Downtown Northville Walkway Contract Expected Today

The city of Northville is expected to sign a contract today to build an $800,000 walkway on East Main Street that should help pedestrians downtown get to public parking lot a lot easier.

Currently, the shortest way to get from the Marquis public parking lot along East Dunlap Street to the East Main Street area is by taking a long walk around Hutton Street. The City Council agreed unanimously Monday night to approve the $697,000 agreement with St. Clair Shores-based Bernco Inc. to build the two-story walkway through the old Girly Daze property, now owned by the adjacent . The rest of the cost includes architectural and engineering fees.

Construction on the Comerica Community Connection walkway should start during the second week of January, said Lori Ward, the director of the Downtown Development Authority. The DDA is paying for $675,000 of the cost, while the Northville Area Development Corp. has pledged to fund the rest.

“It’s a five-and-a-half month project,” she said. “We hope to have the opening ceremony on Memorial Day weekend.”

The walkway will be mostly open inside, with a two-story glass roof. Comerica will still own the property, but the company has granted the city an easement. As per the agreement with the bank, Comerica will be allowed to have an ATM within the walkway.

Eight companies had bid for the construction project. The board approved Bernco as the preferred bidder at its Nov. 7 meeting.

Mayor Chris Johnson said he’s excited that the city will be able to have the walkway completed around the same time as construction on Main Street.

“We’ll be ready for summer, and we’ll have quite the downtown center,” he said.

Also at the meeting, the council agreed to Fire Chief Jim Allen’s recommendation to join the city of Plymouth in a five-year, $2,167 contract for a Web-based fire reporting software package. The software will allow fire officials to create and edit reports from any Internet-connected computer, at both stations or even at home. Both cities operate under a .

“This would be great for guys that are fighting a fire until 3 a.m., and want to go home and just file the report in the morning from home,” Allen said. Council approval for the software was unanimous.