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St. James
Board
The July 7th, 2004 meeting of the St. James Board included an
update on the new Fire Truck, which will cost $180,000 ($150,000
of which was provided by Anna Steinbach.)
The Yacht Dock repairs are on hold because the bid had not been
approved by the understaffed state office.
Supervisor
Don Vyse reported on a Traverse City seminar on Lighthouse preservation.
He mentioned that one of the reasons the Fresnel lenses are so
valuable was that the ''cement'' holding their facets together
was a secret recipe that has never been duplicated.
The full 10,000 gallons of dust control material has now been
applied.
A resolution
of the thorny parking matter at the Donegal Bay Park seems to
have been reached: additional west-edge parking will be provided
via a widening of the road.
The township
is the owner of the new "downtown sound system" provided
by Gary Voogt and his friends. (It still needed some fine-tuning
when it was used on the 4th.)
The "Government
Building" (the former Med Center) will be used by the Zoning
Administrator/Assessor so that St. James Hall won't have to be
heated every day during the winter. The 2nd deputy will live there
for $275/month. The Hospice group will be allowed to store materials
in the basement for free.
Development
of the Township Airport is progressing, with 5 interrelated projects:
1) the acquisition of a hangar as a storage building; 2) the creation
of a layout plan for the facility; 3) the acquisition of land
to the west of the runway; 4) tree clearing 600' from the center
of the runway; and 5) the relocation of Island Airways (which
is not yet economically advantageous for IA.) Because Lansing
has been dragging its feet, we may hire Ollie House as a consultant.
Greater utilization of the Airport would help procure FAA funding.
The Board
voted to upgrade trash containers and add picnic tables to the
new playground.
The impasse
with the maintenance employee has been solved by raising his pay
from $16.33 to $18, and not having a regular assistant will cover
this added expense.
The Board
approved the purchase of a new propane forklift for the Transfer
Station; on a five year low-interest note, the total cost will
be $21,313.
Township
Engineer Gary Voogt presented information on the King's Highway
repaving. He said the CCRC was legally required to pay for it,
but could not because it did not have the money; it has trouble
meeting its payroll. Many townships are angry, and if the CCRC
accommodates one of them, it's afraid the others will scream louder.
Gary presented
a plan for repaving the 1 mile of King's Highway in St. James,
widening the south section from 26' to 30' (a 30' gravel base
was installed ten years ago.) He proposed going to Four Corners,
which would cost St. James $198,000 and Peaine $62,000. The existing
pavement would be covered by an additional 1½" of
asphalt (1,800 tons), and there would be 5' bike paths on both
sides. It would last for 15 years. He wanted the Township to pass
a "resolution to bond" (which it did), saying that each
year, when the payment came due, we could press the CCRC to make
it. He mentioned again that if Beaver Island had its own Commissioner,
these things could be accomplished more smoothly.
Peaine
Board
Gary Voogt appeared at the Peaine Town Board meeting on July 14th,
2004, unfortunately stating that the CCRC had refused to pay even
the requested 1/3rd of the cost for paving back from the King's
Highway intersections. He outlined the project he had proposed
to St. James (the repaving to Four Corners), and said H &
D would come around Labor Day to pave the new parking lot, the
BIRHC parking lot, Beaver Lodge Road to past the tennis court,
and the King's Highway to Four Corners–if Peaine agreed.
Many angry barbs were directed at the Road Commission.
It was noted
that at the BIRHC dedication, Jason Allen agreed to push the dropped
bill Walter North had initially promised to push through, which
would treat the ferry route and the King's Highway at this end
as an extension of M 66. The Ludington car ferry route was made
into an extension of U. S. 16, which is the precedent. And there’s
a state highway encircling Mackinac Island–which no one can
drive on.
Gary spent
much time explaining the intricacies of the make-up of various
kinds of gravel.
Afterwards
Supervisor John Works proposed that a "motion of intent"
to get a bond in conjunction with St. James be passed, noting
that St. James would handle the paperwork; it was.
In other business, the Board approved buying a Caterpillar forklift
for the Transfer Station, and agreed to rent two rooms of the
Government Building to the 2nd Deputy.
Some progress
towards a nuisance ordinance was made, although Paul Nelson cited
examples of how tricky this was. For example, for a loud noise
to be suppressed, we would have to acquire test equipment and
demonstrate that the decibel level of the nuisance was prohibited.
John Works wanted to look into an expanded "Disturbance of
the Peace" ordinance as being simpler to enforce. Some residents
who've been pushing for some relief were very frustrated.
The Maintenance
Employee's raise was affirmed.
Jack Kelly appeared and discussed the Recreation Plan, suggesting
it be
referenced
in the coming Master Plan.
Ed Wojan mentioned that he had received several calls from confused
and angry clients who felt the survey recently submitted by Continued
on page 6.
News from
the Townships, from page 5.
Fred Hoisington was very biased–something Gary Voogt had
noted to St. James. Some multiple-choice questions did not have
the preferred answer in their list of possible choices. The audience
was assured that John Fiegen would not accept the survey results
verbatim.
St. James
Planning Commission
On July 1st, 2004 almost 20 people attended a meeting of the Planning
Commission to protest the attempt to rezone Freesoil Avenue in
such a way as to allow some existing commercial uses by McDonough's
Market, which seem to violate the ordinance. Jerry Sowa, their
spokesperson, held the floor for almost half an hour, citing procedural
irregularities. He said he had been against this proposed rezoning
(from R to H) since first having it broached by then-Zoning Administrator
Tom McDonough in 1985, and felt it was important to preserve the
historic residential use of this area and to proceed in a transparent
manner to avoid the appearance of special favor. Some of the anger
dissipated when the appearance of a previously unfound application
was feasibly explained as being due to a misfiling error. Yet
resentment lingered over matters being undertaken without the
people affected by them being sufficiently consulted.
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