good evening ladies and gentlemen call this meeting to order this thread first regularly scheduled meeting for the month of september my gracious where  opening prayer which this evening will be led by a council member through it from the first ward and that will be followed by the pledge of allegiance i would invite those who are able to stand to join us in these two items please be with those that keep us safe both from harm both near in a far and be with all city employees keep them under your wing even those less fortunate than us the down and out the sick the poor hold them in your loving arms will be with us this evening as we deliberate the issues before us of the city let us be mindful of others opinions and respect those opinions we  first item of business on our agenda is the consent agenda and if you wondering you'll hear a summary of of that in just a minute but if you care to follow along  folks in the audience you should be able to find an agenda at the at the back of the room between the two doors if you want to follow along those items are marked with an asterisk that are on the consent agenda these are items which are considered to be routine in nature that have been discussed at prior study sessions and are going to be taken care of with a single motion a single vote you may after hearing the summary you may realize that you have come to speak to or hear more about a specific item that's on the consent agenda so once we've heard the summary there will be an opportunity to remove items from the consent of gender if they are removed they will be dealt with in their usual sequence on the agenda but first if we could have a summary of the consent agenda and item five to remove the minutes of the regular meeting held august nineteenth and to add to the september sixteenth council meeting for consideration item eleven eight to accept and file executed oaths of office from various boards and commissions item fourteen a one to authorize the mayor and deputy city clerk to sign a contract with a one as far in the total amount of one hundred twenty seven thousand with a contingency of five thousand for a total amount of one hundred  residential meters at a cost of sixteen dollars and twenty five cents each with a maximum contract value of four hundred six thousand two hundred fifty based on installing twenty five thousand meters pending city attorney approval of said contract item fourteen d one to refer claims filed against the city to the city's insurance carrier and city attorney for consideration item fourteen d two two a for a public lodging license for economy in located at four o nine u s thirty one northbound as recommended in previously inspected by the community and neighborhood services department item fourteen one point one two approve the amended and easy po establish a guide to determine the appropriate length of time and he should be in place as well as to allow for new construction to be developed as apartments and to sunset any policy completely in three years making this december thirty one two thousand and eighteen fortini one point two to schedule a public hearing for wednesday october seventh two thousand and fifteen regular council meeting to obtain comment for the consideration of a stablish in one twenty four six street  neighborhood and the price own district i am fourteen one point three to adopt a resolution of intent to create a neighborhood enterprise zone pursuant to public back one forty seven of one nine hundred ninety two for the following addresses three thirty eight three forty two three forty six three fifty three fifty four three sixty and three seventy two river avenue and sixty in fifty two west fifteenth street and forty nine and forty eight west sixteenth street and thirty nine forty three and forty seven west seventeenth street and to direct staff to notify the governing body boards in taxing units that would levy add taxes for said properties i am fortini one point four to schedule a public hearing for wednesday september sixteenth regular council meeting to obtain citizens comments for the fiscal year fifteen community development block grant consolidated your performance evaluation report item fourteen easy one point five to approve ten thousand nine hundred sixty dollars funding agreement with heights of hope to assist in the development of four fifty stripper and way into a community center with payment to be approved as a budget adjustment paid out of the city's fund balance mayor and deputy clerk to sign agreement pending approval as to form by the city attorney fourteen one point six to approve a twenty thousand funding agreement with three sixty to assist in the rehab located at twenty nine west sixteenth street with conditions as indicated in report in that the mayor and deputy clerk be authorized to sign an agreement pending approval as to form by the city attorney i don't  fortini two point one to approve the purchase of thirteen pedestrian light poles and the ring of fire globes and an estimate amount of thirty eight thousand sixty four with funds to be allocated from the street improvement fund as part of the  project budget and approve the purchase of eight additional globes with the amount estimated at five thousand eight hundred fifty six with funds to be allocated from the downtown development authority item fourteen easy to point to to accept the sidewalk in utility easements with how in motorhomes at six fifty six east sixteenth street for the sixteenth street safety project in authorize a total payment to the property owners in the amount of four thousand three hundred ninety five dollars and forty eight cents item fourteen eat two point three to approve the proposed budget for the sixteenth street safety project with the city's share of the fun project estimated at one hundred seventy thousand eight hundred eighty four with funds to be allocated from the street improvement fun i am fourteen eat two point four to approve all then court projects bid from brenner escovedo incorporated in the amount of one hundred twenty four thousand one hundred sixty nine and approve the propose budget for the project with funds to be allocated from street improvement fund and authorized the mayor and deputy clerk to execute the construction agreement subject to approval as to form by the city attorney item fortini two point five to approve the propose signs for use there's other non motorized pathway at the papad drive crossings as proposed by the adult county parks department and their licensed professional traffic operations engineer item fourteen e two point six to approve payment of the invoice in the amount of twelve thousand seven hundred thirty four for repairs to the city's storm sewer pipe following an execution of the provided agreement by how a parent subject to approval has to form by the city attorney and deputy clerk to execute said agreement i had in fourteen each two point seven to approve the agreement with c s ex railroad subject to legal reviews authorized the mayor and deputy clerk to execute agreement with  authorized payment of the required permit fee for an amount not to exceed fifty thousand item fourteen eve three point one two adopt a resolution for the appointment of jim bush s city of assessor as required by city charter and as recommended by city manager effective september to two thousand and fifteen i had important hundred eighty three point two to second except as information the july two thousand and sixteen monthly financial report is submitted by the finance department in fourteen eat three point three to authorize the city treasurer to open the money market account of west michigan community bank to allow for investment and item fourteen point two two except as information the one year review of the administrative plan is currently structured previously reviewed in detail at the august twenty sixth study session and with that marathon performance we have heard a summary of the consent agenda as i indicated earlier all of these items will be with your approval considered with a single motion and a single vote however if anyone in the audience would like to remove an item your opportunity is now to remove that item so it will be dealt with in seasonal sequence we simply asked the to approach the podium and state your name and residential address for the record and indicate which item it is that you would like to have removed or anybody that would like an item removed from the consent agenda seeing not any members of council who would like items removed from the consent agenda your honor rather hooks through i request the removal of fourteen easy one point five and one point six from  one and one points sex support for heights of hope and for the redevelopment at twenty nine west sixteenth street yes sir all right they will be handled in their regulars sequence and the other members of council seeing none but what is the pleasure of council on the remainder of the consent agenda motion to approve the adjusted to item seven national presentations we have an introduction for the public of or a new city assess city of holland on monday this past week and he is serving the role of city assessor assuming i guess you just to prove that so he is now official and he is the assessor of record we're quite excited to have him here for my entire life i worked in spring lake township of the a suffer there for four years and then moved to ottawa county of the deputy equalization director there and received or  my michigan master's assessing offer for vacation while i was there and for a level four they changed the name a while ago and then yeah so i did come here and thank you for that bit of a challenge but they were so excited to have him here and to join us from ottawa county and he had a significant role there and we're very pleased that he's going to join us and our as mentioned earlier that already today's prove his worth  was very pleased he was able to ask the very technical questions that needed answers today and us who are very much appreciate him joining us and so thank you thank you mr buckley and mr bush welcome  we look forward to your service the earth specially pleased to retain a full time level for assessor was a bit of a challenge but we also wanted to be sure that we had the services full time and every day in the office for people who come in with questions so we appreciate you joining the team welcome right that then brings us down to item twelve communications from the audience if there's anybody in the audience that has an item that they would like to address coun about this that's not on the agenda later on this is your opportunity to do so the rules of the council are relatively simple you simply need to come forward to the podium state your name and address for the record and please limit your comments to five minutes is there anyone here who wishes to address council on an item that is not on the agenda later on seeing not will close communications from the audience and we will move on to item four teen microphone good evening mayor and city council for those in the audience and those who are at home watching on t v let me introduce myself again my name is joe di on the interim director of community and neighborhood services before city council this evening is a recommendation that you approve the two thousand and fifteen public lodging license for the economy and which is located at the south east corner sixteenth street and u s thirty  one a newly hotels in the city of holland have to receive a public lodging license from the clerk's office this is an annual process where they pay a fee and the clerk talks to some of the departments make sure everything's you know  license is issued this year the community neighborhood services department requested that the clerk not issue the license due to some issues we had with some code violations that you know we noticed that this property over the years and more recently during inspection we did this past spring and then again this past summer that they clerk upheld our rejection in that was appealed to city council city council then upheld staff recommendation that the license not be a sheet until the property was brought into compliance with our basic property mean it's code our building code and the various other codes that we do that we oversee up stairs through the summer months wh is worked with the property owner and we're here tonight to inform council that they have brought the property up to code from the third floors perspective and that you know we are recommending that this license be approved this evening this issue has been discussed at council over various meetings this over the summer months and if there are any questions from council i'm here to answer them tonight also the property owner emma patel is here this evening the business any questions for steph motion passes seven yes one no all right thank you very much these neighborhood enterprise zones should be granted for those in the audience and those at home who may be watching on t v a neighborhood enterprise zone as a development incentive tool it's another tool in our tool box to help spur development and hard to develop areas more difficult to develop areas to work this way we were able to freeze the property taxes for time of you know a length of time from six to fifteen years where over that time frame the property taxes are frozen as they were for a year one what this does is it reduces the development costs up front and the carrying costs on this property specifically the city council is authorized to neighborhood enterprise zones in the previous ten years one for baker loss which is at twenty four st in columbia and one for scrap yard loss which is that six treat and a river after new within the past six months we've had an uptick and interest from developers inquiring about these neighborhood enterprise zones which is a lead to a lot of questions at the staff level in discussing yele the length of term that we should offer when we should offer how we should offer these except era we have had a previous study session staff shared with you some amended policies that would really accomplish or add three things to the current policy the first one is it would introduce a sunset date of december thirty first two thousand and eighteen what this does is it makes it loud and clear to developers that we're willing to entertain these neighborhood in appraisal in discussions for the next three years after that three year period we're not going to be so excited to entertain those discussions the next thing it does is it allows that new construction that consists of five or more rental units to be eligible for neighborhood enterprise zones this talks about you know if someone comes and wants to construct the durban flat you know in our downtown neighborhoods we'd be interested in talking to them about you know rentals in those kind of urban flats if you're looking at constructing three single family homes and wrecking all three out as an investment property owner we're not going to be interested in discussing that kind of an idea with you the third thing it does is it develops a point factor system which will guide staff in determining the length of an easy that we should recommend the city council so the more that you do so the more your project aligns with city development goals city neighborhood goals the more willing we are to grant an easy for a longer term and then finally i want to be clear what the any is it allows city council to grant that any easy whenever they want wherever they want for how long as they want according to state law so this is an easy policy really doesn't tie your hands into it but we're going to use it as a guide when reviewing the development proposals that come across our desk on the third floor in the second for the city manager's office questions about the proposed amendments or maybe less about the amendments maybe some specifics on state law there just the way you phrased that as far as city councils prerogative were we want whenever we want for our long we want within the context  state law can you share this for the listening public so they know that there's bumpers and guardrails there and not just the nine of us come in with fifty you have a sense of well so the neighborhood enterprise zone is the tool that the state created to give to local units of government an opportunity to incentivize development as you see you know we think residential development should be yele occur in some of those a stipulation some of those you know restrictions on it is first of all the length of term at six to fifteen years you can't do it all that state law you can't do it for less than six years you can't do it for more than fifteen years unless it's a historic property erna downtown district that the state has identified the another term that's probably important or another condition through the state law is the value of the properties when you issue the any easy the value of that unit cannot be more than eighty project so regardless of whether that has a structure on it or it's vacant correct value is invalid so there's some of the stipulations that we have to deal with with the state law through this process is there not also a stipulation that there is only so much property within a city so much percentage of the city of square miles of the city that can be used for this good point another stipulation that state law is no more than fifteen percent of your area can be included in the neighborhood enterprise out side is fifteen percent one five percent you have do you have an alright off the top of your head what percentage of the city is currently covered by the two any zees that are in place i do not know off the top of my head but we're talking columbia and twenty four streets right now we're talking in sixth and river were probably well know the questions or comments that you know i really like to see the free market really control rather than having the state commune here into this when i look at the apple dollar projects so there may be a little different through the senior citizen thing to the country club these are projects that i think were fully funded you know we spent a lot of time we spent a lot of time talking about be stuff there but they've been vacated they could for a lot of years wow this is not the same as baker baker french or which was empty it's not the same a scrap yard l it's not the same as he felt is not the same as washington school this is really in three i think a new territory here and within basically this was introduced at a study session last week when within one week we're really kind of talking very quickly but you know i had here and i would really like to see this a broader discussion and i'm sure that with his built in here but i'd like a good saying and then three sixty and west korea and  thank you for those comments and the other members of council right i live in that neighborhood and i know a lot of people want to see some movement on this property i don't know for moving too fast but if this gets things moving in a direction that gets a positive development more people living and creating a more viable commercial district am definitely in favor of that i am one of the people who would like to see and have wanted to see this property developed so i'd like to see enterprise zone to help facilitate that if possible they want to use their city i think this adds another dimension to the development of river avenue and gets  that's a whole nother other kind of development in that area i think that's a great new thing i appreciate the fact that we keep breed thinking what we've always done because pieces of property  different and that whole little strip along river avenue is one we all traverse pretty frequently and we all know that it'll get a benefit from the investment and  population and and i do think this all bad great variety in the neighborhood to help everything get better so i i do appreciate it i do appreciate the investment i have i think it's that you put those parameters i know while we do this for a brand new development on property and i think that's important but i do think that that other little strip of residential property along river is also good to include in this and easy and who knows what can go there and what how we can grow neighborhood commercial and residential development so i appreciate  work on this and i think it will be a great change for the better thank you before we go back to look at do you weigh in i just i just want to make one comment about your original comments when you said that  apple door and the villages you are correct that they did not have an n e z but i believe both of those projects rather than an easy were done with a  in lieu of taxes that was negotiated so it was not a straight new development with out any kind of tax considerations that  were given at the time so it's not like those two developments of these were strictly free market driven they did have that payment in lieu of taxes the incentive that was granted by the city which is not the same as an easy but basically she was the same goal as in any z in that it sets the development of a particular area and i w the villages then i stand corrected but we have done other types of incentives so wayne if you yeah ok with thank you for clarification on that just to clarify we're really getting down to fourteen really down to the other one which one three but something came up that particular year you bid on river avenue is currently zone commercial so we're really changing it from a commercial to and he's easy to allow for this and i think we have to think about we're really talking here about the potential of forty or forty one apartment units which could mean if you had four people in each apartment you're talking about another one hundred sixty people living on that particular quarter and you're talking i don't know how many cars that people can have that's go a pretty heavily inundated little section in that area and i think it's going to really change the that neighborhood which is already  know a pretty busy year year and has some real real high needs will it improve it or not i don't know well that's that's a really good question i think it's something we really have to look at and i guess that's what we're going to do but  i don't think we just jump on the bandwagon as it goes by and say all development is not necessarily good divo i think we have to really think about that there are areas that i could really support i'm not so sure that i feel really very good about the one point three hundred of them i really don't know and i do not support them jumping back to one point one i think i just think it's important for the city's constituents to understand that this is while the the parameters that jol is bringing us are new  historical tax credits and so again something enabled by the state not necessarily by us as a council but it's important to understand that the what's being asked of us in one point one our parameters that were not there before and so it helps the third floor kind of have some guidance and some a little bit tightening if you will as i understand it to be able to discern and bring things our way it's not just the open door that existed before and so i don't get super excited about the sunset but i'm willing to go along with the tightening of parameters because i think it helps them filter it lets them have additional look at things and discernment before it gets to us for final decision and i i still believe strongly that it helps us stay competitive in the long term while leasing still exist at the state level my understanding of the history of in these eases that they are intended to give communities a tool to be catalyst for the most part to repurpose  buildings i worked for a number of years in one of those old buildings so i maybe have a little higher appreciation for the repurchasing but i think that's the the primary focus of what  easy for it's it's not to be used and as a deal sweetener but it is an incentive in a tool that we can use to help  help our neighborhoods improve health of the community in general todd has referenced momentum in terms of growth and i think that's something that needs to be considered as well and take into account interestingly from what i have heard all of the details yet about what this particular proposed project may entail but it sounds as though in an area where we talk about and put a high value on affordable housing whatever that means i have an understanding of what it means but the size of this project will probably be higher end and maybe higher rent housing which you know may seem contrary to what we're trying to do but if you think about urban as a our newer it has a man those concepts the idea is to have mixed uses mixed socio economic experiences in a neighborhood so it is very possible that the outcome of this project even though it may not serve certain ends may serve a larger and am creating a more holistic neighborhood  so i have some misgivings about the sunset as well but it's appreciate your very description joel a sense there has are not necessarily tighter future councils hands are not tied we have an opportunity arises all right we have before us these policy amendments we're not necessarily voting on a specific project although we have a couple of them later on but this purpose of an n e z like any tax abatement program is and a tool for economic development which  means that we have redevelopment and additional investments in areas of our city they're good anywhere in the city but they're specially good in some areas that  support these amendments that are before us clerk please call roll peters yes birch yes white man yes  bore yes we mere band of s c yes motion passes seven yes one no thank you but that then brings us down to item one point three specifically the resolution over the attempt to create a neighborhood enterprise zone on river avenue thank you mayor said he council before you is that request that city council adopt a resolution of a tent and tent that would create a neighborhood enterprise zone along river avenue stretching from seventeenth street northerly to fourteenth street one of the conditions of the state law is it has your neighborhood enterprise zone if it's going to be new construction and not an existing building has to contain ten contiguous parcels the reason we're in front of council this evening is because  builders has approached city staff with an idea to construct forty one units forty one unit what i'm going to call attached single family apartment building is one way to look at it  investment going to be about four point five million dollars this is all shared in your report in your attachments from boss craft builders as part of their discussion with us and their intention to develop this property they have requested that we  include a neighborhood enterprise zone as an incentive to make this difficult to develop parcel a little more feasible and you know according to them so looking at the map staff sat down and we said what's the most reasonable way to include ten contiguous parcels what we look for were other nearby or adjacent areas that are really develop a ball and what we noticed was two vacant lots along river avenue to the north two vacant lots of long fifteenth street and so when we add up all the parcels that area within the red polygon area we get to ten i believe it's actually eleven in that area it is a request from you know it's a recommendation that city council adopt this resolution of intent as part of this resolution of intent staff directed and it's again this is a state law requirement that we notify the tax taxing jurisdictions for this area and then when you know more than sixty days out will come back to the city council for a public hearing and have you have have a recommendation for you to formally adopt this area as a neighborhood enterprise  so the first step would be adopting the resolution of intent you're not actually creating the zone to know right you're just making an aware and directing staff to start that conversation with the appropriate taxing jurisdictions line have they said it's going to be one hundred percent condos or one hundred percent apartments i think similar to a baker loss where they came in you know with some condos and some apartments their idea is to set this up where if someone wants to buy a unit they can buy it but at the same time they don't want to lock themselves into you because something we're seeing in in the trends nowadays young urban professionals recent college graduates they're looking for this kind of urban living where they're not tied down to purchasing a home quite yet in the neighborhood but they want to rent a flat they want to rent an apartment style thing and this urban area where it's walkable to downtown it's in a neighborhood of mixed uses a neighborhood of mixed income some diversity and so right now in the city of holland we really don't have that product and these neighborhoods baker loss is probably the closest we come to in our neighborhoods where we introduce that product across the street the old e file building could have been that but the way it was financially packaged together it became a senior citizen you know environment that is not at market rate this is going to be market rate so it's going to open the doors more to people looking for this urban apartment for that kind of look you know a lifestyle well the question would you believe that we will know a percentage of condos apartments at some point i don't i'm not it's it will be hard for us to put our finger on that at this moment i mean next tuesday the developers and be sharing you know their conceptual plans with the planning commission and i can if i know the planning commission well i'm pretty sure there's one or two are going to ask that exact question and if not that's a question that staff is going to bring  the planning commission and we'll have you know we'll be able to give you their answer after that meeting ok thank you the other questions first hope still after all thank you city council of the mayor city council thank you again tonight your being and requested to approve a ten thousand nine hundred sixty funding agreement with rights of hope which is a neighborhood nonprofit to assist in the development of a community center for fifty strafford a way for those in the audience and those watching on t v i would like to just give you a real quick fifteen second history of the city's relationship  apartments these are apartment complexes apartment buildings that are located just to the south side of sixteenth street and in the howard heights neighborhood across from the van rocky farm which is a city owned  park through the use of community development block grant funds and community social services assistance funds the city has funded a variety of projects during this time frame we've built a pretty strong relationship and partnership with heights of hope where third floor we deal with code enforcement if we had issues with long grass building issues in those apartments heights of hope has really become the liaison between city hall and this property owners and addressing a lot of those code complaints likewise heights of hope has also built a really good relationship with the holland public schools the holland heights elementary school and you know providing your services for those kids in this neighborhood in those neighborhoods heights of hope is probably a model neighborhood nonprofit for us the work they're doing out there the social assistance they're providing the opportunities that they're giving not just the youth but the residents that live there is pretty meaningful and beneficial to the city in the work the back of the slides a little bit there in reverse order their plan is on the first floor they would like to convert the first to the first floor into a community center with a large meeting room flexible space kids room and office an open patio on the back where they can host barbecues and outdoor gatherings and then the second floor will be converted into staff apartments for people who work for heights of hope and then future  that the other one will be converted into a media room and library for the residents of this area this evening we do have a representative from heights of hope here if you know council would like to talk to them directly that neighborhood question any questions they answer so joel the they are asking for the city to provide about point zero to five percent of the project is that right their total budget that they shared with us is four hundred to five thousand and that includes in kind donations and so forth the reckon their requests from us is for ten thousand one hundred sixty i don't know the percent is off the top of my head but yeah i do sorry like you do that at the other meeting and i can't find my notes but yeah they have saved us all kinds of time and energy in like you said to the enforcement of code and supporting of people i know that at least one incident where a child was missing and they called the director of heights of hope at two in the morning and they located their child within an hour because of the connections that have been built by heights of home that would have been all kinds of man hours going door to door and a frantic search for this child so it is not and it's impossible to put a number on the value of investing in the lives of the people that live in this neighborhood and  have made amazing differences and that it is the right title heights of hope that gives hope to these children and their families i think one of the children that grew up in in this neighborhood is now becoming an american or volunteer to give back to her own neighborhood that is so inspiring and that only comes with the continuity and constant nurturing and support of a system that's working and i i just think it's so important our us as a city to say thank you and bless their project and continue to encourage them to get and bring these people to a better place and help them have help and a better future anyone else yet weighs just real quick we're about yesterday afternoon several of us were able to make a trip to cross the city to the heights of hope and good samaritan and also talked about some of the projects with three sixty one and west corps and there are other groups beside those four but they are all working to give stability to neighborhoods and they need to be supported if we can  ply do that and this one that's on the screen right now for us anyway the downstairs will be renovated and upstairs and it will be rented out and it's going to be a great like well this one's a little bit skewed me this one's a little bit near and dear to my heart since this is the year in which i live i've been watching heights i hope for quite some time you know quite a few people that have been involved with them for quite some time knowing what the mission statement of the city is as far as neighborhoods as joel said this is a model this helps enable residents to take back their neighborhood from what could have been and what it was the transformation that has happened over the last few years in this area is just phenomenal this is just one small part of this community center which they've been looking for for quite some time it's gone through different iterations different dreams so on and so forth but i think it's finally coming to fruition there's a lot of hard work that's gone into this and i think it can be our small way of saying yes we're supporting what you're doing thank you for what you're doing the some of the intangibles or the possibly the amount of money that is saved us in the long run from the reduction police calls things and things of that nature can't count when you don't know what's going to happen but you know that it's been in a positive impact the streets are full on wednesday nights with the basketball games it's a collaboration between a number of churches up there a number of private organizations and they're not coming to us for a very big portion of this the fund raising campaign has been extensive there's been a lot of reinvestment a lot of soul searching and a lot of private private public partnership like uses which you call so i hope that we can support this and look forward to bigger and greater and better things coming out of i would just add that i agree with everything that's been said and i know that i look at this as an investment that will pay us a return in reduced costs of services up in this area i would also add that i know having spoken with many of the members of our police department from all the way from our committee placing officers all of ch messer what high regard they have for this organization and all the positive things that they have brought about up in this neighborhood so i am very pleased to support this as well and then a similar item for the redevelopment at twenty nine west sixteenth street before city council tonight is a request that we approve a twenty thousand dollars funding agreement with three sixty another well deserving neighborhood nonprofit of which the city staff is had probably close to a decade long relationship with essential neighborhoods their focus area is roughly the river to lincoln twenty fourth north thirteenth street however they're very quick to remind me that they work with people throughout the city of holland throughout the central neighborhoods really about two or three years ago the city of holland acquired this property at twenty nine east sixteenth street known to the people who live in the neighborhood as pertwee knows and this property was then quickly transferred over the three sixty for their rehab and development and preservation of this building we did this transaction two other times or three sixty on college avenue with two residential structures as well three sixty has converted those two residential structures into probably the best houses on those on those on the on that block and they are in the process of finishing up way to living library that's going to be utilized by the neighborhood residents and that immediate area on college avenue our plan for this property is staff has identified this for quite some time as a blighted property there are several code violations we have with the quality and condition of the siding as well as the quality and condition of the roof it is a blight on this neighborhood and it should be clear that this front sixteenth street and is a stone's throw off river avenue so it's a very high traffic area a very high visible area we're very fortunate three sixty is willing to tackle this project and address the blighted the blight of this property and then convert the up stairs into a community what we call a neighborhood office for their organization as well as an apartment upstairs as well on the screen right now is just a concept of what the final plan will look like when we address this if i back up you know see right now it has  fake square facade the sign is up here there's some exterior venting slash ductwork that is no longer on the building through sixty's already addressed the windows on the front and the door on the front and some  issues on the inside the new building is going to have the roof restored or the roof line restored the sign will probably be lowered we're going to install hopefully some windows along the side and we're going to dress up this western elevation faces river avenues staff really views this project similar to the work we did with the washington square minute mark and another blighted commercial property that was just kind of bringing down the neighborhood and we're very fortunate that we have a willing property owner here that has not only the vision to do something great here but with what they pulled off on college avenue with those two properties and the garage they have the manpower they have the know how this is going to be a great project when it's all said and done so it's our recommendation that we allocate twenty thousand dollars to this project as well in our staff report i do want to just clarify a couple things we talked about a sixty thousand dollar total budget that just includes what's being done right now on the outside stuff with the roof the facade the doors in the windows that does include the extra work that they're doing on the inside so i don't want to get hooked up on that you know we're given a third of the project took when we talked about with heights of hope and because it will be for the community on the top floor and retail on the bottom floor plus an apartment that correct i am not going to miss that big chunk of the on the front of that building where that came from i don't know and i love putting a title on the side and never ave i think whatever we do along ribbon avenue is encourages people because they drive by it so often and every time you go by something that's refurbished and refreshed and cared about you just feel better all over that home car house as done i've heard from so many people i just love the way they redid their house it's just wonderful and sometimes we just close our eyes to things because we know it's not going to feel good and this building is really going to be a feel good place and it's not just th that sixty thousand mean they have been investing a lot in that property continue to invest that we will not be paying for this is similar to the heights of hope and it's another indication of people using their gifts coming up with creative ways to support a neighborhood coming alongside people helping people find their own gifts and empowering them to make their own changes and really help people become self sufficient independent and learn how to work together as a neighborhood it's just so sustainable it's so right and we just appreciate all that you guys have done i'm assuming you are all from three sixty that's a great great group the man of three sixty thank you for coming and for your continued investment in the community we really appreciate all that you do that our city it's not this downtown i guess but i think there's a lot of potential changes coming in this area and you guys are a big part of it so thank you you do i mean you're all sitting here in a beautiful evening and i don't think it was getting paid and i think that's what you do with what three sixty does what hates i hope does what washington school does less corps maple avenue ministries new community fourth reform all of these kind of building blocks in the community have really orchestrated themselves phenomenally well to a point where we had to remind ourselves in a meeting a couple days ago that you know three years ago four years ago five years ago neighborhoods saving abel we're worried about the neighborhood we're worried about so many things about urban problems that so many other cities have and it's almost like that that burden has been lifted in many ways because of the collaborative way in which you guys go about your business s police a couple years ago at a dinner at a lunch was a fundraiser for heights of parole and he couldn't shut up about how what difference organizations like yours are making we've had programs in the past that have done great things are street other things were cities devore well i've been trying to make a difference but when you live there and you know your neighbors and you go about it the way you do it it's a model that i'm sure is i don't know how unique it is to the city but it works it's phenomenally works well for a community and i can't thank you enough for what you do and the commitment you do for it just because it's just in your d n a and i'm so glad you're part of our community i would like to add my thanks as well it's it's great when a group gets behind an area and i think for a long time those of us on council have had a real concern about  our downtown but more than just our downtown also our neighborhood commercial districts and we've seen a real resurgence of those in the past few years from washington square to so village and now it seems that we have a champion stepping forward for the sixteenth and central commercial district as well and that that bodes well for that area so we thank you indulgence because our eagle eyed clerk noted that when we voted on the prior issue of heights of hope i jumped the gun and i called for had a motion in support on that items so i will bring us back to item fourteen one point five and ask same wonderful and thank you for making sure that we conduct all of our business in good and proper order well that's the consequence of goober efficiency from the mayor we can let you go all right that then brings us down i believe to fourteen in five point one some give us city managers office is pleased to report the following gues community and neighborhood services received a donation in the amount of sixty six dollars and fifty cents from janie j n and concessions from the two thousand and fifteen national my now event park recreation how and loomed received a donation from chemical bank in the amount of eight hundred dollars parks and recreation digraph nature center for land improvements were received from various individuals david rosen nancy and maybe s d n n linda to leave sorry if i didn't say that correctly shelley and larry would up michael de young and ralph  ruby kicker it is recommended that these donations be accepted with appreciation and an expression of gratitude be forwarded to said donors what's the pleasure of gulls motion unless i've missed something i believe it brings us telecommunications from the city manager mayor three items one i want to give a shout out to some unsung heroes for the city of holland and they are our cemetery crew specifically conor and ray had an opportunity to have them show me their craft today and there it is remarkable how well it is scripted especially when family is present and how important and carefully they take their responsibilities and i will say that for reasons unknown we are averaging about one burial per day and that amounts to about fifty more than that other years other recent years so they are busy not been needed given the year end june thirty the when the lines garden is fully in the black and thanks to much of the efforts over the last four five six years at least that has been made and all attendance will be free last item some so if you may have discerned may have seen this on channel thirteen we have had some considerations brought forward important that the markers be in place so everyone had a chance to be able to better evaluate their recommendations on st annes you secured their services in january report is now ready and it seems appropriate that september ninth be the when that is reviewed so you can go and drive down any street and now and see an indication either the city of holland aesthetic marker or a survey stake and judgments are made by the crew in the field as to whether to place that marker the static marker given the fact there might be some considerations the the neighbors or you might want to have before the final marker is placed so september will be five thirty anyone watching course it's public and welcome to attend that study session and i think that you'll have an something to look at over the weekend if you have time on your hands thank you thank you letter communications from the mayor it's simply remind you that we encourage your participation and your expression of comments and ideas to us you can do that in numerous ways all of the information about each of us or of the various departments of the city are available on the city website phone numbers email addresses and there's also a wealth of other information that's available on the city website so we would ask that you avail yourself of that secondly as the city manager indicated this coming saturday is a significant event in the city it is the fiftieth annual community day celebration which is a joint celebration between city of holland and hope college celebrating the relationship between the city and that institution which also this year is celebrating its one hundred fiftieth anniversary and kicked off that hundred fiftieth year earlier this week with the convocation on monday we have the ground breaking for the new jim and marty bolton students center that is going to be built and there are other great things that are happening on hope's campus soon with the dedication and opening of the jacques miller music center and the kreutzer art museum both beautiful additions to hope's campus and to the holland community but this coming saturday community day there are a whole list of events starting out with a community day bike ride something new this year from nine until eleven gather at the device field house at nine o'clock fourth community bike ride there are athletic events throughout the day hope men's and women's cross country meet the fiftieth anniversary of the vanderbilt invitational and then of course the events on will island the the picnic the island will be open for touring and the single ticket gets you into all of these  events a great community celebration so would encourage your attendance at that do we have any communications from council members about other upcoming events this week and maybe you are you fishing for information mr mayor sir well i think i'm aware of what's happening but while yes you have at it we have a fantastic weekend coming up if you say you're bored in holland you ain't looking hard enough specifically following the great saturday program that we have labor day labor day is being celebrated in two different ways i will do half of it and it's a member to my right will do the other half liberty truck parade it's bigger and better than ever this year we have sixty six vehicles sixty seven excuse me we had one late entry  drouet has driven for forty two years four million miles so we had to let him in what we're doing is we're celebrating the the workers we're celebrating the employers we're celebrating the big trucks the noise the shine the glitz of town will be kicking off starting off from the city is elan on the far east end at nine fifteen rolling down through zealand on to chicago drive merging on to eight street little bit different because of the construction this year we will be very very off the seventh street instead of going down each street unfortunately we will be going west on seventh from lincoln to river that river we will make a southern motion to eight st and eight st we will turn again west and follow the rest of the parade road to maple in back of parking the trucks  because it's going to be allowed you get tender ears out there i would suggest very strongly that you bring some hearing devices bring something to sit with and bring a cooler for some ice cream because we will be having free ice cream out there and it's not going to be just a little cups it's going to be a slightly larger quantity than that so there's a been a lot of great sponsors it's going to be a great time so nine fifteen starting out as elan will probably hit downtown ten ish sixty six sixty so use me i can't get off that number sixty seven trucks we have been told it is the longest non military convoy in the country and we're very very proud of that we're very very proud of our employers and our employees what a better way to spend labor day us and labor day is so wonderful you should start early like it eight o'clock over on the west and of heinz over between the marina and heinz factory at that lovely little marker for how in city and that is where the labor day boardwalk starts which is going to be just absolutely amazing and the shirts i just picked them up from sun screen they are awesome look at that the guy that works there said he just loves the cartooning and he doesn't have a shirt like this with a pancake and a blueberry walking to a windmill and he would really love to have one so i'm sure we'll sell him one and so get your orders in run down to the civic center i think they're going to make them through the night even though it's like three hundred degrees in that little shop in this weather they are going to be working on him so rundown it's a limited quantity and you're all going to want to have one of those shirts started eight o'clock and the three point nine miles or two windmill island gardens which is just wildly successful as we already heard from ryan everybody's going to want to be there for pancakes and have a wonderful beautiful labor day with your family your neighborhood sometimes whole neighborhoods walk together and that is an awesome way to celebrate labor day and then after you've had your lovely breakfast you can go back to the trucks mike they'll be awesome and everybody can have it off on labor day also we are paging through our latest smithsonian magazine the september two thousand and fifteen edition and guess what there is a huge beautiful picture of the pearl mist and guess what they picked the one with the holland life houses that are some or what so the pearl mist has been here repeatedly and the people that ride on it just love downtown holland they love coming here to chicago holland and we're on a great circuit and hopefully they will keep coming and because they love being here sure and it's a great thing to encourage because every one of those people go back and tell their friends and neighbors what a great place holland michigan is and that that's awesome really september is a great month to be in holland to a promise is going strong from august and through the twentieth go to that their website for all the things happening you want to black out the third weekend in september because we have a live manikin night and the civil war muster and the tree climbing competition in prospect park which is a statewide festival in the last time we'll be hosting it we did last year and this year so you really want to be there this year and of course the weekend after that is the america in bloom conference so nobody wants to go anywhere but how many michigan in the month of september communications from other members we had a last minute addition to the agenda the c v your honor and i would like to make a motion a recommendation that we appoint liz haas well to the west michigan airport board to complete an unexplained unexpired term all in favor signify was saying i write your post thank you now that brings us down to nineteen requests to go into a closed session city attorney yes mr mayor we are requesting that we go into a closed session to discuss pending litigation and in attorney opinion related to that there would be a request for action after the close session and so  need a motion to go into closed session at this time we have heard heard the request of the city attorney has been moved but council member whiteman to go into closed session for those purposes support support  role excuse me just a moment before you call the role if we're going to meet up stairs and do the remainder of the session up stairs we need to instigate that as well ok we will be meeting in the training room up stairs we will be do you anticipate will return here for the action following whatever your preferences we can take care of that up stairs but we would come back out over some open session for the action item then upstairs ok we can do that all yes motion passes