HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Jan. 18, 2023) – There may be a question about a land swap before Holland voters in May, but it won’t be finalized on Wednesday evening.
The Holland City Council holds its regular business meeting in Chambers at Holland City Hall, and according to the agenda posted on the city’s Civic Web website, a resolution that would ask voters to approve a land swap with GDK in which the city would acquire the Verplank Dock site off of West 8th Street from GDK in exchange for the James DeYoung power plant site off of Pine Avenue is not among the items to be considered.
The swap would be the next step in the ongoing Waterfront Holland development initiative, and under a plan proposed by GDK during last Wednesday’s Council work-study session, the dock operations would move to the DeYoung site, while the 8th Street site, adjacent to city-owned former Western Machine Tool Works site, would be converted into a mixed-use development in the effort to improve downtown public access to Lake Macatawa.
Such approval is necessary under the city charter, and the approval of the wording for the ballot question needs to be done by February 1st in order to have the proposal on the May 2nd ballot. Mayor Nathan Bocks explains why the voters have the final say on this.
In an earlier version of this story, we reported that, “Unless Council holds a special business meeting next Wednesday as part of its biweekly work-study session to vote on the matter, the earliest voters can decide would be during the August 8th Primary Election.” This was based on the premise that ballot language had to be finalized by February 1.
Responding to this version, Holland City Manager Keith Van Beek emailed WHTC this message: “This is NOT on the agenda tonight, but when presented at study session last week was explained and made clear that it WILL be on the regular council meeting on 2/1 for council to consider, which does meet the timeline to still make the 5/2 ballot.”
What is on the meeting agenda is the presentation of the 2022 Social Justice Awards by the Holland Human Relations Commission, along with amending the city’s Unified Development Ordinance, and approving a proposed application with the Michigan State Historic Preservation office for a $100,000 grant in order to help the Holland Museum make about a million dollars in repairs due to water damage caused by deterioration of masonry and masonry joints along the roof and facade of the former post office building off of West 10th Street and River Avenue.
The meeting begins at 6 PM, and an online link to the agenda and supporting documents is here.
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