COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – An agreement to sell a city-owned vacant lot at 141 Cutter Ave. to Branch County Habitat for Humanity for $1,000 received final approval from the Coldwater City Council on Monday night.
The offer received initial approval during the Council’s meeting on March 28 and sat on the table for 30 days per City Charter requirements. Habitat for Humanity plans on building a new single-family structure on the property.
Assistant City Manager Keith Baker says Habitat is also working on a property in Quincy. He says this is the second time Habitat has been provided a lot by the city. Baker says Habitat will take over mowing of the property on Cutter Avenue as well as the property taxes.
In other business, an ordinance was introduced on first reading to rezone 68 acres of property at 521 Jonesville Road from Coldwater Township zoning to City of Coldwater D-1 Light Industrial. Consumers Energy will be building a regional service center on the property. A PA 425 Conditional Land Transfer agreement with Coldwater Township approved last month shifted the jurisdiction of the property from the township to the city.
The Council also approved a licensing agreement with the owners of the Broadway Grille to allow the use of a small portion of the Chandler Plaza parking lot directly behind the restaurant for an outdoor patio from May 1st to September 30th.
Two minor updates to the rules and regulations for Oak Grove Cemetery were approved, allowing for up to four cremains with a single marker to be placed on a single grave and also formalizing the procedures for the installation of VA-provided Veterans Markers.
The City Council also approved budget amendments for the current 2015-16 fiscal year that ends on June 30th. City Manager Jeff Budd says the amendments will lead to a projected surplus of $82,000 after the budget adopted at the start of the fiscal year had a $181,000 deficit.
