CADILLAC — The Cadillac City Council on Monday gave its blessing to a plan to bring a new factory and hundreds of jobs to the city.
Council member Bryan Elenbaas commented that if Cadillac City Manager Marcus Peccia is successful in bringing the Oldrati Group to Cadillac, he would vote to give him a raise.
“The people of Cadillac appreciate it,” Elenbaas said about the proposal.
The rest of council also agreed it was a good plan, and unanimously voted to approve a resolution in support of applying for a State Land Bank Authority grant to acquire the Western Concrete property and remove blighted vacant industrial buildings and a concrete pad at the site.
Council documents state that providing Oldrati with the 11.26-acre property (Western Concrete and most of the old Mitchell-Bentley site) at no cost and addressing any environmental, site preparation and infrastructure considerations at no net cost will be crucial to the development’s success.
A little under $600,000 is being requested by the city for demolition, hazardous material abatement, acquisition, administration and other costs.
If the plan works out, it is estimated that the factory will create 300 to 400 “high quality jobs,” according to council documents.
According to the company’s website, Oldrati Group consists of 14 companies in Italy and abroad and has almost 1,700 employees worldwide. Oldrati Group develops and manufactures rubber, plastic and silicone products.
Council on Monday also set a public hearing on a proposal to create a special assessment district to fund the replacement of deteriorating sidewalk and removal of pavers in the downtown area.
Peccia said the idea of creating the district came about a number of months ago, when the city floated the idea of renewing a similar type of district to fund public parking maintenance. While this renewal ultimately failed, Peccia said many business owners indicated that they would be OK with paying an assessment fee for sidewalk repairs.
The proposed special assessment would be for a period of 15 years, although property owners would be able to pay it in full early. The project will include removing and replacing the sidewalk from the building through the brick pavers.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $721,000.
The city will be contributing roughly 14% of the total cost, a total of $100,000 from American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The boundaries of the improvement are from Chapin Street to East Nelson Street, excluding the Lofts building and Peterson’s Gas Station, where there are no pavers in front of the building.
Peccia said while not every downtown business or property owner is supportive of the assessment plan, if approved, it would “create a flat surface for years to come” and be easy to incorporate into future downtown projects, as the sidewalk design would be basic, without pavers, inlay work or other elaborate features.
If the assessment ultimately is approved by council, Peccia said sidewalk work likely would begin next spring or early summer. Peccia said it would be ideal if the project were finished before foot traffic heats up in the summertime.
Council member Elenbaas asked Peccia if there was a way that businesses could hire someone on their own to improve the sidewalks in front of their establishments, and avoid paying the assessment. Peccia replied that they could hire someone to do improvements above and beyond the scope of the city’s proposed project but added that if a business is within the district, they cannot opt out of the assessment.
When it came a vote to set the public hearing on the sidewalk assessment for Dec. 18, Mayor Carla Filkins and council members Tiyi Schippers and Robert Engels voted in favor. Elenbaas voted against setting the public hearing.
Council on Monday also scheduled a public hearing for Dec. 18 to gather feedback on a recommendation from the Cadillac Planning Commission to codify the city’s existing short-term rental policy into the zoning ordinance.
The codification amendments are based on an interpretation of the city’s current zoning ordinance and are outlined in a memo previously written by Cadillac Director of Community Development John Wallace.
When the city’s zoning ordinance was written several decades ago, the rental of housing units either within a home or including an entire home through the use of an online platform such as Airbnb or VRBO was not anticipated or addressed, Wallace wrote in his memo.
Wallace said he reached the conclusion based on an analysis of the existing ordinance that short-term rentals were only permitted in the TS (tourist service) and B-1 and B-2 (auxiliary and general business) districts. In the TS-1, TS-2 and B-1 districts, they are “permitted by right” and in the B-2 District, they are permitted by special use permit. It was noted multiple times during the meeting that the codification does not allow short-term rentals in any areas zoned residential.
During the planning commission meeting, Peccia said that codifying Wallace’s memo will allow the city to proceed with the citywide zoning overhaul process, of which short-term rentals are only a small piece, although they became the main focal point of conversation and debate during past public forums.
Codifying the short-term rental policy drafted by Wallace merely puts on paper what the city had been doing already, allowing city officials to move forward on other aspects of the zoning overhaul discussion.
Peccia said the ultimate direction of short-term rental policy, however, likely will be decided at a later time.
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