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HOUGHTON -- Rezonings of two properties along Houghton Canal Road will come before the Houghton City Council next month.
Wednesday, the council set public hearings for Feb. 24 on the rezonings, which are being sought by JRG Development and Isle Royale Seaplanes. Both would change the zoning on properties from R-1 (residential) to B-2 (community business). The rezoning would allow all uses allowed in B-1, along with restaurants, taverns or other places serving food or beverages; and hotels and motels.
Both parcels are part of 78 acres the city annexed from Portage Township in 2008. The land was zoned R-1 at the time, as the then-owners wished to develop the property.
Kristine Weidner, who represents JRG, said they had not been able to attract interest in the site for residential development.
The Planning Commission gave its recommendation to the JRG request Tuesday. Already approved by the commission in its original form, it came back to the commission after JRG amended it to remove 13.5 acres near the mouth of Cole's Creek, which residents had objected to due to concern about the impact the rezoning could have on the wetlands there.
Residents who spoke at Tuesday's meeting were still concerned about the environmental impact development could have on the remaining property.
The property had once been the slag tailing site for the Michigan Smelter, said Houghton resident Carol MacLennan.
The EPA's Record of Decision for the Torch Lake Superfund Site in 1992 listed the Michigan Smelter site as the only one with an "unacceptable" level of cancer risk for future residents if people ingested the tailings or slag. It put the excess risk of cancer in that instance at roughly 1 in 20,000. The main risk came from arsenic and beryllium.
"Digging deeply in there for any kind of commercial construction is a concern in this kind of an environment, because you're releasing the heavy metals that are capped right now, and the slag," MacLennan said.
Bruce Woodry, who lives outside the city on nearby Cole's Creek Road, said after road construction damaged their water lines and forced residents to dig new wells, there needs to be a study done on how new development would affect their drinking water. He also suggested neighboring municipalities be asked for their input, such as Adams Township or Hancock.
"I think that there's a broader base of people that should be polled and considered, regardless of whether they're Houghton city residents or not, because it much more directly affects them being an immediate stone's throw off this rezoning and potential major construction," he said.
Residents also expressed concern about the impact new construction could have on the traffic along Canal Road.
Planning Commission members said environmental restrictions were beyond the scope of what they were considering in the rezoning. Planning Commission member Jen Julien, said based on her experience with marine construction, any potential development would need to go through several permits, and deal with Michigan's Department of Energy, Great Lakes, and Environment (EGLE).
"There are other steps in this process -- there are site plan reviews, there are building permits, there are permits you have to get to work within a certain distance from the waterway, and like Matt said, there are a lot of procedures that are put into place by construction companies to protect them from these potential issues," she said.
Planning Commission member Michelle Jarvie-Eggart agreed the commission's job was to look at the zoning, and that brownfield sites can benefit from reuse. However, she also suggested the city look at including a list of brownfield or potentially contaminated sites for future versions of the city's master plan.
"I don't think that this is the type of information we want lost to history," she said.
The Planning Commission had already moved the Isle Royale Seaplanes request to the council. Isle Royale Seaplanes had first requested rezoning the land to industrial in 2019. The City Council rejected that request on the city attorney's advice because it would be "spot zoning" -- singling out one parcel for a zoning distinct from the surrounding area.
Councilor Joan Suits asked for a written opinion Wednesday from the city attorney to ensure the requests didn't constitute spot zoning. Waara said he had gotten verbal assurance, but would get a letter.