The Troy City Council delayed voting on a new $6 million transit center proposal on Monday night.

On Dec. 19, 2011 the City Council voted down a $8.4 million transit center proposal.

All of the $8.4 million would come from federal bonds according to Mark Millers, director of Troy economic and community development.

Councilman Dane Slater pulled his revised $6 million proposal off Monday night’s budget when councilman Wade Fleming was unable to attend because of a family emergency.

Even though voting was delayed, the revised proposal for the multi-modal transit center dominated Monday’s City Council meeting. A majority of the public comments section of the meeting was spent discussing the transit center. Public comments supported the councils Dec. 19 vote to not award a design subcontract in the amount of $8.4 million.

Rose Frazier, a Troy resident, addressed the council and talked of all the “negative” attention the city has been getting in the news.

“I’m a Troy, tax-paying citizen who is tired of having to listen to non-tax paying people of other cities voice their opinions at our tax payers expense,” Frazier said.

After Troy turned down the $8.4 million center, it came under fire from local media. In part because the project had been supported by both Rep. Gary Peters (D — Bloomfield Hills)  and Gov. Rick Snyder. (R —Ann Arbor.)

“We should be doing everything we can to reduce our dependance of foreign oil,” Bruce Bloomingdale, Troy resident and former candidate for city council in 2011, said.

Though the Troy City Council did not vote on a resolution at that time, Troy Mayor Janice Daniels took 20 minutes to read a five page position paper she had written with her thoughts on the transit center.

The proposed transit center would be a regional hub for the SMART bus system and would feature a high-speed transit rail. The transit center would replace the current Amtrak station in Birmingham.

The center would be located near Coolidge and Maple roads and would be a 2,400-square-feet center.

The “drop dead” date for the Troy City Council to pass or reject the transit center proposal was Dec. 19, 2011 in order to complete the project on time.

Troy will revisit this issue in the coming days when Councilman Wade Fleming is available.

 

Contact staff reporter Chris Lauritsen via e-mail at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisLaursten