SN 10-30-2021

Page 6/The Sun and News, Saturday, October 30, 2021

Board to hold

public hearing

Nov. 8

James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
The Gaines Charter
Township Board will have a
public hearing at its Nov. 8
monthly meeting to discuss
the proposed 2022 fiscal year
budget.
The meeting will begin at
7 p.m. at the township hall.
Federal funds from the
American Rescue Plan Act
won’t factor into the budget
discussions. ARPA is the
$1.9 trillion economic-stim-
ulus bill passed by Congress
and signed into law by
President Joe Biden in
March. As part of that fund-
ing, communities across the
country have been allocated
stimulus money to address
existing infrastructure needs,
with half of the funds to be
deposited into municipal
bank accounts this year and
the other half in 2022.
Gaines Township officials
originally figured the town-
ship would receive its first
deposit this past spring, but
the money still had not
arrived. The township was
allocated a little more than
$2.8 million total.
“Our federal ARPA funds
have been deposited with the
state treasurer,” Township
Treasurer Laurie Lemke
informed the Sun and News
in an Oct. 25 email. “Our
first installment of
$1,431,081 is currently pend-
ing and under review. The
State has several municipali-
ties under review, and they
usually complete payments
in batches. I am now watch-
ing for these funds to be
deposited into our account
by the end of the year.”
Township Manager
Jonathan Seyferth said there
are two reasons for the delay
in Gaines Township getting
the first half of its stimulus

funding. The most recent

stemmed from a paperwork

problem at the state level for

processing the allocation.

“About three weeks ago,

we got an email. And this

happened to a bunch of com-

munities. The paperwork, the

way it got scanned or what-

ever, once it got to the state,

there was a missing middle

page. So, I had to re-sign the

document. And then, we had

to re-submit and make sure

that every page – even if it

didn’t have any signatures on

it – was submitted,” Seyferth

said.

The other reason for the

delay is due to how the feder-

al government is dispersing

the funds through the

Community Development

Block Grant Entitlement

Program. Under that pro-

gram, grants are typically

distributed on a formula

basis to urban cities desig-

nated as “entitled” communi-

ties. Seyferth said the enti-

tled communities received

their funding first, earlier this

year, directly from the feder-

al government. But non-enti-

tled units of local govern-

ment serving less than 50,

people, such as Gaines

Township, have had to wait.

“The state had additional

application requirements on

us, because the money wasn’t

flowing directly from the

federal government,” he

said. “So, they just wanted to

make sure that, as they were

going through the process,

that we were meeting all the

requirements. I don’t think

anybody dropped the ball.

It’s just one of those

box-checking things.”

The U.S. Treasury notified

municipalities Oct. 4 that it is

delaying the deadline for

counties and cities to report

how they plan to spend their

ARPA funds, also known as

Coronavirus State and Local

Fiscal Recovery Funds.

Counties and metro cities

were advised they won’t

have to file their next report

until Jan. 31, 2022. And the

first report for non-entitle-

ment units is due April 30,

2022.

Gaines Township got a

significant boost to its public

safety budget Oct. 11 when

the board approved a town-

ship-wide special-assess-

ment levy that will begin at

0.6 mills for the 2022 fiscal

year. The levy will show up

on the winter tax bill, which

will be sent to homeowners

in December and is due in

February. The 15-year dedi-

cated levy for public safety

(police, fire, rescue) can be

adjusted each year to fill in

the gap between the annual

$2 million contribution from

the township’s general fund

and what the actual public

safety costs turn out to be

year to year.

Township officials antici-

pate the levy will rise to

between 0.85 mills and 1.

mills by December 2022 due

to mounting public safety

costs. The township board

originally proposed a 1.5-

mill assessment, but that was

met with some public disfa-

vor, so it approved the adjust-

able levy instead.

The board must finalize its

2022 fiscal budget before the

end of this year. It is factor-

ing in additional costs that

would be incurred if the

township is required to add

two additional polling pre-

cincts for the 2022 elections.

The costs would include

additional voting equipment

and contracts for more elec-

tion workers. The Michigan

Independent Citizens

Redistricting Commission is

re-drawing the boundary

maps for the state’s 38 Senate

districts, 110 House districts

and 13 U.S. House districts.

Gaines Township’s growing

population may require an

increase in the number of

polling precincts from nine

to 11.

In other township-related

business, the Kent County

Road Commission is wait-

ing to hear if state funding

will be made available for

construction of a round-

about at the 84th Street/

Kalamazoo Avenue inter-

section. Right now, it is a

four-way stop.

“The road commission

does not have final verifica-

tion of the grant from [the

Michigan Department of

Transportation],” said

Township Trustee Tim

Haagsma, who also is direc-

tor of traffic and safety for

the county road commis-

sion.

The complex containing

the Gaines Township Hall

and a Kent County Sheriff’s

Office substation is at the

southwest corner of that

intersection, as is the

65,000-square-foot

Cornerstone Church, on the

northeast. And, if approved,

the proposed Gaines Towne

Center mixed-use develop-

ment would be built on the

southeast corner.

Township Planner Dan

Wells said potential con-

struction of the town center

and the added traffic it would

bring was not a key consider-

ation in the discussion on

converting the 84th Street/

Kalamazoo Avenue intersec-

tion into a roundabout.

“It was going to [happen]

no matter what,” he said.

“Always think of Kalamazoo

as our main north/south cor-

ridor through the township. It

gets the most traffic north

and south, I think.”

Seyferth said roundabouts

handle more traffic per hour

than four-way stops or stop

lights do. The availability of

right-of-way for that inter-

section may have been a fac-

tor in seeking the grant appli-

cation, he said.

The township owns prop-

erty at the northwest and

southwest corners.

Meanwhile, Wells said he

expects the township to make

a final decision on the pro-

posed 82-acre, 514-unit

Gaines Towne Center before

the end of this year. The

planning commission will

take up the latest of several

site-plan modifications it at

its November meeting. It

rejected a previous site plan

in August.

Indianapolis-based devel-

oper American Kendall

Properties LLC is proposing

a pedestrian plaza with a

retail center and some

mixed-use apartments near

the intersection. Farther

from the road would be var-

ious attached single-family

townhomes, detached sin-

gle-family units, senior-liv-

ing units and commercial

buildings. American

Kendall’s business partner,

Grand Rapids-based

Eastbrook Homes, would

develop the townhomes, ter-

race homes and single-fami-

ly residential portions of the

project in multiple phases

over several years.

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The Gaines Township 2017 Future Land Use Map anticipates large-scale, mixed-use development where

the 84th Street/Kalamazoo Avenue corridors connect. A roundabout is proposed for that intersection, near the

proposed Gaines Towne Center project. (Image provided)

Gaines Township gets ready for 2022 budget