CRA moves forward with developing land for housing
By Becky Uehling
Grant Tribune-Sentinel
A joint meeting between the Grant City Council and the Grant Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA) on Wednesday, Feb. 8, which included landowner Gaylord Bishop and his son Jayson Bishop, allowed the City and the CRA to move forward with developing nearly 12 acres east of Grant for new housing.
The Grant Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA) has owned the property, located at 430 East 4th St., since 2015, with movement on developing the property taking off over the past year or so.
The CRA and City Council looked at the most cost-effective way to get the necessary infrastructure (water, sewer, electric) to 430 East 4th St. and coming from the north through property owned by Gaylord Bishop, was determined to be the best route and most cost-effective by the City Engineer, Grant City Superintendent Edward Dunn said. It would also allow the Bishops to develop some lots privately as well, he said.
To be able to move forward with development, the City and CRA needed to establish an agreement with Gaylord Bishop, which was one of the main reasons for the joint meeting, Dunn said. He said he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting.
“What was accomplished at the meeting (on Feb. 8) was getting all parties on the same page,” Dunn said. “We want to make sure that all questions are answered before we move too far forward.”
“We are very appreciative of the Bishops for considering to gift/sell the small amount of (their) land that is needed to place infrastructure,” he said.
Much of the meeting on Feb. 8 was conducted with the Bishops in executive session and related to discussing details of how the city could work with them to develop 430 East 4th St. Nothing that was discussed during the executive session portion of the meeting was announced once the groups left the session, and no formal actions were taken.
According to Dunn, the next steps for the CRA will be for the city’s engineers to firm up drawings for the subdivision and the
the proposed street, have the Planning Commission review and recommend their approval to the City Council, and then initiate the survey for the area, which will eventually become the street through the Bishop owned property to the CRA owned property at 430 East 4th St.
“Once all those processes are complete, we will have the CRA attorney, Mike Bacon, complete a cost benefit-analysis to ensure that we will be able to TIF the development of both the Grant Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA) owned property at 430 East 4th St., and the Bishop property to the north,” Dunn said. “After that, we can then go out for Bid for Construction of the infrastructure (that will include) sewer, water, and gravel road.”
Once the bidding process is over and a bid is awarded for the infrastructure, the city will have a better time line of project completion and when lots will be available to sell and build on, Dunn said.
According to Dunn, approximately 24 lots will eventually be available for people to build new homes on, with four of those lots being larger in size for a developer to build multifamily units on, if someone so chooses.