Van Buren Twp. LDFA rejects offer to buy its Ecorse Rd. property

Members of the Van Buren Township Local Development Finance Authority met in a brief, closed-door session on the sale of real property on May 9 and then came back into open session to reject the offer submitted to them.
Although there were no comments on the property, the LDFA has been working to sell a small piece of property it owns.
During its September meeting, the LDFA voted to go out for proposals for the 1.04-acre vacant parcel it owns on the south side of Ecorse Road, between Hannan Road and I-275. The property was rezoned from AG to C at the request of the LDFA and now is ready to be sold. Akers produced a proposed scale on which to evaluate offers and the LDFA tweaked that and approved going out for proposals with a Nov. 18 deadline
At the March 15 LDFA meeting it was announced that the township submitted a counter offer for the sale of the site, but had not received a response yet. Ron Akers, director of planning and economic development, said that once a response is received he would get together with chairman Mike Dotson to schedule a special meeting for the LDFA to consider the response. A special meeting hadn’t been necessary.
In other business at the half-hour meeting on May 10, the LDFA:
• Heard VBT Supervisor Kevin McNamara say he drove Wayne County Commissioner Al Haidous to Visteon Way to show him how bad the road was. Supervisor McNamara reported Commissioner Haidous asked, “Whose roads are these?” and McNamara replied, “They’re yours.” McNamara said he emphasized to Haidous how big a tax asset the Grace Lake property was and Haidous said he would look into getting the road repaired;
• Heard Akers report that he and other VBT representatives went to a meeting on autonomous vehicles at Willow Run and VBT let them know about Grace Lake. He said they also discussed using Ecorse Road as a runway for testing. He said the Ricardo building is just outside the LDFA district, but Ricardo is moving its operation into the back part and is leasing prime office space up front. LDFA member John Delaney asked if the LDFA district can expand to include Ricardo and Akers said if you make a change to the boundaries, the other jurisdictions you capture taxes from could opt out, including the school district;
• Heard chairman Dotson comment that with the American Center for Mobility project at Willow Run, “This whole region could see a shift.” Akers said it’s for more than vehicles. They now have an option of working with drones. He said Willow Run got permission to do that and an Amazon truck could come out, open its door, and the drones would fly out to deliver. McNamara said your own drone could go get a gallon of milk. “Take off and go to Meijer’s,” he said. Akers said ACM would be open in December;
• Heard LDFA member Doug Peters ask about the water running into Belleville Lake and Akers said that came from west of the airport, not in the LDFA district. He said the Huron River Watershed Council tests that water. “What I’m looking for in the mud is PCPs,” Peters said;
• Discussed areas in the township that would be available to those wanting to build near the ACM facility; and
• Heard Matthew Best, deputy director of planning and economic development, say Supervisor McNamara has pushed for branding Van Buren Township and the clerk agreed. He said he had ordered 1,000 “VBT” bumper stickers that are available in the supervisor’s office to promote the township. He said people can show they are proud to live in VBT. “We’re always going to be Belleville,” McNamara said. “Ten percent of the people do not know they live in VBT. I’m going to designate borders, with the permission of the board,” he said, referring to small signs.