The Hastings Banner — Thursday, June 3, 2021 — Page 3Hastings DDA develops
streetscape master plan
Sophie Bates
Staff Writer
The Hastings Downtown Development
Authority is working to make downtown
Hastings an entertainment, restaurant and
shopping destination by implementing the
streetscape master plan, which was recently
updated after 30 years by planning,
architecture and design companies Wightman
and McKenna.
The DDA board met Tuesday for a second
workshop to review the more-than-75-page
master plan, which, though not all-
encompassing, provides guidance on
sidewalks, outdoor dining, lighting, parking,
trees, flower baskets, benches, bike racks and
more.
The DDA previously met with Wightman
and McKenna representatives, as well as
planning consultant Rebecca Harvey, to draft
the plan. They did so with their loftiest
dreams, and goals for downtown in mind;
now, they are looking at how to make those
dreams a reality.
The difficult part was getting started.
With so many elements included in the plan
— all of which beg questions, such as, ‘How
large should parking spots be?’, ‘How many
benches are needed per block?’ or, more
prominently, ‘What should we invest our
money in?’ — the DDA spent a portion of the
workshop ‘stuck in the weeds’ while debating
the plan’s details.
Interim City Manager Gregg Guetschow
suggested they start by ordering samples for
different benches, planters and other
downtown amenities. Testing the amenities
would allow for public input, which
Guetschow said would guide their process.
He also suggested they determine their top
priorities and find funding before delving into
more minute aspects of the plan.
“I also think that you should do some of
these as a test. So, before you make
commitments, get a few of these in and install
them, a few amenities you’re interested in,
and see how they work ... I think your real
issue is you’re having a tendency to get lost in
the weeds here on some of this stuff. I would
suggest kind of bring it back, focus on what
you really want and then figure out how to
pay for it. Don’t do it the other way around,
you’ll never be happy with that. Figure out
what you really want and then challenge Dan
[King, community development director] and
me or whoever’s going to be here: How are
we going to pay for this stuff?
“I think some of this is just hard for you to
visualize. So I say, try it. Try some of these
things on a very limited basis. Spend a couple
of bucks up front here to get some benches,
get some trees in here just to try them as
temporary installations so you can kind of
visualize what those will look like in a real-
life setting.”
DDA members agreed with Guetschow’s
suggestion and Trustee Terri Albrecht noted
the DDA already is looking to invest in extra
downtown seating for the recently opened
Hastings Outdoor Pods social district — the
perfect opportunity.
“So to Gregg’s point, we have to buy some
benches for the social district, right? What if
we got a couple different variations? I mean,
it might look hodgepodge now, but we’ll
certainly know which ones take the wear and
tear, which ones the people prefer,” Albrecht
said. “I think it’s a good opportunity since we
have to get something for the social district
anyway.”
Bouncing off Albrecht’s idea, Guetschow
further suggested they seek public input on
the temporary amenity installments by placing
a QR code on the amenities with a link to a
survey.
He estimated a cost of $10,000 to acquire
and install the amenities.
“Yes, you’re going to have kind of a
hodgepodge look to things initially, but you
put up signs and let people know, ‘We’re
trying this out. This is a test. Let us know
what you think.’ I would put a sign up there
with a quick response code that takes them to
a survey that lets them give you input,”
Guetschow said. “[It] lets the people in the
downtown give you input when they see these
things. That will give you some direction.
There’s ways to make this work. But I think
that before you plunge headlong and try stuff
out, invest a little bit of money up front
because it will save you money in the long
run.”
DDA board members were in favor of the
idea, although there was some debate
regarding how long to leave up the temporary
amenities.
Albrecht suggested leaving them up
through summer, fall and at least a portion of
winter to see they endure Michigan weather,but Trustee Deb Button said she thought it
was unlikely they would get an accurate
picture of the amenity’s longevity in a short
time period.
Trustee Lyndy Bolthouse said the testing
would slow down their implementation of the
plan too much.
“We have this plan and I want to move
forward. I don’t want to drag it out a year or
two,” Bolthouse said.
The DDA board has not determined exactly
how it will handle amenity testing but is
moving in that direction.
Chairperson Patty Woods said she intends
to meet with Harvey and others who worked
on the streetscape master plan to adjust certain
aspects, but won’t do so until the DDA has
determined its top priorities of the plan.his students they would have to give a five-
minute presentation to the entire class, he
could see some looked nervous about it.
At the end of the class, one student
approached him and asked if there was an
alternative. He told her no.
“I told her that she would have to present
to the rest of the class,” Doran recalled. “I
could see the swelling fear in her eyes.
Starting to panic myself, I started giving her
compliments and told her that I thought she’d
do great.”
Doran said he knew she didn’t agree with
him and, when he thought about his decision
later, he concluded, “I was pretty much a jerk.
But it was too late to back down. And my new
thought was, ‘Man, I hope this works.’
“So, the day of presentations came. It was
just like a movie. Every student got up, one by
one, and did their presentation while my
nervous student sat in the back awaiting her
fate. We got down to her. And, when I called
out her name, in the back of my head, I was
thinking this is going to work out just like I
planned – or I’m going to be the teacher that
forced this student to embarrass themselves in
front of all her peers.
“So, she gets up; I hand her the clicker.
Both of us are nervous at this point, and she
starts to present. Five minutes pass – and she
killed it.
“She gave one of the best presentations of
all her peers and didn’t seem nervous at all.”
Doran said, when he thought about what
had happened, “I decided that I had just truly
witnessed what success and pushing yourself
outside your comfort zone looks like.
“Since then, this girl has gotten up without
hesitation to give 5-, 6- almost 10-minute
presentations sometimes, including on this
very stage, in front of all her peers in a second
language.
“She constantly competes for the highest
grades on assessments, writes some of the
longest essays and speaks with ease.”
“I want to award the 2021 Spanish
Department award to Savana Leonard because
she is, hands-down, one of the top students –
but also because she has given me a memory
of perseverance I’m not going forget anytime
soon,” Doran said.
Accounts like these prompted Principal
Teresa Heide to offer a comment as the
program continued.
“Listening to what all these great educators
have said and shared,” Heide told the audience,
“this is the joy of our profession. ... We are
blessed.”
In addition to social studies and Spanish,
department honors singled out excellence in
agriculture, business, construction trades,
culinary arts, engineering design, fine arts,
language arts, math and science.
In addition, Heide said hundreds of
thousands of dollars in scholarships were
presented to the seniors that night.
Among participation awards, the
Congressional Medal of Merit has been
presented to students in the 3rd District for the
past 30 years. Recipients demonstrate
exemplary citizenship and academic
excellence in their high school years; they are
leaders in the area of peer respect, community
service, and involvement in extracurricularactivities. Recipients do not seek or expect
recognition for their activities.
U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids,
chose Mary Grace Green as “a true example
of what is good about our young people
today.”
Early College recognition went August
Malik, who earned an associate’s degree in
business management while she attended high
school. She plans to attend Grand Valley State
University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in
business administration.
The Bradley and Karen Johnson
Scholarship was awarded by Bradley Johnson,
who offered a personal account to provide a
life lesson as well:
“It was about four years ago tonight, my
late wife, Karin [Gibson], and I were in the
audience on awards night watching our son
Sam graduate. Many of you guys remember
Hannah, she graduated last year,” Johnson
said to the students. “My wife turned to me
and she goes, ‘Let’s set up one of those
scholarships.’ I said to her, ‘Consider it done.’
And that’s exactly what a couple of Hastings
grads did.
“Unfortunately, three weeks later from
that night, she lost her seven-year battle with
cancer. So, the point is: Seize the day. When a
good idea hits you, just get out there and get
‘er done.
“I’m happy to award this progressive,
renewal scholarship for up to four years, and
up to $3,500, to Addison Horrmann, ...who
will be attending Hope College and plans to
study education. ... My wife was a teacher.”Airport board seeks bids to fill
hazardous ditch near runway
Sophie Bates
Staff Writer
After two airplane accidents in recent
months, the Hastings/Barry County Airport
Commission will seek bids to fill in a ditch
along the runway’s south side.
On occasion, pilots have crashed into the
ditch after losing control of their aircrafts or
navigating adverse landing conditions.
Because aircrafts are made of light materials,
damage to these planes can be significant.
“[The ditch] has caused problems for 20
years. I know at least a half a dozen airplanes
that have gone off the runway and been dam-
aged excessively that probably wouldn’t even
have been damaged if the ditch hadn’t been
there at all,” Assistant Airport Manager Mark
Anderson said in an interview Friday. “We
had one airplane end up upside down before.
“Luckily, nobody has ever been injured.
There have been a couple of airplanes totaled
out completely, though, because of that.”
“We’ve had two [accidents] this year actu-
ally, the last few months,” Anderson said.
“So, we’ve got to get something done.”
Before voting to seek bids, the commission
received an estimate of $26,000 from B&R
Excavating, based in Barry County, to fill the
ditch.
The ditch is about 2- to 3-feet deep, 6-feet
high and an estimated 2,500-feet long and was
built to direct water into the Thornapple River
should the airport ever experience major
flooding.
“The engineering company put in drainage
under the whole airport for water drainage,”
Anderson said. “There are culverts under the
taxiways, under the runway. It was for if there
was like a 500-year flood, which is probably
never going to happen here, let alone a 100-
year flood.
“But, for whatever reason, the engineering
company put all these drainage ditches, which,
for the most part, are fine, except on the south
side of the runway. We’re just hoping to get it
filled in as soon as we can, try to make the
runway a little bit safer in case we have excur-
sions off the runway. ... We’re trying to makeit safer as well. We put up 10-foot fences try-
ing to keep the wildlife out and make it a little
safer. So, we’re always trying to improve it
and make it better.”
During the airport manager’s report,
Anderson, who filled in for Airport Manager
Mark Noteboom, who was absent, said con-
struction of the fence around the airport is
almost finished.
The commission also accepted the financial
report for April.
Month-to-date revenue was $19,730 and
year-to-date revenue was $105,730.
“The sale of gas was maybe just a little bit
low, which would make sense with every-
thing. So we’ll have to monitor that just a lit-
tle bit. But that one isn’t so alarming in that
you’ve had a corresponding decrease in
expenditures,” said County Administrator
Michael Brown, who gave the report.
Month-to-date expenditures were $29,406,
and year-to-date expenditures were $57,611.
Chairman Ron Holley also was absent from
the meeting.Principal Teresa Heide officially introduces the graduating Class of 2021. (Photo by Scott Harmsen)Hastings High School’s honors convocation at the Performing Arts Center began as the graduating seniors were seated on the
stage. (Photo by Scott Harmsen)
NEWS
BRIEFS
No Family Left
Indoors begins
Family Night at Camp Algonquin
Tuesday, June 8, will be the first event for
the No Family Left Indoors program.
Along with scheduled programs at local
venues the summer series also includes
self-guided activities.
Tuesday, the YMCA of Barry County
will invite families in to enjoy a concen-
trated camp experience, including nature
trails, games, a craft and s’mores. This
event will be outdoors. Registration is
required and can be completed at http://
bit.ly/NFLIfamilycamp.
That night, after darkness descends,
families (regardless whether they visited
the camp) can take part in a self-guided
constellation activity in their own back-
yards and learn how to find constellations
in the night sky. More information can be
found at https://stardate.org/nightsky/
constellationsParkinson’s support
group to meet
The Barry County Parkinson’s Support
Group has resumed in-person meetings at
5 p.m. the second Wednesday of the
month.
Individuals with Parkinson’s, as well
as caregivers, are invited to join this free
support group.
The June 9 program will include
ice-breaker activities along with peer-to-
peer discussion.
The group will not meet in July.
Meetings are at the Commission on
Aging, 320 W. Woodlawn Ave., Hastings.
The group meets under the leadership
of Spectrum Health Pennock, the COA
and the Michigan Parkinson Foundation.City Band to
present music from
Broadway
For 164 years, Hastings City Band has
been entertaining local residents and the
community, and a new season is under-
way.
The band is kicking off the Hastings
Live summer concert season. Each
Wednesday evening in June, the long-
standing group of musicians will perform
a free concert at Thornapple Plaza near
the corner of State and Apple/Boltwood
streets in Hastings.
Wednesday, June 9, the local band will
present “A Night on Broadway.”
Concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Attendees should bring their own chairs
or blankets for seating.
The band is open to local musicians
(regardless of hometown) high school-
age and up. Practices will be from 7 to 9
p.m. Tuesdays, June 8, 15, 22 and 29, at
Thornapple Plaza.
Anyone wanting more information
about joining the band may email spen-
[email protected].HONORS, continued from page 1
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