A Michigan developer’s $25,000 bid for 25.5 acres owned by Burns Harbor was rejected by a majority of the town’s Redevelopment Commission members Wednesday, who found the offer too low.
The Redevelopment Commission voted 3-2 to reject the proposal from The Sloane Avenue Group and Redstone Group of Grand Rapids. Commission members Jack McGraw, Brad Enslen and Kylane Tumblin voted to reject the offer, while Roseann Bozak and Jennifer McHargue opposed. McGraw, Bozak and McHargue also serve on the Town Council.
The Sloane Avenue Group and Redstone Group was the lone developer to respond to the town’s request for proposal for the 25.5 acres off Ind. 149 and Haglund Road, across from the Town Hall.
As part of their offer, the developer had proposed to absorb all of the infrastructure costs, which would include wetland mitigation. John Kavchak of Sloane Avenue Group had unveiled to the commission a mixed-use proposal that would have built 54 houses and retail space.
McGraw called for the vote to reject the proposal.
“This should be shut down,” McGraw bluntly said, noting that the offer was nowhere near the property’s value.
Burns Harbor in 2018 paid $250,000 to the Duneland School Corporation for 28 acres at Haglund Road and Indiana 149. A portion of the land has been developed into a link for the Marquette Greenway Trail.
Jim Meeks, a resident who was critical of the developer’s offer, stated during the meeting’s public comment portion that the town’s own public records show that two appraisals performed this year placed the land’s value at $677,000 and $435,000. Meeks said the appraisals reinforce the fact that the town made a good investment in buying the land and that the developer’s offer was too low.
Enslen said the developer’s proposal also falls short of what the town envisioned for that property.
“I just don’t think that the developer’s proposal is appropriate for that plot. It’s not what we intended when the town bought that area,” Enslen said.
Burns Harbor in 2019 had entered into a partnership with Holladay Properties for a $32 million development that would have been anchored by a new Town Hall and community center alongside apartments, townhouses and retail space. But the developer abandoned that plan in 2023.
Enslen said this was the first offer for the land and the town should wait for a better one to come along.
Bozak had favored a delay in acting on the developer’s offer. She said the town needed to do another appraisal of the property, taking into account how the wetlands would need to be mitigated.
However, a majority of commission members decided it was a better option to reject the offer from the Sloane Avenue Group and Redstone Group.
Meeks told the commission that they shouldn’t bother to do any more appraisals of the property. He said a developer who wants to buy the land should pick up that cost.
Commission members did agree that the town will have to assess the wetlands on the property, which are growing, and how that will affect future development.
Tina Rongers, who is the town’s economic development consultant, was instructed to see what the cost would be for the Army Corps of Engineers to declare that the 25.5 acres is outside of their jurisdiction and that it’s not a significant wetland, so construction could proceed under state law. Land owned by the town, north of the 25.5 acres, is known to be under federal wetlands jurisdiction.
Rongers was also instructed to determine the cost of another appraisal.
In other business, the commission approved a $13,500 contract with the SEH Group to do engineering work for the next phase of the Marquette Greenway Trail’s extension. Included in that contract is $5,000 for additional engineering work to correct a drainage issue that has cropped up in a portion of the newly built trail that stretches northeast from Haglund Road and Ind. 149 toward Stanley Road.
Residents Connie Sikora and Gordon McCormick raised objections to paying SEH Group $5,000 for their engineering work on correcting the drainage issue. Both of them noted that the engineering firm was responsible for designing the trail, so they should absorb that cost.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.