Marquette Greenway Easement agreement approved by Grand Beach Village Council

Members of the Grand Beach Village Council approved a Marquette Greenway Easement Agreement at a special meeting Monday, April 10. Last summer, members approved construction of the Marquette Greenway, a 60mile nonmotorized trail from Chicago to New Buffalo, moving forward on village right of way on Grand Beach Road as well as the village deeding a permanent easement to New Buffalo Township for the greenway.

Village attorney Sara Senica said that the agreement was approved by Marcy Hamilton, executive director/senior planner at the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission, as well as the township.

The agreement states that “in consideration of One Dollar ($1.00) to Grantor (the village), and in consideration of the agreements contained herein signed below and agreed to by both Grantor and Grantee, does hereby convey to New Buffalo Township (“Grantee”), a Michigan General Law Township, of 17425 Red Arrow Highway, New Buffalo, MI 49117, an easement for the purpose of constructing, installing, repairing, and maintaining a 1O’ wide non-motorized trail across the described property owned by Grantor and used as a public right-of-way.” The agreement further states that the township “agrees to build and maintain, at its sole cost and expense, a paved 10’ (ten feet) wide non-motorized trail, to be completed not later than December 1, 2025 over the Easement Area” and that there “shall also be 2’ (two feet) wide area on both sides of the 1O’ wide trail that serves as a buffer area, which area shall remain clear of any objects or plantings (hereinafter the “buffer area”).

Councilmembers approved revising the village property use fee schedule.

The third category, “Conducting Work with Disturbance and Damage to the Village Property because of Use of Heavy Equipment for Work Being Done in an Area Outside of the Village of Grand Beach”, now states that “fees to be charged for this type of work will be determined by the Village Council on a case by-case basis.”

Council president Harry Walder said the council

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

had been under the impression that they had to charge the same fees to residents and to use of those accesses for work done outside the village; however, Senica said this “is not for work being done inside the village but it’s to use village property to access township property or another village property” and that the village can charge different fees.

“I think you could potentially make that argument that they’re not paying taxes for roads or utilities like your regular residents are and they should have to make sure you’re made whole when they’re using property,” she said.

Councilmembers 4-1, with James Bracewell voting “nay,” approved the first survey for the purpose of gathering data for a new master plan, with amendments.

Councilmembers approved reference be made to renters in the first bullet point in the third question, which asks what best describes residents of another state: “Personally use Grand Beach home on a part-time/seasonal basis and rent out house part-time.” “Renters” was added to the end of the second sentence in the fourth question: “During the summer/seasonal months, how many children are staying/living in your house that are ages 0-9? This can include family and friends and renters” as well as to the fifth and sixth questions, which ask how many children are staying/living in one’s house at one time who are ages 10-18 and 19 and older, respectively.

Bracewell said he felt there should be less categories in the numbers for the fourth through sixth questions with regards to how many children are living/staying in the house in each age group and that the map asking residents to identify where they live should be broken up into density-based categories, low, medium and high density, instead of A, B, C and D.

Councilmembers approved an ordinance to adopt the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code by Reference.

The code is an update from the 2012 one, which was still in effect for 15 days, Senica said at the meeting.

Councilmembers approved an ordinance to amend Ordinance 52.

Councilmembers approved amending Section 2 Section D subsection b to read that “all outdoor swimming pools shall be in compliance with the fence requirements in the International Property Maintenance Code 2021 with compliance being confirmed by the Village Zoning Administrator.”

Originally, the section read that the pools should be in compliance with the village’s zoning ordinance; however, Walder said that the current zoning ordinance states that the fence height requirement is 6 feet. He asked that, since the 2012 international code allows a 4-foot-high fence with the proper cover, “wouldn’t this circumvent that” because Ordinance 52 refers to the zoning ordinance instead of the international code.

Senica said that, in the ordinance that was just adopted regarding the international code, Section 3 is a repealer and repeals all ordinances and parts that are in direct conflict. Since the fence is a direct conflict, she said it “would repeal that.”

Regarding an update on property located at 48305 Rohde Court, Senica said a ticket had been issued on that several weeks ago and that they were waiting for the court to default. Currently, there’s a warrant for the resident at that address because previous tickets had been written and one of them was a misdemeanor. Senica said that the judge will issue a warrant when a misdemeanor ticket is written and “someone doesn’t show up.”

She added that the warrant doesn’t help, though, since the primary residence is in Chicago, so “that person isn’t coming back.”

A civil infraction ticket was written, where a judgement can be obtained against the property, where either the village or company hired by the village can go in and clean up the property, bringing it into compliance and tearing down the property –which is “what we’re requesting for this property,” Senica said. The cost will then be put on the property tax bill.

Councilmembers met in closed session with regards to an update on the lawsuit regarding the Public Safety Special Assessment District by New Buffalo Township.