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FURTAW FIELD DEVELOPMENT — The developer Pam Loveless’s vision of Furtaw Field.
FURTAW FIELD DEVELOPMENT — The developer Pam Loveless’s vision of Furtaw Field.
OSCODA — For developer Pam Loveless, the third time was not the charm, as her third letter of intent to purchase Furtaw Field was allowed to expire on March 30 without action by the Oscoda Township Board of Trustees at their March 28 meeting.
The trustees previously rejected two letters of intent (LOIs) from Loveless to purchase Furtaw Field at their Feb. 28.
Undaunted after the Feb. meeting, Loveless, doing business as PKL Homes, went back to the drawing board and worked with an architect to attempt to address concerns board and community members had expressed about her two previous LOIs. Loveless was told her purchase price of $150,000 was too low so she increased it to $250,000. Trustee Bill Palmer acknowledged that Loveless had “significantly increased the amount”.
To address the objections about the aesthetics of shipping container apartments, Loveless planned to clad the buildings and change the roofs to appear like more traditional builds. To address community objections, she included an outdoor theater, splashpad, pickleball court, fire pit, EV charging station, public restrooms and open greenspace. Loveless brought Burton Cardwell from Blox in Grand Rapids with her to address any concerns.
“I like what you did with the layout, but they are still containers. You definitely hit the mark for what I am envisioning,” Trustee Steve Wusterbarth told Loveless.
Cardwell attempted to address Wusterbarth’s concerns stating that containers have an emotional draw for people, either positive or negative. He referred to the project as “transformative” for the community.
“We have metal buildings all around us. We clad them in cement, brick, vinyl, etc.” Cardwell said. Wusterbarth asked how long of a span would be possible with containers.
“Forty feet with reinforcement from traditional steel construction,” Cardwell responded.
Clerk Josh Sutton asked about the strength of the containers. Cardwell responded that they can be stacked nine high and that Blox has two structural engineers and an architect employed by the company.
Palmer brought up that the board had charged the Planning Commission to determining the needs of a building that would include the township offices, police and fire departments, and a community center. Palmer reported that the Planning Commission had met once, had a second meeting scheduled and that he estimate that the process would take quite some time to complete. Palmer suggested tabling a decision on the LOI from Loveless until the Planning Commission finished its process.
Supervisor Ann Richards reminded the board that the Economic Improvement Committee had held three public meetings last summer at the Warrior Pavilion to get input into the future of Furtaw Field.
“We have not gotten that summary back. We need to look at that. You spent thousands of dollars.” She added, referring to the multiple plans for Furtaw Field that were drawn up after the meetings.
Richards accused the board of sending mixed messages and said “we need to get our proverbial stuff together”. She told Loveless that she was very appreciative of the amount of money that she wanted to invest in our community. Richards added that the board was “dragging the community on an emotional roller coaster”. She added that the township needed to be very careful with a private entity providing public use.
Loveless reminded the board that they had listed the property as available.
Sutton asked Palmer what the timeframe would be for tabling. He responded that the Planning Commission would need to hold multiple meetings and that their process would take time. Sutton asked that if the property was going to be used for municipal use should it be pulled from the disposable list.
“Right now we have it for sale but we don’t want to sell it,” he concluded.
This led to a discussion about what tabling meant.
Loveless asked if the property was put back on the list, would they entertain an LOI from her. She also asked for first right of refusal. Richards told her that given that it was public land, first right of refusal would not be appropriate. Given that the LOI had an expiration date of March 30, the board voted to not act on it and let it expire. Motion by Richards, with support from Wusterbarth, passed unanimously.
Sutton then made a motion to remove Furtaw Field from the disposable property list until the Planning Commission completed its process. The motion received support from Treasurer Jaimie McGuire and passed unanimously.
During public comment Rick Koenig expressed his frustrations with there not being a summary of the meetings held at the Warrior Pavilion. Koenig has repeatedly told the board that he attended all three meetings and has asked about the summary. When asked about the public’s frustrations, both Richards and McGuire said they understood them.
The board also took the following actions:
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Find all the local deals this Black Friday with the Iosco County New-Herald and Oscoda Press Black Friday Holiday Guide 2021!
The 2021 special section for Veterans Day includes veterans information for Iosco County, as well as some of the stories covered over the past year concerning Iosco County's many veterans activities.
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