12-20-2018 Watervliet Twp. moving forward with Medical Marijuana opt in; “Harper Ave. Park” and “Tow

Watervliet Township moving forward with Medical Marijuana opt in

By Annette Christie

Watervliet Charter Township officials are moving forward with allowing medical marijuana in the township.  At Monday night’s township board meeting, Supervisor Dan Hutchins said they will continue to have it listed on the agenda until that is complete.

At a joint meeting of the Watervliet Charter Township Board and the Planning Commission held December 5, an extensive discussion was held on the subject.  Included in the topics were zoning issues, types of medical marijuana facilities, and other aspects on the subject. The owner of a nearby provisioning center for medical marijuana and other citizens were on hand to comment. The motion was made at that meeting to opt in to medical marijuana and to request the Planning Commission to create an ordinance that is in the best interest of the citizens of Watervliet Charter Township. The motion carried unanimously.

Trustee Joe Stepich, who also sits on the Planning Commission, said that the Planning Commission will be meeting on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 and will begin the process by looking at some sample ordinances and discussing any other additions or requirements that will need to be made.  The Planning Commission will meet at 2:00 p.m. on that day.

While township officials have discussed recreational marijuana due to the recent proposal allowing it that was passed state wide, they are not taking any action on that subject until the state is finished with their rules and regulations.

Parks and Recreation Plan

Cindy LaGrow with LaGrow Consulting presented an updated Parks and Recreation Plan which is now available. The updates include additional inventory, that of “Township Hall Park” and “Harper Avenue Park” (temporary names only for the purposes of including them in the plan).

The “Township Hall Park” is two acres located next to the hall.  The proposed action for that property is soccer field creation with cooperation from the public schools including concession stand, fencing, bathrooms, and parking area.  This could also include a pickleball court.

The “Harper Avenue Park” is 33.7 acres located off Harper Avenue which was donated to the township from Berrien County.  Future plans for that property include signage and the placement of tables and benches along the Paw Paw River edge.

LaGrow said they are at the point in the process where they make the draft plan available to the public for a minimum of 30 days.  This allows an opportunity for the public and the trustees to comment. LaGrow said that they used a survey service, Survey Monkey, to seek public input.  That was distributed to as many citizens as they had email addresses for and included the schools, neighboring communities and Berrien County.  So far they have received 86 responses and the culmination of those respondents was included in the plan.

While there were projected costs on the development of the two new properties, LaGrow warned that the $250,000 for the soccer field creation is extremely conservative. She said that they should expect the numbers to change over the next 30 days. One of the purposes of the amendment to the Parks Plan is so that the township can apply to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) for grant funding intended for parks purposes.  The MDNR grant period will open up March 1, 2019.

The plan is available on the website or can be picked up in paper form at the township hall. A joint meeting of the township board and the planning commission will be held on January 30, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. and will include a public hearing on the subject. Hutchins said he would like the township board to consider the names of the two new parks. They will talk about the names of the parks at their budget workshop being held on January 9, 2019 at 3:00 p.m.

Treatment Plant Bond

Stepich, who sits on the Water Treatment Plant Board, said that a Treatment Plant Bond is in the future for the facility.  He said that a joint meeting was held with all of the neighboring communities that are serviced by the plant along with Berrien County Community Development Director Dan Fette to discuss what needs to take place.

The plant currently has approximately $500,000 – $600,000 remaining on loans from several years ago. The plant needs work completed on the two final clarifiers, which is going to be about $700,000.

The Water Treatment Plant Board had decided to go for a loan for this expense but Stepich said that they had been given bad information on the first two loans in that the wastewater plant does not have the authority to take a loan out on its own. They have decided with the help of Fette, to take the existing two loans and fold them in with a current loan of approximately $1.25 million and make it a bond issue by the county.  This was the same way that the funds were made available to build the plant originally.

Stepich said that all four of the municipalities will need to pledge full faith and credit with no money coming out of their pocket.  The payments for the bond will come from the plant and this will make everything legal with the two previous loans and this new one.  Fette will be preparing a resolution that all four municipalities will need to approve.