2
Houseal Lavigne Firm Overview
  Houseal Lavigne Associates is an award-winning consulting firm specializing in all areas of
community planning, urban design, and economic development, with expertise in urban
design, comprehensive planning, corridor planning, downtown planning, neighborhood
planning, streetscape design, planting plans, design development, visualization and ren-
derings, zoning, market analysis, project implementation and financing, and citizen en-
gagement. We strive for a true collaboration of disciplines and talents, infusing all of our pro-
jects with creativity, realism, and insight.
Houseal Lavigne Associates provides a fresh approach to urban design, a strong foundation
in contemporary development practices, an insightful understanding of market and eco-
nomic analysis, and an effective ability to conduct engaging community outreach. Our
firm is able to meet the unique challenges of any design assignment and is able to develop
creative solutions that ensure compatibility between the the built and natural environments,
strengthening sense of place, and designing attractive, safe, and engaging communities.
Houseal Lavigne Associates provides services ranging from smaller site planning and design
projects to larger regional studies; from site-specific planting plans to overall streetscape de-
signs; from creating exciting new transit-oriented development plans to revitalizing historic
downtowns; from shaping broad community strategies to creating context sensitive zoning
regulations; and from detailed economic analysis to long-term community visioning.
Houseal Lavigne Associates consists of a team of dedicated professionals experienced in ur-
ban design, community planning, and economic development. Our Team has worked with
more than 250 communities across the country on a wide variety of design and planning
assignments.
Houseal Lavigne Associates is founded on a set of core principles that, when combined with
our professional experience and expertise, creates a consulting firm that stands above the
rest. Since the firm’s founding in 2004, Houseal Lavigne Associates has established itself as
one of the nation’s premier design and planning firms, receiving the 2014 National Excel-
lence Award for a Planning and Design Firm from the American Planning Association.
Houseal Lavigne Associates is currently engaged in the preparation of a Master Plan for
the City of New Buffalo. Their involvement in Phase One will help engage the community in
a process that will lead to an attractive and functional Whittaker Street corridor.
W
h
itta
k
e
r S
tre
C e
ity t R
o e
f N de
e v
w e
B lop
uffa me
lo n
t
3
Landscape Architects & Planners Firm Overview
  Landscape Architects & Planners, Inc. is located in Lansing, Michigan, and is a full-service
landscape architecture and planning firm. Robert Ford, President, formed the firm in 1994
with an experience base spanning over 100 years. As professionals we apply artistic and
scientific principles to the research, planning, design and management of both natural and
built environments. Our focus is client satisfaction by producing creative solutions to design
challenges. We take a team approach to our projects, which allows us the ability to inte-
grate a variety of disciplines. Staying abreast of the current trends and practices enables
LAP to be successful in our diversified areas of specialization. The firm operates as a S cor-
poration in the State of Michigan. LAP will be involved with the project from concept to
completion, providing top-notch landscape architecture services.

Areas of specialty include the following:
 Streetscape Studies, Design & Development
 Downtown Development District Plans
 Downtown TIF Plans
 Feasibility Studies
 Comprehensive Recreation Plans
 Waterfront and Environmental Studies
 Park Master Plans & Development
 Trail Studies, Design & Development
 Athletic and Sports Facilities
 Recreation Master Plans
 Commercial Site Planning
 Civic and Governmental Facilities
 Vehicular Traffic Pattern Studies
W
h  Grant Writing
ittak  Public Presentations
e
r S  Planting Plans
tre
City et R  Construction Details/Specification Documents
o e
f N de
e v
w e
B lop
uffa me
lo n
t
4
Experience & Capacity
  Our seasoned project team has extensive experience in successfully undertaking down-
town development and streetscape projects that serve as a catalyst for additional invest-
ment for our partner communities. For years, we have worked with shoreline communities
to create the kind of projects that provide a sense of place for both residents and visitors.
A sense of place can be an elusive concept, but it’s clear the kind of benefit it brings — it
makes visitors want to return to a place, it makes residents want to stay and put down
roots. A City’s downtown is one of the most important factors in providing that sense of
place, and so it is imperative that the project is planned and executed with an eye toward
the City’s future. This redevelopment will be a launching pad for the City’s growth.
Beyond our team’s significant experience conceptualizing, planning and implementing
similar projects, we have a great deal of experience with the New Buffalo community. Two
members of the project team live in New Buffalo. All three firms on the project team are
currently working on or have completed projects within the community over the past few
years. This experience enables us to easily ramp up our planning, community outreach,
and design efforts to ensure the project proceeds in a manner that meets the community’s
expectations and needs. Furthermore, this is not the first time members of the project team
have worked together on several projects. Houseal Lavigne and Abonmarche have
worked together on numerous projects together over the past decade as well as LAP and
Abonmarche working together on a project in New Buffalo over the past year.
Abonmarche and HLA principals also went to high school together, so their familiarity with
each other is strong. This means the City of New Buffalo is getting a project team that is ac-
customed to working together and knows how to maximize each others’ strengths and ar-
eas of expertise for the project. This will allow us to fast track the project.
Over the past five years, our team has completed many projects for our community part-
ners with elements similar to the street improvements being undertaken by the City of New
Buffalo. While not exhaustive of our experience, Attachment A contains project experi-
ence sheets that underscore our capacity to successfully assist the City of New Buffalo
plan, finance, and execute the Whittaker Street Redevelopment Project.

W
h
itta
k
e
r S
tre
C e
ity t R
o e
f N de
e v
w e
B lop
uffa me
lo n
t
5
Project Team

W
h
itta
k
e
r S
tre
C e
ity t R
o e
f N de
e v
w e
B lop
uffa me
lo n
t
6
We have assembled a seasoned project team to ensure the successful completion of the
Whittaker Street Redevelopment Project. Following is an overview of the various members
of the project team, their experience and role they will be playing. The project team in-
cludes two residents of New Buffalo. This provides two strong elements to the project team,
including local knowledge as well as the passion of working on a hometown project, which
is a great benefit to the entire team.

Timothy R. Drews, PE, PTOE, LEED AP - Project Manager
Tim is a licensed professional Engineer with over 25 years of experience with public agencies
and consulting firms. He is responsible for oversight of Engineering staff, Quality Assurance
and Quality Control, project management, design, and construction administration for mu-
nicipal and private development projects. Tim is a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer
(PTOE), one of few in the United States. He is also an accredited professional in Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED AP) and strives to enhance projects through sus-
tainable design practices. His expertise includes traffic and transportation engineering de-
sign, analysis and studies; roadway safety; geometrics and infrastructure design; non-
motorized trail design; residential development planning, design and approvals, and com-
mercial site planning, design and approvals.

Jason Marquardt, PE, LEED AP - Senior Project Engineer
Jason is a licensed Professional Engineer with more than 11 years of experience. He has
worked on a variety of civil projects that include infrastructure design, sanitary sewer, storm
sewer, and water distribution system construction. He is also responsible for the design and
administration of street and roadway construction projects. Jason’s specialties include infra-
structure design on MDOT local agency projects and municipal projects that include water
mains, storm sewer, sanitary sewer, and roadway design. He is also experienced in environ-
mental permitting and is an Accredited Professional in Leadership in Energy and Environ-
mental Design (LEED AP).

Lisa VanBladeren - Project Engineer
Serving as a staff enginner at Abonmarche, Lisa’s responsibilities include drafting and design
of public and private civil infrastructure projects, regulatory permitting, sustainable design
practices, and construction inspection and administration. Lisa recently designed an RBEG
funded parking lot for the City of Allegan. With a Master’s Degree in Environmental and
Civil Engineering from Northwestern University, Lisa will work to minimize the projects impact
on the natural environment.
W
h
itta
k
e Gary Folino - CADD Technician
r S
tre Gary has over 25 years of experience working in the design field. His main duties include the
C e
ity t R production of construction documents and project coordination. Gary assists with prelimi-
o e nary design, pre-visualization and creation of construction documents using the latest ver-
f Ne dev sions of Autocad and Revit software. Gary can create 3D models of projects that allow pro-
w e
B lop ject owners to have a living document of their completed projects providing accurate area
uffalo men apandss ioqnu afonrt itthaeti vper oinjefocrtm thaatito wn.il l bAes aof rgerseidaet nbte onfe Nfite. w Buffalo, Gary brings a knowledge and
t
7