City commission appoints DDA board

by Angie Asam, Staff Writer

The City of Onaway has been working towards establishing a downtown development authority (DDA) district and seating a board for more than a year. The district has been established for about a year but the commission had not seated a board until Wednesday morning.

Mayor Gary Wregglesworth will serve on the board along with Dave Cook, the owner of Movie Time Video; Ryan Howell, manager of Tom?s Family Market; Angie Krajniak of Sunrise Communications; Doug Olree, owner of Olree Chiropractic; Jessie Palmer, owner of Lyon?s Motel; Scott Pauly, chief executive officer of Onaway Community Federal Credit Union; Laura Shack, branch manager of Citizens National Bank and Theresa Splan, owner of Lock Stock and Barrel General Store.

The district currently includes State Street from Second to Beech and by law five of the members of the board must have a vested interest in that section of the business community. The other three business owners are those with a vested interest in Washington Avenue.

City attorney Mike Vogler and city manager Joe Hefele are working on the resolution to expand the DDA district to include Washington Avenue and hope to have something for the board to consider at its next meeting on Dec. 20.

?I see this as a great, strong group with which to move forward. Their first task will be to draft a tax increment financing plan which will ultimately be brought back to you for approval,? said Hefele about the appointments.

Wregglesworth will serve on the DDA board per his term on the commission. The rest of the board appointments are staggered. Serving one year terms will be Cook and Howell while Krajniak and Olree were appointed for two years. Palmer and Pauly were appointed for three years and Shack and Splan will serve four years. If any member feels they need to resign during a term they would of course be able to do so and would be replaced by an appointment by the mayor as approved by the commission.

Hefele will be working with Vogler to establish bylaws for the DDA board and scheduling its first meeting likely sometime after the holidays.

IN OTHER CITY COMMISSION NEWS: ? A public hearing will be held on Dec. 20 in consideration of a variance request that would allow Dr. Rajabhau Ch

hapamohan to construct a 9-by-40-foot addition at his existing building at 4149 Michigan Avenue. The addition would extend the building to within two feet of the back property line, which is well short of the 30 feet required in commercial districts. The commission will hear any public comment on that day as well as make a decision on the variance request.

? The commission authorized the mayor to sign the loan resolution provided by the United States Department of Agriculture ? Rural Development that is associated with the city?s intent to issue revenue bonds totaling $325,000 for the M-68 water project.

? A Brownfield Redevelopment grant application through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment was signed that if approved would provide funds for the clean up of the proposed Dollar General site.

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