City council to move forward with plans for Harbour Pointe streets

At the March 6 regular meeting, the Belleville City Council discussed some of the details of a proposed street project for Harbour Pointe subdivision and decided to set up two meetings in April to discuss the plans with residents.
The council is depending on a successful special assessment district petition that gets 51% of the 94 parcel owners to sign so the residents can pay for the $1,825,000 project.
Harbour Pointe was built in 1994-95 and the streets now are crumbling. A recent street assessment showed this subdivision has the worst streets in the city, except for a short piece of Greylock next to Edgemont School.
DPW Director Rick Rutherford said he went into the subdivision and walked the streets. He determined 32 catch basins will need to be replaced and 175 feet of sidewalks as part of the overall project. Individual homeowners will not have to pay for these sidewalks separately as is usually the case in the city.
Mayor Kerreen Conley said one of the questions that has come up hasn’t been answered yet. She said they need to know if the special assessment district is a lien against the property. If it has to be paid when the property is sold, no way would the residents want that, she said.
“We’ve had houses underwater too long,” she said.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said since there are 94 parcel owners, they will need a bigger room than the council chambers for the meetings. She asked if the Belleville High School Commons was a suitable place and the council agreed it was, especially since it was so close to the subdivision.
Kollmeyer said she would call the school to find out when they can meet there.
“We have to do it sooner rather than later,” Mayor Conley said, noting they will have two meetings with the same information and if a person has a question after the first meeting he can bring it to the second meeting.
Mayor Conley said 51% of the people have to want to do it. She asked if a petition should be at the meetings and/or if someone needs to champion the petition.
City Manager Kollmeyer said once a petition is successful the assessment roll is prepared and there are two public hearings on that.
In other business at the March 6 meeting, the council:
• Heard James Wilde of Alan C. Young & Associates give a report on the June 30, 2016 audit. He said the city had an increase of 2.5% in revenue and about the same in expenditures. The general fund balance grew to $1,221,929, more than 50% of the general fund expenditures, $2,191,972. Each department came in under budget, he said. A recommendation, for the second year in a row, is to remove any outstanding checks that have not been cashed. There are some that are several years old. The city received an unmodified audit opinion, the highest it can get;
• Held a public hearing on use of the approximate $57,000 in 2017 Community Development Block Grant funds and then approved the grant use;
• Approved the Belleville Firefighter Association’s fourth-annual Fill the Boot Drive for Autism drive from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, at the corner of Main and High streets, rain or shine. Chairman Chris Zweng said last year they collected $2,158 and this year’s goal is $2,500;
• Approved the Central Business Community’s use of Victory Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 15 for the Flop-E-Bunny Candy Hunt. Firemen said they will bring the bunny to the park in their Hummer and will have a truck at the park for children to explore. A police car is also expected to be there;
• Approved the CBC’s use of the Fourth Street Square for a Farmers’ Market from 3 to 8 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays, June through September, in conjunction with the “Street Rod Show”;
• Approved the CBC’s Taste of Belleville event with High Street closed at Horizon Park from 2 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 17 for the Taste of Belleville after the Belleville Bridge Walk. CBC president Bill Wolters said last year’s Taste was the most successful ever with more than 22 servers. He said the Rotary’s Ducky Race is also a big success. He asked for Aug. 24 to be a rain date and the council agreed, even though it was pointed out the Music Lakeside concert for Aug. 24 already has been approved and the band hired;
• Approved the CBC’s Booville Monster Mutt Walk using various locations – including Fourth, High, and Main streets — from noon to 2 p.m. Oct. 21. In case there is construction at the library site, the walk would be relocated;
• Heard Wolters state the CBC also would be participating in the National Strawberry Festival, Harvest Festival, and Halloween events in the city this year;
• Approved the city’s 22nd-annual Bridgewalk at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 17, in conjunction with the CBC’s Taste of Belleville;
• Approved $128,292.08 in accounts payable and the following purchases in excess of $500: to Liquiforce, $36,197.87, final payment for sewer improvements; to TNT Tree Service, $1,900 for tree removal in the DDA District; to The Fire Store, $931 for a training manikin for the fire department; and to Cadillac Asphalt, $580.75 for cold patch/repair out of the General Fund/Sewer budget; and
• Heard a complaint from Mike Renaud about “Sam’s Lake” at the Kassab parking lot, which he said is a public nuisance. Rutherford said he has been ticketed four to six times a year and the most recent two Kassab paid $125 on one and pled out on the other. Rutherford said some new things are in the works as Kassab’s problems expand and compound. “We’re working on it,” Rutherford said.