The city of East Lansing is getting a first look at a long range plan to use federal COVID relief money to improve its infrastructure and quality of life.
Last May, East Lansing received just over $6 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, with another $6 million coming in May 2022.
On Tuesday, City Manager George Lahanas presented a draft spending plan that would largely fund deferred maintenance and capital improvement projects.
Many items on the wish list are long-standing needs.
Lahanas says others, like sewer backflow prevention, are more recent.
“Recent heavy rain events, we’ve had people thinking about ways to sort of harden their infrastructure in their house(s) and make their houses more resilient; and that’s one area that council seems to be strongly supportive of,” Lahanas said.
The plan also calls for nearly $3 million to renovate the Hannah Community Center.
“That’s obviously a community asset that many people use and enjoy; (it) has a great impact on people’s health, wellness and socializing activities, and it’s been a priority of ours for some time,” he said.
Lahanas says the city will likely present the plan for public input in a few months.
