Page 2/The Sun and News, Saturday, October 16, 2021APARTMENTS, continued from page 1
include a clubhouse with a
fitness center for residents.
The exterior will feature a
plaza and central outdoor
area. There also will be a
community garden, a tot-lot
for younger children, and a
dog park. The interiors will
feature quartz/granite coun-
tertops, LED lighting, and
luxury plank flooring.
Some Kentwood resi-
dents voiced opposition to
the project during a town-
ship Planning Commission
meeting in July. They
expressed concern about
increased traffic congestion
and traffic safety along the
busy 60th Street corridor.
Besides the Fieldstone and
Bailey’s Grove develop-
ments right across the street
from each other, East
Kentwood High School and
Pinewood Middle School
are less than a mile to the
west of the apartments.
Township Trustee Tim
Haagsma also serves as
Traffic and Safety Director
for the Kent County Road
Commission. He said at
Monday’s hearing that the
City of Kentwood recently
had contacted the road
commission with traffic
concerns. Specifically,
where West Fieldstone Hills
Drive and South Grove
Drive both intersect with
60th Street at the same
point. West Fieldstone is an
entrance to the Fieldstone
Apartments on the south
side of 60th Street, and
South Grove is an entrance
to the Bailey’s Grove com-
plex on the north side of
60th.
Haagsma mentioned that
Kentwood requested a traf-
fic-impact study be done,
but he said the road com-
mission might be better off
monitoring how much addi-
tional traffic the River
Birch development will cre-
ate on 60th Street. “And
then ... see if additional
volume from this would be
enough to trigger, perhaps,
a traffic signal.”
He added that, if a traffic
signal is eventually deemed
to be warranted, it would be
funded 25 percent by the
City of Kentwood, 25 per-
cent by Fieldstone
Apartments, and 50 percent
by the county road commis-
sion. “The road commission
will continue to do the traf-
fic counts out there, and doa review of that location on
a regular basis,” Haagsma
said.
“We are adding a lot of
traffic with this,” Township
Supervisor Rob DeWard
said. “I’ve never been a big
fan of traffic studies
because, usually, the engi-
neer that is doing them is
hired by the developer. So,
you know how it’s going to
end up.”
After nearly a year-and-
a-half of township boardand planning commission
meetings, and agreeing to
add a second entrance off
60th Street midway through
the approval process, BDR
President Kevin Einfeld
said his company was dis-
appointed that talk of a
potential traffic study had
begun this fall.
“We’re just really sur-
prised to see this 11th-hour
thing about the traffic,”
Einfeld said at the public
hearing.DeWard agreed with the
developer. “We’ve been
working on this 18 months.
Kentwood had plenty of
opportunities to let us know
if they had concerns about
traffic. And then we just got
an email a few weeks ago,
maybe. And so we were
kind of blindsided by that,
as well.”
There was initial talk of
adding, as a condition for
the rezoning approval, that
a traffic assessment be con-ducted in the area. But the
township decided not to
include that condition as
part of the resolution it
voted on Monday.
“After some debate, board
members just decided the
Kent County Road
Commission was really
doing all that work, anyway.
And there was no reason to
burden the developer with
that as a condition. So, they
decided to strike it from the
resolution,” Wells said.would be better,” he said.
One resident, Mark Kapaldi,
asked the crowd for a show of
hands who favored the special
assessment. Waayenberg
noted that only one person had
raised his hand.
“I’d like to think I know a
fair amount of people and, of
those who know about this
assessment, I haven’t found
one person who has said,
‘Hey, that is a great idea, I’m
all behind that.’ I just don’t
see the support for this
(levy),” Waayenberg said.
Another township resi-
dent, Leon Pratos, said the
15-year special assessment
“doesn’t sound special, at all.
That sounds like ... I will be
given a 15-year sentence by
this township.” He suggested
that the township board,
instead, consider only a
three-year assessment, which
he said would pay for
replacement fire trucks.
Jeremiah Keeler told the
board he and his wife movedto Gaines Township in 2015
because the property taxes
were “very competitive.” He
said the recent spike in infla-
tion is putting a financial
squeeze on people. “We, as
citizens of this township, kind-
ly and humbly ask you to do
what we have to do, and that is
to live within our existing bud-
get, and have no new taxes.”
Although the township has
a budget surplus of about
$20 million in its water and
sewer fund, Haagsma said itcan only be used for utilities.
“It’s not a rainy-day fund,”
he said.
Nearly 50 percent of the
township’s general-fund
budget has gone for public
safety in recent years.
Township Manager
Jonathan Seyferth said $2.
million was budgeted in the
current fiscal year for public
safety, and there will be a
yearly increase of about 6
percent in projected costs.
That covers police services
from the Kent County
Sheriff’s Department (about
$900,000), as well as expens-
es for the Cutlerville ($1.
million) and Dutton
($600,000) fire departments.
Part of the Cutlerville Fire
Department cost is shared by
Byron Township.
Seyferth said the pub-
lic-safety assessment will be
used to pay for the additional
expenses the township will
incur for equipment replace-
ment at the fire departments,
and for additional sheriff’s
deputies and firefighters that
will be needed. Gaines
Township’s population rose
by 14.6 percent from 2010 to
2020, per U.S. Census
Bureau statistics. The num-
ber of calls for public-safety
service has risen accordingly
in recent years.
“It (will) allow us to have
the flexibility to add those
firefighters or sheriff’s depu-
ties, as needed,” Seyferth
said. “A sheriff’s deputy
costs about $110,000 per
year; that’s for a road patrol.
A firefighter costs about
$100,000 per year. That’s
pay and benefits. And there
also is outfitting costs, which
vary a little bit.”
“At both (fire) stationswe’ve certainly seen an
increase in demand for ser-
vices,” Dutton/Cutlerville
Fire Chief Paul Sheely said.
“It’s more dramatic at Dutton,
where we’re up 24 percent
right now year over year.” He
said the availability of on-call
(volunteer) firefighters has
decreased significantly,
meaning the need for paid
firefighters is increasing.
The township wrote in a
recent letter to residents that
yearly expenses were expect-
ed to surpass annual revenues
for public safety by 2023 or- Some of the expenses
include the replacement of
aging fire trucks and appara-
tus, as well as outdated emer-
gency rescue, first-responder
and police vehicles, plus cap-
ital improvements on build-
ings, maintenance and gener-
al operations.
But township resident
Kathy Steve said many retir-
ees are living on fixed
incomes, and the special levy
is “going to really, really
hurt.” Another resident,
Joyce Blades, said “It just
feels like it’s coming at you
from every direction with
(tax) increases.”
Blades asked the township
to factor into its budget con-
siderations the extra revenue
that proposed projects like
the Gaines Towne Center
mixed-use residential devel-
opment would generate.
“That could take the place of
some of this special assess-
ment. Because I never hear
that in these conversations.
Clearly, there’s going to be
more money coming in,” she
said.
Resident Gabe Hutchins
told the township board that
fire and police protection are
“primary” to government.
But he said “an open check-
book for government is just
plain dangerous for every
taxpayer.”
Kentwood Battalion Chief
Shaun Abbey said his depart-
ment may not have enough
firefighters to assist neigh-
boring townships like Gaines
on mutual-aid calls, if the
funds to hire more firefight-
ers are not raised. “We con-
tinue to keep growing, and
all it means is more calls.
“It’s great we sit in this
room tonight and we’re all
(saying) ‘we support the fire’
... but none of you are there
at 2 o’clock in the morning
when someone’s house is on
fire, and someone is stuck up
there and can’t get out. And
we’re there with two people
going, ‘Okay. How are we
going to do this?,’” Abbey
said.
The township board had
discussed for months the
likelihood of voting on the
special assessment in
November. That would have
given the public a 30-day
comment period after the
second public hearing in
October. But the board opted,
instead, to vote on the pro-
posal immediately after
Monday’s hearing, rather
than wait until November.
“The (township board)
had the option to do the final
step tonight, if they so chose
to. And that’s what they
chose to do,” Seyferth said.
Before approving the spe-
cial assessment Monday,
Gaines Township had been
one of only two townships in
Kent County with no special
millages or assessments.
Lowell Township will now
hold that distinction alone.TAX LEVY, continued from page 1
P
IC
KE
R’S
PA
RAD
ISEOctober
22 & 23
FRIDAY
9 to 4Located in between Airport Sand &Gravel and Church of the Living God
in Hastings, MichiganAntique
SATURDAY
9 to 4- Painting Project Pieces
- Huge Assortment of Dishes
- Dish Serveware
(many are antique) - Fiestaware
- Milk Glass
- Windows
- Lots & Lots of Christmas Ornaments
- Lamps • Wall Art & Pictures
- and so much more!
1792 West State Rd., Hastings, 49058
Last
Antique
Barn Sale
of the
Year!!Don’t
Miss Out
On This
Sale!!!Sale
This photo shows the interior design of a River Birch living unit. (Image provided)