IRON MOUNTAIN — A completion date of Nov. 15, 2025, has been set for the planned Pewabic Hill mountain bike trail system under new bid documents approved Monday by Iron Mountain City Council.

A number of “pretty substantial requirements” also have been added to ensure the contractor has direct mountain bike trail experience, City Manager Jordan Stanchina said.

A Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund grant of $183,200 will help build 6 miles of public trails on city property east of Park Avenue at East B Street, matched by $64,000 from the non-profit Dickinson Trail Network. The city has promised a limited amount of in-kind work, bringing total project funding to $262,200.

Bids for the project were opened Jan. 2, but the proposals came from general contractors, including a low bid of $262,175 from FA industrial Services Inc. of Iron River. After some research, and at the request of DTN President Chad Susott, the city council Feb. 5 decided to reject all bids.

In delaying the project more than year, the city hopes to attract a known builder to make it a world-class attraction. DNR grant coordinator Merrie Carlock has been consulted to ensure the extended deadline won’t jeopardize state funding, Stanchina said.

The revised bid package prepared by Coleman Engineering Co. of Iron Mountain requires a foreman with at least five years of experience building mountain bike trails. Among other stipulations, the contractor must have built at least 10 miles of mountain bike-specific trail types identified in the package.

Bids will be due by 4 p.m. March 18 and opened at that night’s council meeting.

According to Susott, trail specialists avoided the first round of bidding in part because of a strict 60-day deadline for completion, which was not realistic. DTN had input in preparing the new bid documents.

At the council’s Feb. 5 meeting, Mayor Dale Alessandrini said it would be up to DTN to work toward a solution if the new bids come in much higher than what’s proposed.

The planned Pewabic Hill trail would link to DTN’s Millie Hill Trailhead, a 5-mile system just west of Park Avenue.