Page 12/The Sun and News, Saturday, June 19, 2021Five TKHS students earn honors in film contest
Five Thornapple Kellogg
High School film students
took six prizes at the recent
Meijer Great Choices Film
Festival.
The student public service
announcements were judged
among more than 350 entries
submitted from around thestate.
TKHS students placing
various categories for kin-
dergarten-through sixth-
grade students included:
Ruby Frei – ninth place,
building character.
Corey Holt – 10th place,
celebrating diversity.Miles Sonza – 10th place,
building character.
NyKole Vartanian – eighth
place, promoting health life-
styles.
Camren Zoet – eighth
place, celebrating diversity,
and 10th place, promoting
healthy lifestyles.The top 10 finishers in
each category earned a price.
Fourth through 10th places
each were awarded $75 gift
cards.
This annual contest chal-
lenges students to create
30-second public service
announcements focused on
healthy living, building char-
acter or celebrating diversity.According to a press release
about the contest, “The goal
is to encourage students to
focus on positive great choic-
es that can be made in daily
life.”
Awards were announced
at an in-person reception
June 5 at Byron Center High
School.
Student submissions arejudged anonymously by a
panel of college judges. The
top 10 high school films in
each category will be avail-
able to view on the Meijer
Great Choices Film Festival
website for schools to use as
tools for character education,
health and diversity pro-
grams.NyKole Vartanian and Camren Zoet hold their awards at the Meijer Great Choices
Film Festival. (Photos provided)
Camren Zoet, Corey Holt and Miles Sonza receive awards at the Meijer Great
Choices Film Festival.Caledonia nixes proposal to
change lot size calculation
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
The Caledonia Township
board Wednesday narrowly
rejected a proposal that
would have changed the way
the size of a lot in rural resi-
dential and some agricultural
areas of the township is
determined.
The board voted 4-
against a proposal that would
have changed the determina-
tion of lot size for purposes
allowing accessory buildings
in the rural residential zoning
district and non-farm proper-
ties in the agricultural zoning
district. It also would have
replaced the words “lot area”
in the ordinance with the
word “lot.”
The ordinance places a
maximum allowable size for
an accessory building based
on the calculated lot size. For
example, the owner of a lot
of less than an acre would be
allowed a maximum
1,200-square-foot accessory
building. The owner of a lot
of 10 acres or more would be
allowed two accessory build-
ings, each of up to 5,
square feet.
The township planning
commission had recommend-
ed the amendment. Some
board members suggested
the determination of lot size
should be changed to include
the entire area within the lot.The township’s current poli-
cy for lots that front a road-
way is to subtract out the area
of road right-of-way from the
calculation of the lot size.
“The change is not war-
ranted,” Township Supervisor
Bryan Harrison said. “I
believe our current method
of calculation is consistent
with [other communities]
and consistent with our own
history.”
Trustee Dale Hermenet,
who voted in favor of the
change, said the proposal
was meant to clear up what
he sees as confusion with
how two same-size parcels
are taxed, one that has road
frontage and another that
does not.
“To assess them at the
same land value is confusing
to me. The land is not worth
the same,” Hermenet said.
“The person that has the
4-acre lot, that can split it, is
going to pay a lot more than
a 3.7-acre lot [after subtract-
ing out the right-of-way] that
cannot be split, even though
at the time you’ve got one
house on both.”
Township Treasurer/
Administrator Richard
Robertson said there is a dif-
ference between a lot with
road frontage and one that
doesn’t, even though the
actual size of the lots are the
same. He cited an example oftwo adjacent properties, one
that fronts onto 76th Street
and the other that has no
access to the road.
“My problem with that is
they’re not identical parcels,”
Robertson said. “The parcel
that’s off the right-of-way
has 3 acres of land or proper-
ty available for private use,
subject to township zoning.
The ... property on the right-
of-way has 2.8 acres of land
available for private use, sub-
ject to township zoning. So I
don’t think it’s accurate to
say they’re exactly the
same.”
“But they’re taxed at the
same value,” Hermenet
responded.
Robertson said the way
properties are assessed is an
issue for the township asses-
sor to deal with.
“You don’t solve those
issues in zoning. You can’t
make up for assessing prob-
lems by fixing it in zoning,”
he said.
Hermenet moved to
approve the amendment, but
his motion died for lack of
support.
Harrison, Robertson, Clerk
Joni Henry and Trustee Tim
Bradshaw voted to reject the
change. Hermenet was joined
in support by trustees Greg
Zoller and Richard Snoeyink.