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DDA approves letter of intent with Mack Building developer; hears about Huron-Waterloo Pathways Initiative, WWI project

Map of the trail from the website.
Map of the trail from the Huron-Waterloo Pathways website.

At Chelsea’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) meeting Thursday morning, Sept. 17, Jeff Hardcastle from Huron-Waterloo Pathways Initiative, presented an overview of an about 44-mile loop of regional trails that when completed would connect Stockbridge to Dexter through Chelsea.

“The Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative is a non-profit volunteer organization partnering with the Washtenaw County-based Legacy Land Conservancy to develop and expand non-motorized pathways that connect into Michigan’s growing trail network,” according to the group’s website.

The first trail segment is planned to begin at Werkner Road and M-52 and go about 4.1 miles to Territorial Road and M-52, connecting Chelsea to both the Waterloo and Pinckney Recreation Areas, while expanding access to the Waterloo-Pinckney Hiking trail.

Hardcastle said the trail is expected to be built on state land and provide access to the planned Waterloo Trail mountain biking system.

In addition, the group is working with the city to develop the Letts Creek Linear Trail Connector, which would connect Chelsea to Dexter and Chelsea to Stockbridge.

Map from the Huron-Waterloo Pathways website.
Map from the Huron-Waterloo Pathways website.

The Huron-Waterloo Pathways groups hopes to build 19.5 miles of 10-foot wide  paved pathways with 2-foot shoulders, an $8-10 million project, which would use state grant money from two funds to pay for the construction of the trails. They hope to raise $600,000 privately ($30,000 per mile) during the 5-year project for signage, maintenance and other costs association with its upkeep through both corporate and individual donor campaigns.

On Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. there will be an open house at the Chelsea District Library for folks to learn more about the project.

In the meantime, for more information, click here or the group’s Facebook page here.

In addition, two representatives from Foremost Development Company introduced themselves to the DDA Board and said they were looking at locations in the city to build “high-end luxury apartments” in the downtown area.

Resident Jan Bernath told the DDA Board that she was very excited about the project that Joe Ziolkowski of Ronlon LLC presented to the board for the Mack Building.

“I hope you’ll consider his proposal” and keep in mind “his expertise in renovating the old police building.”

The DDA voted unanimously to enter into a letter of intent to work with Ziolkowski on the project, which first needs additional environmental assessments and containment work.

City Manager John Hanifan said the state has both competitive grants and loans available for this sort of work, which is estimated at between $20,000-$30,000 for environmental testing of the building and then perhaps, about $100,000 of physical remediation work on the building.

“I think entering into a letter of intent keeps this project going forward,” said Mark Heydlauff. “A commitment from us will get the grants moving forward and a letter of intent says the city will be willing to work with this developer.”

Hanifan also told the DDA that the roof of the building will be tarped in the next few weeks to protect the inside from further weather damage. The DDA approved about $5,000 in August to have the building tarped, broken windows and doors boarded up and the building secured from further deterioration.

In other business, River Gallery and the Chelsea District Library are partnering on the next Stories of Chelsea project, this time focusing on WWI. Keegan Sulecki from the library said they “plan to celebrate Chelsea’s history from that time” (1914-1918) and hope to find local families who have photos, letters and/or stories from WWI that they will share for the project.

The organizers plan to take some of those photos and blow them up and make them into banners that would be placed on 10 downtown buildings. The exhibit is planned to go on display on July 4, 2016 and remain up through Veteran’s Day, 2016.

The project is being funded by the library, she said, and “should have a huge impact on the community.”

She said “historical tourism” is something that draws a lot of people to an area.

Smoke-and-Ale-logoChelsea Area of Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bob Pierce told the DDA about a Sept. 24 business after hours event that will take place at four of the newest downtown businesses and the Oct. 10 first Smoke and Ale festival that will take place at the Chelsea Community Fairgrounds from noon until 11 p.m. and includes BBQ, beer and music.

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