NEGAUNEE, Mich, (WZMQ) – 320 acres on Negaunee’s west side is known as “Old Town.” This area has been public land for the last 20 years.
Now the city council is considering rezoning five acres of Old Town adjacent to Snow Street for residential housing.
“There’s a housing shortage here in Marquette County,” said City Manager Nate Heffron, “across the state of Michigan and nationwide, and that has spurred us to create housing in our community.”
Heffron says a study from the early 2000s shows this area is safe for new constructions, and not affected by mining. He also says that may not be a case for other areas in town.
“On the other properties you would have to do the Enviornmental 1,” said Heffron, “so it would say mining occurred there, and then you would have to go a step further where you would have to do testing or further investigations of the soil to see if there’s contaminations.
Heffron said it’s a necessary step for Negaunee’s Growth, but not everyone is in favor of rezoning.
“It’s already a highly used parcel for recreation,” said Community Member Jeff Plummer. “and all the gains we might get turning it into residential are hypothetical, there’s could be a lot of downfalls too.”
“Protect Old Town Negaunee,” the local citizen group that Plummer is a part of, wants the space to remain public land. Plummer said the group isn’t against expanding housing, they just want the council to look elsewhere.
“We believe there’s better opportunities in the private sector without citizens having to give up their green space,” said Plummer.
The group also worries that rezoning could have unexpected negative side effects.
“It’s a pretty pristine piece of land,” said Plummer, “and it fits into our recreation plan extremely well.”
Heffron said the city council plans to involve the community in the process as much as possible.
“We will take the recommendations from the people and other folks that have interest in the community,” said Heffron, “and the council will weigh them accross what needs to be done.”
Click here for more information about the city council plans for rezoning, and here for more information about Protect Old Town Negaunee.
