Screenshot of Houghton City Council meeting During Wednesday’s Houghton City Council meeting, held via Zoom, resident Joan Suits addresses the Houghton City Council regarding its response to a non-binding referendum asking for more public input prior to the sale of the Lakeshore Drive parking deck area to The Veridea Group.

HOUGHTON — Meetings of Houghton’s Lakeshore Drive Redevelopment Committee will be advertised and open to the public after a vote by the Houghton City Council Wednesday. 

The committee was formed to discuss the potential sale of the Lakeshore Drive parking deck property to The Veridea Group, with which the city is negotiating.  

Veridea was selected from among three developers after responding to a request for qualifications. It is currently working on a design proposal for a mixed-use development at the site. 

The vote came after a motion from Councilor Dan Salo. The committee’s work has been on hold for several months because of COVID-19.

“We will meet again someday — hopefully it’s in person and not virtual,” said City Manager Eric Waara. “Certainly I think there’s the appetite out there to make it an open public meeting.”

Councilor John Sullivan said he supports making the meetings open, but that the committee needs to become more organized.

“We really don’t even have a chair,” he said. “And (we need) a secretary, now that we’re going to be subject to the Open Meetings Act.” 

Public comment periods are required at open meetings, Clerk Ann Vollrath said. When they would come in the meetings and any other rules (length allowed for public comments, etc.) would be determined after the committee meets and elects officers. 

The redevelopment committee is the subject of a civil lawsuit against the city filed by the Houghton Waterfront Redevelopment Citizens Group. The suit alleges the city violated the Open Meetings Act by failing to advertise the meetings and make them open to the public, citing committee meetings on Sept. 19, 2019, and Jan. 16. 

Residents who spoke Wednesday, including council candidates Joan Suits and Virginia Cole said the council was ignoring a clear call from residents to go back and seek public input on the fate of the parking deck property. 

A non-binding measure on the August ballot passed with nearly 80% of the vote. It asked if the sale of the Lakeshore Drive property should be postponed until citizens and other stakeholders can take part in an open process about the future of the property, including alternate uses. 

Suits said she had been left speechless at the previous meeting, when Sullivan answered her question about if the city planned any changes to the project as a result of the vote with “Next question.”

“I think that the refusal to reconsider the development plans or discuss this further in public is a violation of the trust that I have placed in all of you when I have voted for you in the past,” Suits said. “I wasn’t confused when I voted. I knew what I was voting for.”

Cole asked each council member “Do you support the city’s decision to disregard our community’s overwhelming yes vote?”

Councilors rejected the premise of the question; several criticized the wording of the proposal as confusing and misleading. City officials have pointed to the public meetings before and after the selection of Veridea, as well as future opportunities for public comment outlined in a city flow chart discussing the process. 

“We were always going to go to the public, we’re going to still go to the public,” said Councilor Buck Foltz. “I think that most of the people, if we could take those 800 or however many yes votes, would say, ‘Hey, as long as you guys aren’t trying to do an end run, let us know what you’re thinking.’ And I intend to do that.”

Foltz also introduced a motion, passed unanimously by the council, reaffirming its commitment to negotiating with Veridea. 

“We’d like to see what they have to offer, and we’d like to involve this entire community in the process of looking at that and seeing if that’s what fits here,” he said. 

Councilor Rachel Lankton said the council had not taken a formal position on what it was doing in response to the August vote. 

“We are planning to have public meetings on the development whenever we have something to have a public meeting about,” she said. “As of now, there is nothing to talk about.”

In an interview earlier this month, Veridea President Bob Mahaney said renderings of the proposed development should be available to the public in a couple of months. Mahaney said community feedback has led to a more holistic approach with more green space and waterfront access. 

Mayor Pro Tem Robert Megowen said members of the public are welcome to talk with him anytime. 

“I think Buck Foltz, myself and all members of this council are open-minded and I’d be happy to talk and discuss these things with people,” he said. “I really think a cup of coffee might go a long way for some people in the audience.”