Belleville DDA goes into 47-min. closed session to consider three properties

The city of Belleville Downtown Development Authority held a 47-minute closed-door session during its regular meeting on Oct. 18 and then voted unanimously to move forward with hiring an appraiser to appraise the three parcels discussed in the closed session.
The closed session was called per MCL 15.268(d) “to consider the purchase or lease of real property up to the time an option to purchase or lease that real property is obtained.”
Paul Armstrong, a Realtor from NextHome Evolution of Belleville, was present for most of the closed session.
During its Oct. 18 meeting, the DDA spent a long time discussing the idea of installing small sheds in the downtown area as “pop-up shops.”
Assistant City Manager Steve Jones explained that this is being done around the state and shops are up all summer and are used during the week or just on Fridays and Saturdays. He said they usually are rented out on a regular basis.
He said renters are able to leave their wares overnight.
Jones said this is to encourage businesses to operate downtown. He said the Farmers Market and casr show do very well on one day and these pop-up shops will add new businesses to the brick and mortar stores and give people more places to shop.
“I wanted to start a conversation with the board as a possible option,” said Jones who had included pictures of four different kinds of wooden sheds in the council packet.
He said some people could be working out of their homes most of the time and this would give a place for a season that wouldn’t cost as much as a storefront. That business might eventually move into a storefront, he said.
DDA chairperson Alicia McGovern said that before City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson left he talked about a company that could ping cell phones to see who comes into the community. She said she will look into the minutes for that information.
Jones said pop-up shops are coming for Winter Fest and maybe they could have 4 or 6 or 10. He suggested they be put at Fourth Street Place and Horizon Park, so people could stop and shop.
City Manager Jason Smith, who had introduced himself to the DDA, said they could be put in the DORA district so people could sip wine and walk around the shops.
DDA treasurer Sabrina Richardson-Williams asked who would rent out the shops and take care of them. Jones said thee CBC already does many things and the Chamber of Commerce could work in maybe a partnership.
“This looks like a shed,” Richardson-Williams said, referring to one of the pictures Jones had provided in the meeting packet.
“Downtown Detroit has glass houses,” Jones noted, saying the models with doors on the side look like mini shops.
City Manager Smith said Muskegon has pop-up shops larger than a shed, about 300-400 square feet.
Jones said he had been advised to keep them to 10’x15′ or 20′. He said maybe the DDA could make its own structures and not and not permanently place them and store them in the winter.
DDA vice-chairperson Kelly McWilliams said she liked the idea of a glass structure.
Valerie Kelley-Bonner asked where they would put them. She said the Fourth Street Place is used for other things.
DDA secretary Denise Baker asked if they needed electricity and, if so, that would determine where they could be placed.
Jones said in the summer the daylight hours are longer and they wouldn’t need electricity, but there is electricity at the trees in Fourth Street Place.
“I love the idea of pop-up shops,” said McWilliams, adding she doesn’t know where to put them. We can make whatever we want.”
Jones said he was trying to get the vision out there and start the conversation.
Mayor Kerreen Conley asked where they would be placed and would they just be to add to an event? Also, where would they be stored?
She cautioned them to think about the people who pay taxes downtown. She said incubators make sense.
“I can’t envision where they could be as big as they are,” Mayor Conley said. “Logistics need to be ironed out.”
Chairperson McGovern said she had great ideas and she, too, likes glass.
“They couldn’t stay in front to the library on a permanent basis,” Richardson-Williams said, referring to Fourth Street Place. “A gazebo in the park would be better.”
John Winter said from the audience that Northville has shut down streets. He said they could put 12 in Fourth Street Place, which would be easy to do, and they could store them at the DPW yard. He said they would have to shut Fourth Street.
Mayor Pro-Tem Ken Voigt said from the audience that Trenton had them for its Lobster Fest. He said they put up permanent kiosks, 4 or 6, and it looked interesting. He said there are similar things in Nashville and it’s a good way to incubate businesses.
He said the glass structures are nice. Voigt referred to Boxy Park in Orlando where they have containers that each houses a food truck. He said customers scan the Q code and order what they want and then wait to pick it up.
McGovern said in Idaho they have similar things and a lot of people are doing it.
“We’ll keep this on our follow-up list,” McGovern said.
In other business in the one-hour-and-26-minute meeting, the DDA:
• Heard several DDA members say they have been contacted by people in the community who say they are against the pay-to-park idea for the Liberty Street parking lot. Speaking against the idea were McWilliams, Richardson-Williams, and Baker. Mayor Conley said the city council is not in favor of the idea. Chairperson is not in favor of the idea. Chairperson McGovern, who had brought the idea forward at a past meeting, said it would only be during events and there is nothing to vote on now. This is just conversation, she said;
• Approved accounts payables for September and October, removing the item for an appraiser since they hadn’t made the decision to hire him before the vote was taken;
• Heard Jones report the Witch’s Ball is scheduled at Egan’s Pub and the Fourth Street Square; and
• Heard Winter say that the crosswalk in front of Egan’s has a button that isn’t facing the crosswalk and it should be fixed, He said people are going to be hit because they just step out into the street and sometimes drivers don’t stop. He asked the DDA to get ahold of the company that installed the button and get them to just switch it around. McGovern asked Jones to look into the cost.
Absent from the meeting were DDA members Ivan Ankwatsa and Jennifer Winter.