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NEGAUNEE -- Five acres of Old Town Negaunee are being looked at for rezoning by the Negaunee City Council -- and not all residents are in favor of the location.
At the December city council meeting, councilors approved the first reading of the possible rezoning of an Old Town parcel.
The piece of land being considered for rezoning into housing is five acres of the 320 acres left from the original purchase of Cleveland Cliffs by the city.
Heffron explained in a previous Mining Journal article that in the early 2000s, a land reuse study was conducted by the city to determine what could be done with the property.
"Initially the property wasn't specifically purchased for just recreation purpose, it was purchased for redevelopment," he said. "The biggest thing to keep in mind is that we lost a third of our community with those properties being taken away from folks due to the Cliffs action at one point. We are simply saying as a city that we would like to rezone roughly five acres of the 320 acres that are left."
Heffron said the rest of the property is under a special status by the Department of Natural Resources called encumbrance, which places restrictions on the property so only recreational activities can occur on the property, meaning the remaining acres would not be turned into housing.
While possible residential development is not the issue, the issue for some residents is the location.
Negaunee resident Jeff Plummer believes the area considered for rezoning should be left as public use for green space and recreation.
He said with the use of the RAMBA trail, the land is being used "more and more."
"It's quickly becoming one of the coolest public green spaces and there's a huge variety of activity," Plummer said.
Plummer and his wife created the Facebook page 'Protect Old Town Negaunee' to raise awareness of the possible rezoning and to get more residents to speak at the public comment during the January council meeting.
"I just believe, and most people we've talked to, believe that this is the highest use of this land," Plummer said. "We don't have any issue with the idea of residential development in general, we just feel that there are way better places to do that as opposed to taking away really cherished public green space."
In a phone interview with The Mining Journal on Tuesday, Heffron said there is a "more pressing need" for housing for residents in the immediate area.
"Our community cannot grow and thrive without expansion, without growth," he said. "If we continue down the same path we're going, if the council is persuaded not to rezone this or development to happen, could undermine many many years of actions that we've taken to get ourselves in a position to attract developers to come to our community. It will signal to people that we are not ready for development and we don't welcome development."
Heffron said Negaunee would be put in the same status as the city of Marquette in terms of housing.
"Anytime the city of Marquette finds a solution for housing, it's not good enough for some people and that causes some on the council to seek a political solution rather than seek a practical solution," he said. "The practicality in this question is we need housing. People have to realize it's not easy to develop housing in Marquette County. It's extremely difficult and it's difficult across the nation as well. We must find all ways necessary to attract housing to our communities or we're still going to be in the same position where housing is not going to be developed at a pace of which it needs to be."
A public hearing will be held on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the Negaunee Senior Center for residents to share input on the possible rezoning of the Old Town parcel.