Kent Kraft, for the Gazette Photo Option 1 Caption: Jim Flood uses visuals of land plots during the public hearing prior to the Calumet vVillage council meeting Tuesday

CALUMET – Before the Calumet Village Council held its regular meeting Tuesday, a public hearing was held. The hearing was requested by Jim Flood, owner of the Mineral Range Depot building on the corner of Ninth and Oak streets, to publicly discuss his plans for the building as well as his request for the Village to abandon use and maintenance of a portion of Ninth Street.

Calumet Village Manager Megan Haselden set expectations as the public hearing started, saying that the session was purely for Calumet Village Council members to hear Flood’s requests and scope of project as well as gather opinions from the public about the project. None of the Council members would be giving any public comments on the matter at the hearing. Haselden also mentioned the Council received 22 letters from the public on the matter which would not be read aloud, but available for public consumption at a later date.

Flood made a half-hour presentation to the council and 19 audience members. Flood said from the time he purchased the building, his intent was to refurbish it to the 1908 floor plan with the first floor available for event space and the second floor furnished with short-term rental rooms.

“This event space would be 100% for the community to enjoy,” Flood said as he presented his vision of graduation and wedding receptions taking place there among other activities. “This depot is a national landmark type of building and very important to the state of Michigan. Those are reasons enough to save the building.”

His main concern for the depot remains the present access on the east side of the property, between the depot and St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church’s parking lot. Flood presented evidence supporting his claim that a portion currently identified as part of Ninth Street was actually customer access to the Depot, not an actual through street as it is used now.

Since the emergency exits and only outer door from the second floor of the Depot empty onto this portion of land, he is concerned for the safety of those who will use the Depot in the future. He also showed pictures of the snow being pushed up to the Depot building during the winter months as plows clear Ninth Street.

Aside from concern about access to the depot, Flood shared his vision of wanting “to create a park-like atmosphere that is safe, which is only possible by not having traffic in this space.” He suggested ninth street terminate in a dead end north of the Depot which would provide the safety for future users. “It would make this area low key, quiet, private and safe,” he said.

After his presentation, Calumet Village Council President Pro-Tempore Pamela Que turned to the audience giving individuals a chance to make a public comment if they desired. A majority of those in attendance took the opportunity, providing comments both in support of Flood’s project as well as to voice opposition to losing a portion of Ninth Street access.

Representatives from St. Paul’s said their pastor as well as their council are in conversations with Flood, but stressed nothing has moved beyond a dialogue between the two groups. They voiced their support for the rehab of the depot building, and also made clear they have no intention of selling the parking lot in the space between the Church and the sepot building.

Several people in support of Flood’s project and suggestion of making Ninth Street a dead end also spoke. Some mentioned shifting road access, particularly to add community space, is a common enough occurrence and something that residents of the street could get used to in time. Many pointed to Flood’s background, saying he is the right person to take on the large project of restoring the depot. A few also mentioned train enthusiasts would flock to Calumet when given the chance to stay at a historic train depot and suggested this particular type of tourist is one that would be great for the Village.

Current residents of Ninth street and the surroundings present voiced intense concern at losing access to the southern portion of their block. They suggested Flood talk to the DNR which has the ATV trail on the west side of the depot, that snow removal is something everyone on the street has to deal with, and that changing access to their street could have a number of negative impacts on their daily lives.

In addition, several people questioned how much money the Village would end up putting into Flood’s proposed changes to Ninth street. They suggested spending money on a business’ request to change the street would be an ill-advised use of tax dollars, particularly when there are so many other residential area streets that are in need of repairs.

All who spoke at the hearing supported the rehabilitation of the depot building and nobody had an issue with Flood’s proposed rehab. However, many did voice concern with and opposition to closing any portion of Ninth Street.

After the public hearing, the Village Council moved into their its meeting. After the 90-minute public hearing, the meeting that followed was considerably shorter with only one item of business for the Council.

Anita Campbell and Vada Riederich of the Big Annie Statue Advisory Committee provided an update to the Council. Started nearly three years ago, the statue committee has nearly reached their $150,000 goal, particularly after securing a $50,000 grant from the America250MI History Grant Program. The group has also reached 300 donors.

The reason the group was at this meeting was to request the Council’s approval on the final location for the Big Annie Statue. The Council previously approved taking ownership of the statue, and paying for continued maintenance of the Statue, if it was located on Village property.

The Council unanimously approved the requested location, and the Big Annie Statue Committee asked to hold that information until their “A Toast To Big Annie” event Saturday at the Calumet Theatre. A free community screening of “Red Metal: The Copper Country Strike of 1913” will start at 6:30 p.m. followed by the ticketed fundraising reception at 7:30 p.m. in the theatre ballroom.