The Sun and News, Saturday, March 2, 2024/ Page 7DEMO DAY: Former Baby Bliss
building comes down to open up
prime real estate in Middleville
Jayson Bussa
Editor
The main drag of the
Village of Middleville looks
a bit different after crews
spent this week demolishing
the former Baby Bliss facto-
ry downtown.
This stage of the process
followed on the heels of ini-
tial demolition work last
week, which took down
additional buildings on the
site, located at 120 W. Main
St.
The current property
owner, River Run Flats LLC,
has been working with the
Barry County Brownfield
Redevelopment Authority on
the demolition.
The redevelopment
authority last year received a
$220,000 blight elimination
grant, and all of that money
has been targeted toward
demolition and cleanup work
at the long-vacant Baby Bliss
site, which has nearly 300
feet of frontage on the
Thornapple River.
In the village’s 2021 mas-
ter plan update, the Baby
Bliss site is envisioned to be
redeveloped into a combina-
tion of high-density residen-
tial and mixed-use develop-
ment that would be “ideal for
a brew pub/restaurant.” The
0.81-acre site is currently
zoned as a combination of
medium-density residential
and central business district,
the latter of which is the zon-
ing designation for just about
all of the commercial proper-
ty in the downtown area.
Jennifer Heinzman,
President and CEO of Barry
County Chamber and
Economic Development
Alliance, said that her orga-
nization will work alongside
the village to aggressively
promote the property.
Eliminating the old, blighted
buildings serves as a major
step in that process.
“We have already had a
meeting with the Realtor that
has the property listed and
now that all the buildings
will be down, he’s eager to
get developers on the site tosee it,” Heinzman said. “It
provides a better picture now
of what it could be.”
Baby Bliss once manufac-
tured children’s clothing as
well as clothes for American
Girl dolls.
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SIPCMichigan Dems aim to ban
guns at voting locations
Jordyn Hermani
Bridge Michigan
LANSING, MI — A plan
to ban openly carried guns
at Michigan voting loca-
tions passed the state Senate
Thursday, but a House split
means the bills likely won’t
reach Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer’s desk anytime
soon.
Democrats approved the
two-bill package in par-
ty-line votes, calling it the
latest step in their effort to
protect the democratic pro-
cess.
“We have to make sure
that this process to partici-
pate in fair and free elec-
tions is not obstructed by
people who intentionally
want to cause ... intimida-
tion, fear and distress —
and have a tool like a fire-
arm to utilize it,” said Senate
Elections Committee Chair
Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield.
Republicans opposed the
bills en masse, however.
Sen. Ruth Johnson,
R-Groveland Township,said the bills would only
“serve to restrict the rights
of law-abiding citizens in
our state.” She took issue
with the idea that a person
openly carrying within 100-
feet of a ballot drop box
could be “inadvertently
charged with a crime.”
At that, Moss laughed,
pointing to other
Republican-led states like
Texas, Ohio and Mississippi,
which have some form of a
gun ban at polling locations.
“I heard rhetoric that this
is unconstitutional, that this
strips people of their rights,”
he said. “I don’t think that
somebody can make that
case when Texas does it.”
Senators made some
changes to the bills before
approving them. That means
the legislation will need to
return to the House for final
votes before getting
Whitmer’s signature.
The House, however, is
stuck at a 54-54 partisan
split, and has been since the
beginning of the year aftertwo Democrats resigned
from their roles in late 2023.
As a result, the legislation is
unlikely to advance until
April, when Democrats are
expected to regain their
majority through special
elections.
Even if the House and
Whitmer eventually give
final approval, the gun ban
would not be implemented
until after Michigan’s 2024
presidential election. Senate
Republicans on Thursday
denied both bills “immedi-
ate effect,” meaning they
would not be operational
until 90 days after the
Legislature adjourns for the
year, which usually happens
in December.
Democrats have attempt-
ed to ban guns at polling
locations since at least 2020,
when Secretary of State
Jocelyn Benson tried to do
so on her own. She was
quickly sued by gun rights
groups who argued she was
violating their Second
Amendment rights.