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DDA to send downsizing request to Chelsea City Council

The Chelsea Downtown Development Authority board unanimously agreed to change its bylaws and to send a request to the Chelsea City Council to reduce the number of appointed members on the authority from 12 people to 11 people.

Michigan State laws requires DDA’s to have from 8-12 members said Chairman Tim Merkel.

Currently, there are nine members on the board and two people have submitted applications for appointment for the three vacancies.

“I think we’ll have some flux regardless of the number,” said Jennifer Fairfield.

Mayor Melissa Johnson said that the DDA board was the largest one in the city and that most, including the City Council, have seven members.

There was also discussion of having an even number of people on the board and the difficulty of sometimes having a quorum at the meetings.

Six people would be needed for a quorum of 11 members, while seven folks are needed for a quorum of 12 members.

In other business, work on the Palmer event space has halted for the winter season and the “envelop for the building” is complete said City Manager John Hanifan. He said the site work is on schedule and once the weather breaks, the contractors will be back to complete the project.

The DDA board also requested that the City Council come up with a formal process for naming new spaces or buildings. The DDA board wants residents to have a say in the naming of the Palmer space but there needs to be a process in place to get that started. What that process might include will be up to the City Council. And, it’s expected that this will be one of the topics of discussion at the City Council visioning session on Feb. 7 beginning at 5:30 at the Village Conference Center at the Comfort Inn.

Hanifan also provided an update on developer Joe Ziolkowski’s Mack building redevelopment project. Ziolkowski is still waiting to hear from the state about the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) grant funding.

This is a joint project between the City of Chelsea and the Downtown Development Authority, the State of Michigan and Ziolkowski, who plans to rehabilitate the building on Jackson Street. The original scope of the project included turning the lower level into retail space and the upper level into apartments.

Hanifan said that there have been a number of different MEDC staff members working on this project and that there’s a gap between the grant funding, the developer’s and the city’s collective commitments.

Ziolkowski is hoping that the MEDC will release more funds so he can move forward with the project.

It’s expected that the developer will have more information from the state and will attend the February DDA meeting to update the board on where the project stands. The DDA has committed, but not released, $40,000 per year for five years to this project, Hanifan said, adding that the developer and the city have still not closed on this project.  

The board also voted to hold an FY2018 budget work session on Thursday, Feb. 1 to discuss funding and projects for the budget year.  

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