Clare prepares for a second industrial park; Commissioner Tom Koch still has questions

  NEXT WEEK: Look for a story by reporter Rosemary Horvath about Farwell’s industrial park.

   CLARE – The Clare City Planning Commission worked with a consultant last year to develop a future land use map for the Urban Cooperation Area that incorporates a new industrial park, City Manager Ken Hibl said during an interview.
     This “potential city expansion” encompasses land belonging to Grant Township that borders three sides of the city limits. It’s addressed under the urban cooperation tax-sharing agreement the city and township reached two years ago.
     “The future land use map is an integral part of the city’s master plan – which is a document that quite specifically lays out the plan for the city’s future growth and development,” Hibl said.
     Areas are specifically deemed suitable for agriculture, rural residential, single family residential, high-density single family residential, neighborhood commercial, recreation and open space.
     The township’s platted Section 23, the part owned by Clare Northern Group LLC, which is roughly 200 acres, has a mix of regional commercial, industrial and agriculture.
     The portion designated regional commercial hugs the east side of Clare Avenue north of Colonville Road.
     To the east and lower half of Section 23 is approximately 40 acres marked for industrial.
     And it is this undeveloped site that has some members of the Clare City Commission anxiously waiting to learn why the city’s Industrial Development Corporation board favors it for manufacturing over the option of expanding the city’s existing industrial park located on the city’s south side.  
     This south site was the choice location at one time and was recommended by the city planning commission in 2007. They wrote in the master plan “expansion of the existing industrial park into the vacant land to the south is a logical use for this property as industrial uses would be compatible with the surrounding land uses.”
     After months of on again and off again scheduling, the IDC is expected to unveil its comparative study to the city commission March 1 to explain the advantages of developing at the north end rather than at the south end.

    “For over three years I’ve wanted to know how much it will cost to extend utilities to the Clare Northern property,” City Commission Tom Koch said Friday.
    At one time, Ron Kunse, head of Clare Northern and an IDC member, expected to develop the north end site into commercial development, featuring a big box retailer such as Wal-Mart at one point, movie complex, chain restaurants and hotels.
Settling the urban cooperation agreement however slowed planning and the economy downturn in recent years pretty much finished it off.
     Koch said Kunse and the city then moved in a new direction toward industrial development.
     “But the property isn’t worth anything without sewer and water,” according to Koch. “The city can get grants to develop an industrial infrastructure but there are no grants to help with retail development.”
     Along with extending public utilities to the area, the city must consider building a second water tower to service the north side whether the Colonville Road area is developed or not.
     To tie into the existing system piping would have to run west on Colonville Road and under the expressway.
     According to Craig Goodrich, engineer with Gourdie-Fraser Inc. of Traverse City, the north end of Clare has approximately 145 users. The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental indicates water storage is required for a district that has over 150 users.
In other words, Goodrich told The Sentinel, “No additional hook ups for new water users would be allowed by the DNRE until a water storage tank is permitted for construction. The water study identified a need for a 300,000 gallon water storage tank, located at a high elevation connected to the existing 12 inch water system on the city’s north end.”
      Cost of a new water tower has been estimated at $1.6 million.
     IDC members met privately with city commissioners in November at the Doherty Hotel. IDC chairman Jim Allen told The Sentinel he gave a “concept” of a second industrial park.
     “The only thing I learned is that they don’t have the information except what they wanted to give us,” City Commissioner John Koch said last week when polled about the November meeting.
     “We weren’t allowed to discuss anything,” Koch added. “I don’t care where the industrial park goes, but we can’t decide with skewed information.”
     Commissioner Jean McConnell recalled the IDC shared information about the two sites. “They gave history of the IDC I wasn’t aware of. We just listened.”
     Mayor Pat Humphrey agreed the session was “all informational. Basically, they said what they wanted us to know,” he said.
     Some Sentinel readers questioned if the gathering had violated the Michigan Open Meeting Act.
    When posed that question, Attorney Omar Chaudhary, Michigan Press Association legal counsel for member newspapers including The Clare Sentinel,  asked if commissioners were doing city business or not? If they deliberated toward a decision or decided something, it would be a violation. But if they went there and sat silently, it wasn’t.
     “It’s context dependant,” he said. “If they are going to discuss the issue then it has to be at an open meeting.”
     The Clare Industrial Park is filled and fully occupied.
     Hibl recalled when he became the city manager manufacturers were scattered all around the city and some at downtown locations. In the last decade, the city has worked diligently to centralize or create neighborhoods of industrial businesses, Hibl said.
     So far, there are four such areas: Pioneer Parkway, where StageRight & Filcon are located; a small area on Third Street where RWP and Johnston’s Elevator are located; a small area on East Fourth Street and the south end industrial park.
     “Two, three, four, five or more industrial areas or parks in a municipality are not uncommon,” Hibl said. “Mount Pleasant has at least three industrial areas. Ithaca, a community the size of Clare, has two industrial parks.”
NEXT WEEK: Look for a story by reporter Rosemary Horvath about Farwell’s industrial park.