Revitalize Delton Community Project Meeting July 11 6:40pm
Welcome and Introduction: Marsha Bassett
Updates:
Water Tower- Barry
- It’s going up the hill
- People are working 8 days on, 6 days off
- Fully complete/operational in 1 year
o Still have to paint it, test it, put in building and electric
o Big C Lumber donated all the materials for the building at the water tower
o Will be powered by solar power
o Will have local volunteers to build the building
Land Update from Jim Stoneburner via Marsha Bassett
- Waiting on the feasibility study before they take the next step on development
- Allocating/giving 25 acres for housing
Barry County Chamber of Commerce Economic Development- Nichole Lyke
- M-43 Corridor Study
o Still on track to complete the final draft by August
§ A draft will be available for distribution and feedback in late July/early August
- Biodiverse opportunity zone
o Barry County is on track to be the first biodiverse opportunity zone in the state of Michigan
o All agricultural activity creates waste so this would be an opportunity for small industry to come in and reuse waste from agricultural activities (ex: when trees are cut down, saw dust becomes waste. Company can come in and take the saw dust to make woodpellets, etc.)
o Issues: housing is affordable, but is very sparse so need more housing opportunities. Railroads are far from here
- Broadband expansion
o Awards are being distributed throughout the state and Barry County is a prime spot as an unserved/underserved area for those grants to be awarded which will allow Internet Service Providers to bring in broadband access to more homes.
o Projects will hopefully be getting started within the year
- Blight Grants
o Is potentially possible for commercial properties to be blighted and converted into residential housing options with blight grants
MEI/Broadband- David Stoll
- Put in minimum 25 miles of fiber every year for the last 5 years
- Exploring grant opportunities and were just awarded a large one in order to build outside traditional service area
o Thornapple and irving townships
o Can now use the money from those new customers to build in places that grants weren’t available
- Committed to bringing fiber to all of their served areas. The timeframe for that is determined by what grant monies are available
- Looking at other opportunities/grants, etc. to bring high speed internet to more of the service area/Delton community
Agenda Items:
Feasibility Study- Marsha Bassett
- We’ve received a rough draft and will be giving the company our feedback before a final draft is completed this summer.
Strategic Plan Workshop- Chris Zuzga
Internet Café/co-working studio in town for remote workers
NOTICE: August Board Meeting will be cancelled due to lack of agenda items.
