Yet another plan eyed for I-69/M-24 corridor

By Nancy Angellotti
Posted Thursday, June 19, 2008

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By Nancy Angellotti
VIEW Writer
LAPEER — Months of meetings and negotiations once again came to naught Monday night, as recent progress on the M-24/I69 Corridor Project ground to a halt. City commissioners took no action on the previously tabled special assessment roll for the M-24/I-69 Corridor Project Phase 1, which includes the Lowe’s project.

Allowing the item to “fall from the table” means essentially that all proposals are no longer under consideration. “Everything is dead at this point if we take no action,” Commissioner A.Wayne Bennett confirmed prior to the decision.

The item had been tabled at the previous commission meeting. At that time, developers were urged to come up with a consensus solution so that the project could move forward. Despite the urgency and the desire on the part of so many, the developers were unable to reach consensus. At the heart of the issue are the costs to developers for water and sewer, and one property owner with objections.

“It’s a shame we’ve all worked this hard, including the city staff, to have gone nowhere,” businessman and property owner, Ray Clemens, said. “Now the city is trying to make another effort.”

City Manager Dale Kerbyson said that the city is talking with developers about options and has already reached some consensus.

He is hopeful that the city-initiated talks with developers will produce something for consideration by the July 7 meeting, or even possibly as early as a special meeting scheduled for June 30.

The plan under consideration now “has a much better chance of moving forward,” Kerbyson said.

He added that the new plan is possible because the city has decided to move forward even without the cooperation of the main holdout on the project, if necessary.

The city is in the process of generating cost estimates. The assessor will then prepare a spread of the proposed assessments for the project. The new plan, including water and sewer access, will be in the neighborhood of $12 million. “It’s always been our position that existing city residents will not pay a penny for this new infrastructure development,” Kerbyson says.

“I’m trusting the city to come up with some sort of plan that will work,” Clemens says. “I’m very hopeful.”