Capital Improvements Plan

The City Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) outlines a schedule of public service expenditures over the ensuing six-year period and is updated annually by the Planning Department through the coordination of scheduled projects with all City Department administrators and the City Manager. The first year of the Capital Improvements Plan serves as the basis for establishing the City’s Capital Projects Budget (CPB). The CIP and CPB make up the City’s Capital Improvements Program.

Qualifying Projects

The CIP does not address all of the capital expenditures for the City, but provides for large, physical improvements that are permanent in nature, including the basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of the community. These include transportation systems, utilities, municipal facilities and other miscellaneous projects. To qualify for inclusion into the CIP, a project must:

Any capital improvement project or program plan or study that the cost is $25,000 or more or construction or replacement of a new facility (i.e., a public building, water/sanitary sewer mains, storm sewers, major/local roadways, recreational facilities), an addition to, or extension of such a facility, provided that the cost is $50,000 or more and that the improvement will have a useful life of three years or more.
Any nonrecurring rehabilitation or replacement of all or a part of a building, its grounds, a facility, or component, provided that the cost is $50,000 or more and the improvement will have a useful life of three years or more.
Any new purchase, including land of major equipment to support community programs provided that the cost is $50,000 or more and will be coded to a capital asset account.
Any planning, feasibility, engineering, or design study costing $25,000 or more that is not part of an individual capital improvements project or a program.

Planning Commission Approval

After the plan is prepared, it is the Planning Commission’s role to adopt the CIP. The Michigan Planning Enabling Act states, "to further the desirable future development of the local unit of government under the master plan, a planning commission under the adoption of a master plan, shall annually prepare a capital improvements program of public structures and improvements..."(MCL 125.3865), and that "...A street, square, park, playground, public way, ground, or other open space; or public building or other structure shall not be constructed or authorized for construction in an area covered by a municipal master plan unless the location, character, and extent of the street, public way, open space, structure or utility have been submitted to the planning commission by the legislative body..."(MCL 125.3861).

The Planning Commission introduces and reviews the CIP, and schedules a public hearing prior to adoption. This process is to occur before the annual budget process in order to serve as a guide to City Administration and the City Commission.

For specific questions related to the CIP, please contact the Planning Department at (231) 922-4778 or by email at kmiller@traversecitymi.gov.