Public invited to study proposed City Master Plan

At the Jan. 5 regular meeting of the Belleville City Council, the public was introduced into the 120-page proposed new City Master Plan by planning consultants from Giffels Webster.
A man in the audience said the new Master Plan wasn’t available for the public to see to comment on, although members of the city council had copies.
After discussion, the council voted unanimously to formally authorize distribution of the plan to surrounding communities and other entities for 63 days. Then the planning commission will hold a public hearing, probably at its March 12 meeting, and make a recommendation to the council for approval.
The vote on the distribution came during the public hearing and before the 15-minute hearing was closed. Most of the comments on the plan came from the consultants and the council, since the public didn’t have a copy of the plan.
The draft Master Plan will be available to the public for review at city hall, the Belleville Area District Library, and at the city’s online site. Directions on how to comment on the plan will be included in the draft.
Eric Coppola of Giffels Webster said this is the first complete rewrite of the city’s Master Plan since 2006. It has been updated regularly since then, but now it is completely redone.
Under state law the Master Plan must be at least updated every five years, said consultant Andy Aamodt.
Coppola said at least eight of nine meetings of the planning commission over the past year have included discussion on the Master Plan. There also have been several public-input surveys.
Parks and Recreation Plan
A second public hearing was held on the draft of the Parks and Recreation Plan. Mayor Ken Voigt said the notice of this public hearing had to be published 30 days in advance and it wasn’t published in time. He said it was published Dec. 18 so the plan was to open the public hearing at this meeting and extend it to include the next meeting on Jan. 20.
Consultant Coppola said in order to be able to get state funding for park projects, the city has to have a Recreation Plan. He said they got six responses to a survey on the draft and after a special meeting for input, the total responses was up to 15, which he said was “acceptable for a town of this size.”
He said the deadline to send the approved plan to the state is Feb. 1.
The public was told the Recreation Plan has been online for review.
Mayor Voigt said the city wants to submit a grant application for ten more boat docks at Doane’s Landing park.
He said a $750,000 grant to improve the banks at Horizon Park was received and is now in the hands of the city’s engineers.
Mayor Voigt also said the city wants to submit a grant application to the state to improve the city boardwalks.
Several people in the audience commented on the Recreation Plan, with many wanting better water quality in Belleville Lake. It was noted the city has no power over the water quality, but could partner with Van Buren Township, Wayne County, and the State of Michigan to help with support groups.
The 24-minute public hearing closed and will reopen on Jan. 20.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the council:
• Heard an update from interim city manager Steve Jones on work at the new city hall at 330 Charles St. He said he believes all the staff took a tour of the building. He referred to a document he had distributed to the council, but not the public or the press. He mentioned a figure of $175,000 and that audio-visual and updating of computers was needed. He said work at the building has been quiet over the holidays and the door jambs are coming any day now and then the floor can be laid. He guessed they could move in in mid-February;
• Heard councilwoman Julie Kissel say the shelves and desks intended to be moved to the new building have disappeared. Jones said they were put into storage until they could be brought into the new building;
• Heard DPW Director Nathan Johnson report the pre-construction meeting on the Liberty Street Project will be held the next day. He said letters will be sent out to residences of the area under construction to tell them what will happen and when, such as water shutoffs and directional boring. He said law requires pressure tests and chlorine in the pipes for so long before putting the pipes into service and abandoning the old pipes. Mayor Voigt said the original bids were a half a million dollars more and so they saved money by rebidding, as recommended by the city engineers. He said this project includes adding a fire hydrant every block. Now there are just two on North Liberty St.;
• Heard the mayor remove from the agenda, without comment, a discussion on Tax Incentives for city economic development and a discussion on Civil Service;
• Noted since city hall has been closed over the holidays there were no accounts payable, departmental expenditures, budget reports or any reports from police, fire, or DPW; and
• Went into closed-door session with the city attorney for two items not available for the public to know.