Page 2/The Sun and News, Saturday, June 19, 2021Middleville DDA forms committee to pursue downtown art
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Leaders in Middleville
will undertake an effort to
get more pieces of art into
the downtown area.
The downtown develop-
ment authority board
Tuesday approved forming a
committee to look at ideas
for incorporating art into the
central business district.
“Several of our residents
have asked ‘how do we get
more art downtown?’” DDA
Director Katherine Schmidt
said.
Schmidt has spoken to
representatives from the
Midwest Sculpture Initiative,
which curates pieces of art-work for the City of Hastings
as well as more than 100
other cities across the
Midwest.
“They have a waiting list
to become a client, but
offered the opportunity to
possibly purchase exiting
pieces from their warehouse
collection,” Schmidt wrote
in a memo to the DDA board.
Schmidt also spoke with
John Sauve of the Brighton-
based Sauve Foundation for
the Arts, who has curated
outdoor exhibits and art
shows in such communities
as Saugatuck, Grand Haven
and Charlevoix. Sauve
offered to host an invitation-
al sculpture exhibit inMiddleville that would have
10 exhibits, at a cost of about
$20,000.
DDA board chairwoman
Kim Jachim said there are
several local artists the vil-
lage could contact as well for
input.
“We do have some good
artists here, that if we had a
committee, we can reach out
to and say, ‘What do you
have to offer us and what is
your price?’” Jachim said. “I
think a committee is a great
idea.”
The committee could
look at grant opportunities to
help fund the cost of getting
artwork into the downtown
area.Jachim, board vice chair-
man Randy Eggers, board
member Kristen Fisher and
Village Council Trustee and
DDA member Mike Lytle
have agreed to serve on the
committee.
In other business
Tuesday, the DDA board:- Heard an update from
Schmidt on the Movies
Under the Stars series, which
had its first show of the sea-
son last Saturday night at the
DDA Amphitheater with
Disney’s “Onward.” About
65-75 people attended the
show, Schmidt said.
“The new equipment [for
showing the movies] is pret-
ty fantastic. The community
loved it,” she said.
At least four businesses
have signed up as sponsors
for the movie series, she
said.
Additional movies are
scheduled to be shown July
10, Aug. 8 and Sept. 11. As
of Friday morning, no deci-
sions had been made regard-
ing which movies will be
shown on those dates. The
August showing may be a
double feature, Schmidt said.
The DDA board approved
a list of 11 movies that may
be shown, with decisions to
be made by the sponsors,
Schmidt said.- Approved the purchase
of a wireless internet mesh
system that would boost the
existing signal from the vil-
lage hall to cover the sesqui-
centennial pavilion and
amphitheater, at a cost of no
more than $600.
“This would give us solid
coverage under the pavilion
and throughout the whole
park,” Schmidt said.
Acquiring the system
would boost DDA’s ability to
stream movies and music in
the park area, as well as
enhance cell phone service in
the area, Schmidt said.- Held off on a decision
to purchase a wireless speak-
er system for the downtown
area until the village council
has a chance to review the
proposal at a committee of
the whole meeting Tuesday,
July 6. Thornapple Township
Supervisor and DDA mem-
ber Eric Schaefer said at
least three speakers and a
mobile transmitter would be
needed to provide sound
from the amphitheater to
High Street. The estimated
cost of such a system would
be about $6,550, Schmidt
said.
Gaines Township buys speed monitoring sign
James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
Steady citizen complaints
about motorists speeding in
Gaines Township have
spurred the township board
to purchase a roadside speed
awareness monitor.
The board approved the
$7,894 purchase at its
meeting Monday. The
portable 700-pound trailer
sign is the first one the
township has owned,
according to board
Supervisor Rob DeWard,
who said some federal
stimulus dollars could be
applied to cover the cost.
The Kent County
Sheriff’s Department owns a
couple of digital monitors as
well, but the placement of
those monitors is shared
among the county’s 21
townships.
Gaines Township is one
of the fastest-growing
municipalities in West
Michigan, and that appears
to have led to more speeding
complaints and more traffic
congestion recently. Kent
County Sheriff’s Deputy
Jason VanderMolen told the
township board that police
have been making a lot of
traffic stops, especially along
the 68th Street corridor, from
east of Kalamazoo Avenue
out to Dutton.
“With all the commercial
expansion that’s happening
... we are seeing speeds of
80, 90 miles an hour,”
VanderMolen told the board.Finding a place to put the
speed-monitoring trailer will
not be a problem, whether
there or elsewhere in the
township. VanderMolen said
a few of the many problem
areas include 72nd Street,
92nd Street, and Eastern and
Kalamazoo avenues, among
others.
“There’s probably 10
spots, right off the top of my
head,” VanderMolen said.
“The complaints about
speeding are nonstop.”
A number of traffic-
impact studies have been
done for the various major
industrial developments
going in along the 68th Street
corridor west of Patterson
Avenue. Sheriff’s Lt. Justin
DeBoode told the township
board that traffic near the
Amazon fulfillment center
can sometimes pose a
problem.
“Hopefully, at some point
in the near future, Amazon –
with the board’s approval –
builds a lounge and parking
area for the truckers.
Because, unfortunately,Amazon will allow them to
park on their property in
between loads, so they don’t
have to drive a distance,”
DeBoode said. “So, they’re
literally just looking for a
temporary spot to park. And
obviously, semi-tractors are
unsightly when they’re
[lined] up 30 or 40 at a time.”
As reported in the May
29 Sun and News, the
township planning
commission gave final
approval last month for Ryan
Companies to build sortation
and delivery buildings on its
site directly north of the
Amazon facility. A temporary
staging area is being built for
tractor trailers there, until a
permanent parking solution
can be found.
As for the speed-
monitoring trailer, it will
provide the township with
data about the volume of
traffic on a particular road,
how fast vehicles are
traveling, and when.
VanderMolen said digital
signs serve as a visual cue to
motorists to slow down,although the signs have a
diminishing effect after a
while.
“We have found that you
can put it [at a certain
location] for seven to 10
days, tops, and it does start to
have some effect [on drivers’
speed]. But if you put it there
longer than that, people will
see it and they’re like
‘Whatever’,” VanderMolen
said.
Tim Haagsma wears two
hats as a township trustee
and as public safety director
for the Kent County Road
Commission. He said traffic
engineers will be able to
examine the median speed of
traffic, and the 85th percentile
speed, among other things.
“And with that, we could
also track that back to data
the road commission would
have, if we have some data
for the same location,”
Haagsma said, adding that
the township also would be
able to compare traffic
speeds when the trailer is at a
given location to when it
isn’t, in order to gauge itseffectiveness.
“The [road commission]
has certain criteria to say this
many vehicles going through
[an intersection] at this time
frame warrants [installment
of] a traffic light. But if it’s
below this number, it may
warrant a stop sign,”
VanderMolen said.
Speeding is by far the
No. 1 concern citizens
express to police, DeBoode
said. But the sheriff’s
department has a limited
staff size to respond to the
complaints.
“The state doesn’t fund
our 416 traffic unit like it
once did,” he said. “We have
two deputies in our 416 unit,
which is devoted solely to
traffic and accident
investigation.”
DeBoode said the
township should expect a
solid return on its investment
in the traffic-monitoring
device, “because you’re
going to get an immediate
response.”Caledonia planners approve special land
use for Farmers Elevator at village hall
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
The Village of Caledonia
Planning Commission
Monday approved a special
land use for the Caledonia
Farmers Elevator to move its
offices into the village hall.
The commission’s
approval came a week after
the village council authorized
Village Manager Jeff
Thornton to sign a lease
agreement with the co-op.
CFE plans to lease 2,
square feet of the village hall
at 250 S. Maple for office
space.
The lease was contingent
on CFE getting approval
from the planning
commission for the special
land use.
The village will charge
CFE $12 per square foot for
the first year of the lease,
which would add up to
$34,200, with the lease to berenewed automatically for
five years.
The lease amount would
be increased annually using
the consumer price index as
the percentage to be
increased, Village President
Jennifer Lindsey said during
the June 8 meeting at which
the council authorized the
lease agreement.
As part of the agreement,
CFE will undertake
improvements to the space itis leasing. The village must
approve the plans and
specifications of those
improvements.
The village has agreed to
issue back, as a credit,
$40,000 of improvements,
which would be spread over
four years. For example,
after the first $10,000 credit
is applied, the co-op would
end up paying the village
$24,200 in the first year of
the lease, Lindsey said.With 9 Wines (Beer Coming Soon)
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