Attendees of Monday night’s Marquette City Commission meeting look on as the commission discusses an intent to sell resolution for former Cliffs-Dow property. The commission unanimously approved a resolution of intent to sell the property to local developer Veridea Group, authorizing Marquette City Manager Mike Angeli to begin the process of negotiating and directing the sale. With the intent to sell resolution authorized, city officials and the developer can now begin taking the many steps needed before the commission can vote on a final sale of the 32-acre parcel. (Journal photo by Cecilia Brown)

MARQUETTE — Over two decades after the city of Marquette purchased the former Cliffs-Dow property along Lakeshore Boulevard for $1, the city is moving forward with preliminary steps in negotiating the sale of a 32-acre parcel to Veridea Group.

After much discussion by commissioners, staff and the public, the Marquette City Commission on Monday followed staff recommendation and unanimously approved a resolution of intent to sell the Cliffs-Dow property. This authorized Marquette City Manager Mike Angeli to begin directing the sale of the property, located at 2001 N. Lakeshore Blvd., to the Marquette-based developer Veridea Group.

Numerous individuals spoke about the matter during public comment sessions, expressing concerns about issues including the proposed residential use of the parcel, site remediation plans and the extent of knowledge about the site’s contamination, affordable housing, public access, consistency with community master plan goals, as well as planning for setbacks and rising lake levels.

“It’s not just that people are complaining,” Commissioner Jenn Hill said. “I think we actually might truly disagree about what the future of this community is supposed to look like. And that’s OK; that’s what a healthy democracy looks like.”

Mayor Fred Stonehouse emphasized the sale and development of the property is critical for the city’s tax base, as the city is trying to maintain its services “on substantially less than what any other city would be able to do,” as 55% of the city of Marquette’s property is nontaxable.

“That’s the overwhelming problem,” Stonehouse said. “So when you hear people say, let’s take Cliffs-Dow property for example, and make it into a park, it’s the people’s park. Good idea. Where’s the money? All you’re doing is adding property that could be potentially helping everybody and taking that money away. So whether we end up here with condos or we end up here with a different mix of use, we’ll get there. And what we did tonight was take that first step to get us there.”

The resolution states Veridea Group was chosen because the developer “submitted a proposal deemed to have exceeded all of the qualifications” by a committee of the commission’s membership as outlined in a report and recommendation from June 26, including “meeting the future land use and other recommendations found in the community master plan and other supporting documents.”

The city began seeking qualified developers interested in purchasing the city-owned parcel in 2018.

It’s been a long process leading up to this point, Marquette Director of Community Development Dennis Stachewicz said, noting the original intent of buying the site was for economic development. Since then, plans have been discussed and detailed in city strategic planning documents and city work sessions over the past years.

Veridea Group and another Marquette County developer, S&P Enterprises, both made proposals that included plans for residential uses and stated they would be able to start the project this year.

S&P Enterprises’ development proposal stated its plans would involve developing “a variety of businesses/buildings to advance the property and would be an attractive benefit to the community. Such as professional offices, town homes, multi-units and storage units.”

Veridea’s proposal stated its preliminary plan involves “transforming the site into a vibrant residential community that will offer a wide range of housing options to city residents, while also creating multiple parks and green spaces.”

The preliminary design shows the potential for up to 500 residences, including townhouses, senior living and rental apartments “serving a range of income levels” on the 32-acre property, the proposal states.

City staff, commissioners and Veridea Group officials acknowledged there were public concerns regarding the conceptual renderings for the site, but emphasized the plan is preliminary and represents the maximum potential build-out of the site, rather than a final plan.

Furthermore, officials emphasized that the resolution of intent to sell is only the beginning of the process, as several additional steps must be taken before the commission votes on the final sale of the parcel.

“I was a member of the committee that helped bring this forward tonight,” Commissioner Jenna Smith said. “I support moving forward and allowing the city manager to negotiate a sale. I would like to see what that looks like in the end. My endorsement and vote today does not mean that I’m going to vote ‘yes’ on the actual sale, I want to see what that looks like and I’ve got some caveats on that. So this is the first public step in the process of making that sale happen, but it’s not the end of the conversation. I know for some people this was news tonight but there will be more opportunities; reach out to us, let us know your thoughts now.”

The value of the parcel will now be determined in writing by an appraiser. According to city notes, the city will realize 80% or more of the appraised value of the property upon the successful closing of a sale, per the city code.

Any sale will be subject to “the drafting and execution of a local development agreement that ensures completion of the improvements agreed upon during negotiation of the sale,” the resolution states. An ordinance has been adopted to provide for the sale of the property.

With the land’s past as an industrial site and current deed restriction of “no residential uses,” further planning and discussion regarding remediation will be needed with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, city officials said.

“The property remains a Part 201 Facility. Efforts to seek a No Further Action determination were not accepted by EGLE (former MDEQ) and the project team continues to evaluate alternatives in order to address the deficiencies noted by the EGLE,” site notes state. “The EGLE is aware and supportive of the city’s efforts to property and staff has discussed the ability to have the deed restriction of ‘no residential uses’ removed from the deed, subject to a post-sale due care plan. Any potential buyer of the property would have the ability to conduct phase 1 and phase 2 (baseline environmental assessments) to afford themselves protection under Part 201, as well as be subject to due care plan obligations.”

In light of this, Commissioner Hill asked: “Why do we have to start the offer of selling before we have an agreement with EGLE on what is allowed on the site?”

Angeli explained that when the request for proposal was released in 2018, “EGLE was assuring us we were this close to being cleared or passed.” Because of this, the city “moved ahead with the sale anticipating the DEQ at the time would clear us,” Angeli said, adding city staff felt it was important to do so because the sale and development of the property are “integral to replacing the loss of the We Energies tax base,” noting the closure of the Presque Isle Power Plant.

It’s important to recognize, Stachewicz added, that EGLE considers specific plans for engineered controls, such as vapor barriers made of thick concrete beneath a building, when developments on sites like this are being undertaken.

“Because of those engineered controls we, or any developer, can’t go to EGLE — particularly us as a government — we can’t go to EGLE and say: ‘We think we would like to have this on the property. Can we get that clearance ahead of time?’ They won’t tell us ‘yes,’ because they deal in science and engineering, as you know; they are very specific to what it’s going to be. If we’re going to put a duplex on this property, (we have to say) ‘Here is our specific engineered control.’ They will say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ but they won’t grant you any projection out on top of that, which is why we’re going in the order we are now.”

This means the city will “work with EGLE to meet our city obligations and also permit development on a site that would protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents on there, as well as the community,” Stachewicz said. “EGLE’s not in the business of putting people in harm’s way, nor is the city of Marquette. And that would also give us time to work on any post-ownership obligation planning. What I mean by that is, if the city does choose to sell the property, the city is still the liable party on the property. And we will have obligations after the sale to continue monitoring the results of whatever remediation would need to be, which is basically just dealing with groundwater. There’s no real direct-contact issues that have been identified.”

The site is also subject to an existing Act 381 brownfield plan, city officials said, adding the sale of the property and subsequent use of an amendment to that plan would help to fund Lakeshore Boulevard relocation efforts.

“This would allow for continuing discussions with the Marquette Brownfield (Redevelopment) Authority,” Stachewicz said. “This has been looked at by staff as a great opportunity for funding to address the plan of public improvements, which would be the relocation of the road, the park space that’s been created on the east side. And also to mention timing of any potential EGLE obligations: if the former MDEQ were to tell us that we have to pursue some sort of tacit remediation, say we had to put a bentonite or a clay wall underneath the road to prevent contamination from coming to the lake, it’s a very good time to do it when you’re constructing the road.”

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248.