OXFORD — The Oxford Village Council awarded the East Burdick Street and Oxford United Methodist Church (OUMC) repair projects to a paving company, and approved a lease for the parking lot off of Burdick Street during its meeting on Sept. 10.

Council members Jacob Nicosia and Lori Bourgeau were absent.

East Burdick and OUMC lot repairs

The council approved awarding the work of the East Burdick Street repairs and Oxford United Methodist Church (OUMC) parking lot paving projects to BSI Paving in a 3-0 vote.

BSI Paving was the project’s low bidder at $157,753, according to village documents. The village has around $24,000 available from the Oakland County Board of Commissioners Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) to use on the project, which brings the village’s net cost for the street work to around $134,000.

Up to $160,000 was approved for the East Burdick Street repairs and up to $12,000 was approved for repairs to OUMC’s parking lot.

Originally, $48,000 was budgeted. The total was raised after Village Manager Joe Madore said he and others walked the stretch of the East Burdick Street and realized more work needed to be done.

Those repairs will be funded through the village’s major street fund, which had $419,000 to begin the fiscal year, according to village documents.

“So even though the project went a little higher than we thought, we had plenty of money in the major street fund to handle that,” Madore said.

A price for an optional scope of work to Oxford United Methodist Church’s parking lot is also listed in documents as an “Alternate 1” price. The scope’s value, including drain structure and asphalt repairs is $11,524.75.

An agreement between the church and the village was signed in September of 1999 to allow for community parking in the church lot. The agreement states the village “will provide for repair of pot holes and similar damage.”

The price of the church’s parking lot repairs brings the total cost of both projects to $169,277.25.

The village has spent $12,000 on design, engineering, bidding and contract documents, and will have on-site engineering inspector costs from $15,000 to $19,000 during the project, according to village documents.

Future budget amendments will be prepared as required. Madore estimated the East Burdick repairs to be “about a three-week project.”

PUD parking lot potential opening

Council also voted 3-0 to give authority to enter into a “non-financial burdening lease” with the PUD parking lot owned by local developer Dave Weckle.

Village attorney Bob Davis said the lease is required if council wants to open the lot by Oxford’s Scarecrow Festival on Sept. 29.

The agreement would allow the village to “put the parking lot into our insurance coverage,” Davis said.

The village was waiting for DTE to finish underground work to connect the lot’s lighting, according to Madore, which has since been completed.

“The reconfiguration and the surveying … is not done yet, but I don’t want to wait for that to happen,” Madore said. “So it will be in [Weckle’s] legal name until we get that accomplished.

The parking lot is located at 32 E. Burdick St.