Hancock City Manager Mary Babcock talks during Wednesday’s city council meeting. The council voted to table the introduction of the city’s zoning ordinance until its June 15 meeting to allow for a council work session on revisions. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — The Hancock City Council will hold off on formally introducing its new zoning ordinance.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the council voted to schedule a work session for revisions to the ordinance at 6 p.m. June 13. It would then introduce the ordinance at its June 15 meeting.

The vote was 5-1 in favor, with Mayor Pro Tem Kurt Rickard voting against.

Introduction of the ordinance, which the city did a full-scale revision of for the first time in 50 years, had been on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting.

Councilor John Haeussler suggested the work session. Council members had received the latest draft of the ordinance last Friday, he said. He’d made it through about half the document, making three pages of notes. While most were minor, he said, he had already found six or seven content issues where he had questions.

“I think we’re very close,” he said. “I think personally it’s worth expending a little bit more time to make it that much better.”

Mayor Paul LaBine said he also had questions after reading about 70% of the new ordinance. His main worry with delaying the introduction would be shortening the amount of time the public gets to see it before the public hearing.

“I’m hoping in the meantime, if we do decide to table this or whatever we decide, that we really get that out to the public sphere,” he said.

The Zoning & Enabling Act requires at least 15 days between the introduction of the ordinance and its public hearing. The council is planning to hold the hearing July 6.

Pushing beyond that date could mean a delay in the city becoming certified as a Redevelopment Ready Community through the Michigan Economic Development Corp., Rickard said. Some community members are also waiting to have the new zoning plan in place before applying for grants, Councilor Whitney Warstler said.

“The longer we wait, the less opportunity there is,” she said.

Changes can still be made to the ordinance once it is introduced, City Manager Mary Babcock said. LaBine said any changes made then should be well publicized in order to be transparent.

Babcock said she had heard from about 40 community members during the process of creating the new plan.

In other action, the council:

• Presented Officer Jeremy Lassila with an award recognizing him for 21 years of service with the Hancock Police Department.

• Approved a letter of support for the Hancock Housing Foundation’s Michigan Economic Development Corp. Revitalization and Placemaking grant application for Quincy Place. The 50-unit development at 1500 Quincy St. is intended to ease the area’s shortage of affordable housing. It will be open to moderate-income residents 55 years and older.

• Approved a letter of support for Portage Canal Ventures’ MEDC RAP grant application for 805 Pine St. The nine-unit apartment complex would enliven a long-vacant property, and provide a needed-mix of middle-income housing and housing below 120% of median income, the city said in a letter supporting the grant application.

• Took no action on a proposed one-month extension to the Erhart Assessing, LLC contract, which expired May 31. The one-month extension would have had a 2.75% increase.