City Council Recap: Sinking Yard, Roadwork and More

Lowell City Council meet for an hour and a half on Tuesday night for their second regular meeting of the month. While meetings are normally held on Mondays, the date for this session was moved in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Councilmember Leah Groves was officially absent but tuned into the meeting via the Zoom videoconferencing platform. When the city was under a state of emergency, state law allowed meetings to be attended remotely. Now that the state of emergency has lifted, officials must meet in person or be counted absent.

All other councilmembers were physically present for the meeting, which had a lengthy agenda and started with a citizen comment about a sinking yard.

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Public Comments: Hudson Street Yard Seems to be Sinking

During the public comments portion of the evening, Annette Lalley Ritzema shared concern about a slope in her property on Hudson Street. It seemed to appear first in October.

“We’ve been alarmed about the changes we’ve seen on our property,” she said. Not only was the yard sloping but her driveway had started cracking. “I’m not here to raise drama, but you folks need to know what’s going on.”

Lalley Ritzema said she appreciated the response she had received from the Department of Public Works and noted that Utilities Supervisor Ralph Brecken had been quick to communicate with her. However, now Brecken was out with an illness. She was concerned that if a utility pipe had broken and was filling with dirt, it could cause a problem for others in the community as well.

After the meeting, Lowell’s First Look asked DPW Director Dan Czarnecki for more information about the situation. Czarnecki said he had no idea what was causing the problem on Lalley Ritzema’s property. He presumed that Brecken would put a camera into the utility line to look for damage, but it was something that would have to wait until Brecken returned to work. No one else in the department is assigned to the matter.

Design Work for Road Repairs Approved

Three of the agenda items for the night were about design work for road projects. In each case, the work will be completed by engineering firm Williams&Works, and all expenditures were approved unanimously.

  • $155,000 for design work for a road and utility project on Washington Street scheduled for 2023.
  • $34,500 for design work for street projects on Roberta Jayne Drive, Faith Drive, Valley Vista Drive and Heffron Drive scheduled for 2022.
  • $10,700 for a mill and resurfacing project on Gee Drive scheduled for 2022.

Council OK’s Reopening Marijuana Zoning Ordinance

At its January meeting, the Lowell Planning Commission discussed whether now was the time to consider whether there should be restrictions on the establishment of marijuana businesses east of the Flat River.

The commission had made that recommendation to council last year, but the council declined to vote on the matter since someone was actively pursuing the establishment of a marijuana business at the RollAway property. However, the property is now back up for sale.

“It got brought up at the planning commission that they understood the why,” said Councilmember Marty Chambers who is the council representative on the planning commission. “They asked me to move it forward and I did,” he added in explaining why the matter was now before the council.

Mayor Mike DeVore said he would like to have a public hearing on the matter but understood that public hearings on zoning ordinance changes take place before the planning commission. City Attorney Jessica Wood replied that the council could hold a public hearing whenever it likes.

Councilmember Jim Salzwedel requested that if the planning commission was going to look into the matter, it should also see if there were any commercial properties on the west side of town that were not suitable for marijuana businesses.

It was decided to direct the planning commission to look into the issue, with the understanding that the council would hold its own public hearing prior to any vote on an ordinance change.

Later in the meeting, City Manager Mike Burns shared that the City of Lowell is eligible for a share of state marijuana excise taxes based on having five marijuana establishments last year. While the numbers are still being finalized, preliminary estimates are that the city could receive $40,000-$50,000 per facility.

425 Agreement for Township Sewer Services

DeVore, Chambers, Burns and Wood met with Lowell Charter Township officials and a developer who owns property by the I-96 interchange. For years, city and township officials have been discussing if and how to expand city water and sewer services to the property and elsewhere in the township.

The city has been adamant that they will only do so with a 425 agreement, which would allow the city to receive taxes from the property. Previously, the township and developer have seemed to balk at that idea.

However, the property now seems to be in line for a substantial infusion of cash from a state economic development program, but that apparently hinges on the viability of the project, which requires sewer service. DeVore says the developer is now onboard with a 425 agreement and requested written documentation that indicates the township and city are working together.

Both the township and city passed resolutions this week stating their willingness to continue to explore the possibility of various ways to extend sewer service to the property. The city resolution passed unanimously.

Other Council Action

Other action taken during Tuesday’s meeting included the following:

  • 211 N. Pleasant was rezoned from R-3 to the C-3 zoning district, as recommended by the planning commission. Betten Baker owns the property and has used it for storage for years. The vote was unanimous.
  • By unanimous vote, the Lowell Police Department was given approval to sell an old, unneeded cruiser. Proceeds from the sale will go toward buying a new vehicle in the future.
  • The lime pond at the water treatment facility must be cleaned, and council voted unanimously to pay $177,628 to Michigan AgriBusiness Solutions LLC to do the work. Two bids were received for the job, and Michigan AgriBusiness Solutions was the low bidder.
  • Wood provided a review of council rules and procedures before they were unanimously adopted as is required each year.

The next regular meeting of Lowell City Council will take place on Monday, February 7, at 7pm.

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