Township Board - Regular Meeting

and we're going to call the meeting to order at this time. Appreciate uh seeing board members here, a couple of whom have been in in some fun places since we saw you last and a couple of us who have not yet and a couple who still aren't returned. So anyway, tonight Amy is gracious enough to offer our word of prayer.

Yeah, please bow your head. Um let us pray first for our country and our nation, our leaders in Washington. Pray for our township employees that serve us all each and every day. Thank you to our friends and residents that are here to support us. Pray for our first responders who see perhaps um unthinkable situations. Keep our police and fire department safe um in danger in their everyday duties. Pray for this township board to make good decisions for our residents and friends. um pray that uh we make every um neighbor that they feel seen and heard and served with dignity and respect. Prayers for all of us doing the right things and making good decisions even when it's hard. Keep us all safe tonight on our journeys home. Uh blessings to everyone in this room. Let us all be like Jesus. We ask all of this in Jesus precious name and all God's children say amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you Amy. You could all rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated. Clerk, do you call our role? John Schwam and Treasure Det are asking. Very good. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? So move. Support.

I'd like to make a comment on the agenda. Items uh 7.2 item 10. I would ask that there be a motion for me to recuse myself for uh work purposes company I work for. Yeah. I'd move to uh recuse Miss Kyper from those two votes. It's appropriate. Supported. Any conversation? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Okay. You're recused. Thank you. Any other comments on tonight's agenda? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I.

All right. Any opposed? The agenda is approved. And just having approved the agenda, we're going to throw something on there that's not on the agenda. I see Kurt Vancing here and Kurt is from our Ottawa County Road Commission and we wanted to welcome him and give him just a couple of minutes to update us. So, thank you. promising a $40 million budget which is paid for by the gas tax. Um projects we have this summer in Georgetown. Our 12th Avenue from Port Sheldon to Baldwin Street which will be resurfaced. 28th Avenue from the city of Lemus to Bower Road would be resurfaced. Uh we'll be building a roundabout at 48th and Baldwin. Uh we have acquired the properties necessary for that project to proceed. And another road being resurfaced is Baldwin from 20th Avenue to Cottonwood. local streets that are going to be repaved are Rosewood Street from 28 to 12. And then we have a couple bridge projects in Georgetown. 12th Avenue over Rush Creek will be done this summer and the culvert on Bower Road um just west of 44th will be worked on. Um, as you have heard, the state legislature redid the funding for roads. We are anticipating that we will get an an additional 13 million. Uh, we're planning on spending 11 million of that.

Part of the reason is is that that marijuana tax is being appealed in the court of appeals right now. So, we've set that money aside. Um, we're expecting the new road funding will actually be in our coffers probably January of 2027. So, we're using some fund budget cover projects this year. We got one for each township. Um, Georgetown, what we've added is um New Holland Street from Chicago Drive to city limits resurfacing a paved shoulder. also be doing Parson Street. That was one that you mentioned to me last time that I was here.

You took the words out of my mouth. I was thinking that. Oh, there there's your Christmas present. Thank you. I don't see Parsons on a list anywhere here. Am I missing it? Oh, never mind. Just found it. Local pavement. Gotcha. Yep. That one has been added. So we'll be back again in probably late July and August with the projects that will be scheduled for 27 to 32. So that's my update for you if you have any questions.

I do. Um just a comment. I know that some of the roads that we're taring I brought this up before to Justin with the Is there a possibility that we could start adding wider shoulders for bike paths? I know you guys don't like them, but that is something that is always talked about, asked about in the township and as a township, I think we'd be willing to participate in funding some of that, but I know like 42nd as an example, trying to get a bike path across the township towards the Grand Ravines dog park. And we've talked about that in the past. I just want to bring it up to make sure it's kind of on the radar to do that. Is it 42nd? I think

it's 42nd that we're going to that's getting redone. Baldwin to Bower. That's nast. That's a nasty road. I drove out the other day to look. That's that, you know, if we could start getting some of these like if we could eliminate doing a 4ft shoulder on each side, just doing one 8ft shoulder on one side. Mhm. You know, that that really makes things easier for everybody because you know as well as I do trying to get easements for sidewalks. We tried that on 48th Avenue. It's difficult because

things have changed. It used to be you just kind of go along to get along, but they don't work anymore. And so by widing a shoulder, we quite often already have that. He's the 33 foot from the center. We could widen a shoulder quicker. Well, that's what I hope when I come in in July, August, when we start with the new strategic plan for the next 5 years is having you identify some of those things to say this project we want to add this or this project we want to move because we're going to be doing water and sewer two years later or maybe we need to push that project back. You know, we want to open the lines of communication for you.

Right. Right. and I appreciate that and that's why I'm bringing it up now. So, I'll put it in my notes and present it to our next meeting. Okay. All right. Good. Thanks, Kurt. Kurt, um, do you have anyone whose term is coming up at the end of this year for the commission? Fine. Okay. And Betty Gasi is up at the end of Okay. Any idea whether each of you is intending to run? Both of us are intending to run again.

Okay. Both are intending, you think, to run. Okay. What you do is you it's an appointment process through the county commission. So you have the county commission will take applications and they'll review them and they'll which ones to appoint to the road commission. Betty has served uh two terms already. Yeah. I'm completing my first term this year. Really? I thought you've been on there longer. Okay. How many year term is it? Six year term. Okay. Um, is anyone currently on that commission living in Georgetown Township? Not Georgetown. You got Jim Medma from Jamestown.

Okay. All right. Okay. We've got one unpaved road here that's not a dead end road, a section of Jackson. Am I right? Is that the last? Oh, it is. Okay. Good. Good. Good. All right. We're working. I'm done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for moving me up. Thanks, Kurt. Yeah. Appreciate it. Good. All right. Item six, communication. Letters and reports have been received by board members for your information. Are we good? Hold it in. Yeah. Hold it in. Hold it in for like three seconds.

Is it on now? Yep. Yep. We're good. Thank you. Sorry. No problem. All right. We're going to have public hearings now. Item 77, Roman numeral 1. This is a u this would be an ordinance to change from agricultural to lowdensity residential a parcel of land or a couple of parcels of land there along Bower Road. And uh is there a motion to open the public hearing on this request? So moved. Support. Okay. Moved and supported. All in favor? I

I opposed. Okay. The public hearing is open. opportunity for public comment at this time on this particular proposal. So if anyone would like to Yes. Tom Healey, good to see you.

Thank you, Mr. Supervisor. Tom Healey, 2659, Cedar Grove North, Georgetown. The question of reasonzoning parcels goes to the planning commission for evaluation regarding whether the reszone conforms to certain standards. Standard two asks, are the new zones allowed uses compatible with the surrounding uses? And standard six asks, is there sufficient vacant land already zoned in a specific category? Let's talk about compatibility. In thinking about this, it's critical the board consider that the current master plan, page 33, places egg zoning density at one dwelling for every 10 acres. The LDR density is two to three dwellings for every one acre. To reszone these parcels is to add more dwellings, more people, more cars, more traffic, and more congestion on a potential scale of 30-1. One dwelling for 10 acres, three dwellings for 1 acre. While it has not been true for quite a while in Georgetown Township, at the present time to de to increase density on a scale of 30 to1 in this last area of large parcels presently zoned agriculture is not compatible with the surrounding area. But for the ice arena and the condos and townhouse development that front on 48th, there's essentially only egg and RR parcels between Bower and Filillmore and 36th and 48th. in looking at standard six or whether there is sufficient vacant land already zoned in a specific category when

considering this question from the perspective of property zoned a and RR the answer seems pretty clearly no there's no longer sufficient property zoned AG in fact tonight the board is also looking at a reszone from RR to LDR just a little bit east on Bower and I know that our zone zoning administrator could give you a pretty accurate count right now of how many properties are zoned LDR that just have not yet been developed. That would probably include some PUDS uh like the Loing Woods property. The master plan also states that new developments should be directed to areas efficiently served by public roads. We have all heard the public safety and welfare concerns voiced due to congestion, traffic, and the like. While we can't fix the road issues, we can certainly stop exacerbating the problem. I would encourage the board to oppose the reszone request for 2601. I think reszone 2602 is a little bit different. It's pocketed right inside a bunch of other LDR zones. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anyone else? Pete Plowman, 6877 Creek Ridge Court. Now, I know the board has been looking at, you know, maintaining agricultural property and probably going to be taking care of that in a pretty timely manner. Um, I think this is one of those properties that would, um, be something in your wheelhouse in order to consider before we move forward with anything. Just like Tom said, um, maybe you should take a step back, take a look, and actually get a feel for what is the direction that you want to go on recouping some of those egg properties. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else? gentleman in the back that just walked in. Would you like to address the board? Open meeting. No. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Seeing none, is there a motion to close the public hearing? Some move. Okay. All in favor say I. Any opposed? All right, the public hearing is closed. Is there a motion among the board either to approve or deny the following resolution as recommended by the planning commission?

I'm going to move that we approve what the planning commission approved to reszone this property from agriculture low density residential. It's been moved.

Supported by Miss Kyper. So, it's on the floor. So the discussion during um planning commission um and one of the reasons I I was for it is because the properties to the west are already developed around the ice arena and there's apartments and I think there's some I think there might be some condos. I don't know how that is. There's there's a highdensity project to the west of that and around the ice arena. I also know that um the the services are there. We have water, we have sewer, we have um everything they need to develop, but it's been there for quite a while already. And so I you know, I look at it and go, well, if that that infrastructure was put in there to develop that corner at one time, it seems we should be able to follow through and continue on with it. So, I understand the the the uh the argument for farmland, but I also understand that there's farmers that want to sell land, too. So, when you're on that side, when you when you want to uh sell your property and all of a sudden the township says you can't sell it, but you already have services to it, um it just seems like this would be the way to move forward. Why do you support it?

Um, I agree with what Gary said and I think that the planning commission always does a thorough job at looking at the three C's. The consistency with the master plan, the capability of supporting the new zone and the compatibility with the surrounding uses. And I think when you look to that, um, I think Gary's point about the development adjacent to it, I think speaks volumes. Um, the only other point that I would make is that based on the way that our local government entities are set up, we end up with hyper local rules and regulations. So, every single individual 36 square miles potentially has different rules and regulations. And I think in some ways that potentially does us a disservice when we think about land uses holistically in the region. Um, when we think about preserving agricultural farmland and prime farmland, I think prime is the key word as well. Um, I think we should be looking at it from a more regional approach or at least from the county perspective. Georgetown Township is a bedroom community and while I don't discount the agricultural land that remains um we are not prime farmland any longer and once there is development surrounding it I'm not quite sure that that becomes the hill that we should die on in terms of egg preservation I think there are if I had to rank agricult agricultural properties to be preserved in the area this would not rank highly based on the surrounding development that already exists. I think for those reasons, we shouldn't be prohibiting private property rights from turning this property into something else that is potentially more productive for our community.

Okay. I I guess I have a question for Gary. So, you mentioned something about farmers and and their I guess their rights to sell their land and that sort of thing,

right? They have the right and this is a point that I think deserves emphasis whether it be a farmer or anyone else frankly for that matter. You have the right to your property your property rights and your zoning classification. Um the government should not take that from you. Right? Your bundle of rights your your bundle of sticks as they sometimes refer to. But you don't have the the right to the assumed or presumed future uh reszoning of your property. So if you say, "Well, I can make a whole lot more if these were houses than farm fields, but I'm zoned agricultural." We'll not take any right from you that your zoning would permit you as an agricultural, you know, property. But you didn't have or you don't have the right to say you're taking from me my right to be zoned say LDR or even medium density residential. You don't have that right. You have the zoning you have. You might wish you had a a different zoning for more money, right? For more highest and best use, if you will, but you don't have that right. We're not taking rights from you. We're just not giving you additional rights. Here it's a little different. We've got properties that are being uh proposed for resoning that are no longer held by farmers. They're held by prospective developers uh with each of these tonight. And they're not dumb. I mean, they're they're looking for where things might go. Sometimes they take a gamble. Sometimes they might make their own presumptions. Sometimes they're they're just uh businesss savvy and um and they get out ahead of things and they look at the master plan and they look at other indicators of where they think development is going to go and they take chances and uh I think to that degree developers are taking a risk as well. There's no guarantees that way. But in this instance with this particular

application I can see the point that um we have had for approximately oh maybe 20 years that this area would be LDR as future land use and it's been on our in our master plan and uh Tom I think spoke in the planning commission. I read the minutes. Uh those are some extensive minutes and uh so I I I think they read your comments into the record and and I largely agreed with what Tom said both tonight as well as at that meeting. And um you know Tom made the point it's it's not it's not determinative that the master plan would be supportive of this change. It is certainly a factor and it is certainly I would think in the developer favor a strong factor but it's not the only factor and uh I share and have sympathy for the points that Tom has raised both tonight as well as at the planning commission. um concerns me to see uh so much of our agricultural land being developed at a higher ratio of density because I think as I've said repeatedly and I don't mean to be a broken record but I think as goes the density and the development so goes at some point that and I think we're at that point the the not just health safety welfare but the um I guess the the enjoyment of those who are currently here as residents their ability to get around and go the places they wish to go uh diminishes at some some point. So, um I do not want this to be a a township that is driven by developers because we will be entirely developed and and they will not be our residents. They will be those who profited and built nice places and moved on. They're not going to drive this township, but there are times when they are within their rights, I believe, for what they seek. And I think this is one of those occasions where you look and say it's hard to deny under the criteria we have in our in our ordinance

and we call them the three C's, one of which Tom alluded to with with comparative and consistent and I can't remember the third one capable. Um I think under that prism we probably have to acknowledge that this meets those criteria. Um, I think what we need to address as a township going forward is expanding or clarifying what the different grounds are that we could uh evaluate when a reszone request is made such as this. I don't think I think we're limited. I think we're cornering ourselves with the language we currently use. And I don't think based on the court cases and the laws it's developed over the past 20 years, um, it's not incorporated in what we presently have in our ordinance. And I would like to see us bring it current so that there are more than those three C's, so to speak, so to speak. But there are a variety of of considerations when a request like this comes before us. One of which could be density and um you know, traffic and things of that nature. Um and so I I definitely want to see us move ahead in getting a better ordinance on the books for addressing situations like this. Uh, I'd like us to look really carefully at our master plan as we complete that review. Uh, I do agree with farmland preservation where it makes the most sense and I I hear your point, Kelly, which is this isn't necessarily at the top of that list, okay, being on the on the perimeter and we know across the road that Blendon's already going in the direction of LDR here as well. So, I I get that, right? Um, but there will come that point and I I hope we're at that point with action by this board uh here in the coming months that we could say we won't be as easily strongarmed or we won't box ourselves in and that we could in fact lay down uh uh a a stop at some point to say, you know what, not here. We're not

we're not going, you know, the next developer says, well, you're you're LDR there now, and why can't we be LDR here, right? And now they're LDR there. Why can't we bail the here? It's got to stop and we've got to have the right processes and procedures and ordinances in place to stop it. But um that all being said, I I don't think this is the place. I don't think this request is the one. I think this one u as the planning commission came down said, you know what, this is this meets our criteria as we currently evaluate it. And I think ultimately on that grounds, I would have to vote in support of it. Anyone else? Well,

I just I just want to add that The township itself put itself in this position when it built the ice arena outside of any other development prior to that. Yeah. The voters of course voted for that. Yep. Well, it was a vote of the township. Yep. The voters voted it down. The township decided to do it anyway. Yes. I remember very well. I had very lot of conversations with Dan Carlton about that. Yeah. But my point is they ran the water and sewer out to there and there's water and sewer there. that's capable to service these parcels. And so if if that had not happened, that still would be landlocked because of the fact there's no services for that.

Mhm. So the township created that area as far as I'm concerned to be that developed. They they did that. Mhm. So I mean I we spent the money and it's out there to develop that property, that corner. Mhm. So that's valid point. Yep. Yep, I hear you. Anyone else? You don't have to hear none. All right. So, the motion was to approve uh the the resolution as recommended by the planning commission which would reszone to LDR these parcels supported by Kelly. And at this time, let's take a roll call vote. Wearing yes.

Kelly, yes. Grassman, yes. Beldink. Yes. Piper is yes. All in favor. All right. It's carried. All right. Thank you. We're going to move on now to item seven, Roman numeral 2. Similar request, just in a different area here. This would change from rural residential to LDR. The parcels of land, they're described as you can see them in reszone 2602. Is there a motion to open uh the public hearing on this request? So move support. Move to support it. All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Public hearing is open. The mic is open.

Pete Plumbman, 6877 Creek Ridge Court. based upon what I heard on the board, if you're looking at um the property owners and what they can do with their land, then we, you know, if they want to make as much money as they want, I I'm assuming we're just going to be going forward with building out the rest of Georgetown. Um based upon the comments that were on the board and really the egg part of this trying to maintain that is not really realistic. So that's kind of what I got from the discussion from the board. That's unfortunate, but that's what I'm hearing. So, I guess that's the route we're going. Thank you. Anyone else?

Tom Healey, 2659 Cedar Grove North, Georgetown. Um, I think I heard something different, which is the ordinances are not quite structured to allow the denial of the request. I think this second uh request that you're considering is already pretty much surrounded by LDR property. I think it's a different kind of consideration and it deserves the board's uh approval. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else hearing? None. We'll take a motion to close the public hearing. So support. All in favor say I. I.

I. Any opposed? Public hearing is closed. Is there a motion to approve the resolution that came from the planning commission to approve this reszone? So move support. Move is supported. Discussion among the board. Um Gary, why do you support it?

Yeah. I got nothing. When you say I got nothing. I got nothing. Okay. Amy or Kevin? Anybody wish to future land use outlined in the master plan really? Mhm. So that's probably why I'd support it. Mhm. I guess the surrounding area and as Tom just mentioned it's it's it fits the area. There's enough LDR already going through that area. The infrastructure is already in place. Uh sewer and water um you know with Lowing Woods right there with Hagar Park right there. I mean, there's there's a number of different LDR already developed in there and it's it's just a continuation of that plat.

Yeah, agreed. Yeah. Uh, this one seems to be a stronger case than the one we just ruled on. Um, so, but my comments, I guess I I would say, stand as it relates to to these types of requests going forward. And uh I think I support uh this particular situation with the reasons given. So uh without Kelly here, I'm going to go ahead and call the role. Okay. So at this time, Kevin, how do you vote? Yes. Gary, yes. Amy, yes.

Supervisor votes yes. Four to zero. It passes. That reszone is approved. And Kelly, if you want to rejoin us. Item eight, public comments for action items remaining on tonight's agenda. Is there anyone who wishes to address the board on any of the remaining uh agenda items this evening? If you've spoken already, you can speak again. That was a public hearing earlier on a particular proposal. You may come forward now and address us on anything else here on the agenda. All right. Pl 6877 Creek Ridge Court item. I think it was uh 62 on the finance committee sub uh committee notes that you had there in that subcommittee. You guys talked about um transparency. Uh you alluded not to change anything in that subcommittee. Um as we just found out, you found out how the minutes are critical to your knowledge, Jim, that you read the planning commission's meetings minutes. Those are critical. Um at the time I was at the planning commission. Gary corrected me at that meeting because I misspoke and uh I can I took it personally, but now that I understand because he didn't have the meeting minutes from our finance meeting that I was part of, I understand that confusion. And then when asked later by Joshua or Josiah Sammy for the planning commission, he couldn't didn't want to comment because he hadn't written read the minutes for that meeting. So to in order to have more transparency, I'm imploring you to take better minutes in those meetings. You could use um co-pilot from Microsoft that would give you an executive summary of the meeting. You could also use um teams meeting um and just click on close captioning and it would capture all the verbiage in

that meeting. You could save that to a file and serve that out to the public and yourselves. I think it's a benefit for all of us to know what's going on in those committees. So, thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Hearing none, we'll close that public comment period. We'll go to item number nine on tonight's agenda, consent agenda. Is there a motion to support and approve of the consent agenda? Some move. Support. All right. Any comments? All in favor say I. I.

Opposed. It's passed. Item 10, requesting final preliminary plat approval of Loing Woods number 15. This is one for which Skyper will recuse herself. All right. All right. Hey. Is there a motion to approve the final preliminary plat of Loing Woods number 15? So move. Support. Supported. All right. It's on table before you. I'm just curious how they're going to get the future condos off that road. Say it again.

I'm just curious how they're going to get the future condominiums off that road. There's no stub into that parcel. There is one there. Anybody not be able to see it across 405. Oh, I see there's no lots on the other side. Okay. I misread that. I get that. Okay. Other than that, I don't I don't have anything. Okay. And then planning commission, uh, anything anyone disagree? Were there any? I was on vacation that time, so I have to I have to digress from that. Tom wants to talk up to that, but Okay, Kevin. Nope. Have any questions? Amy?

Nope. No. Okay. Supervisor doesn't either. So, all right. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? You know what? This may be a Let's call the role just to be certain on this one. Doesn't say it as much, but let's just call it Kevin. Yes. Gary, yes. Amy, yes.

Supervisor, yes. And it is passed and approved. Kelly, you can rejoin us. Item number 11, the Saturday slip and slide event. Uh, each year, as you know, this event goes on here at we call it Charlie's Dump, but some call it Rosewood. And, uh, each year we uh allow a third party to to oversee this and and conduct this event. It's been very popular. uh the township simply allows the park to be used and they handle the responsibility and and liability. So is there a motion tonight to approve of the 2026 slip and slide event agreement? So move

support and supported that uh agreement is modeled after the previous year's Daybreak Community Church this time though. Yeah, it's worthy of mentioning here. Yeah, please. Um would love to have Yeah. our representative from the church. You can go ahead and promote it too at the same time. Thank you.

Yes. Uh my name is Rachel. I'm the kids pastor at Daybreak Church and Never The Same is ran by the same man, Jeff Eard. He is our lead pastor. He's also the CEO of Neverthe. So Daybreak's been deeply involved with this event for years. We also know Steve Frody. He goes to Daybreak. He's the one who originally started the event with City to Shore if you remember that a few years ago. But we're really excited to just take the lead this year and um just make our Daybreak kids and student ministry the forefront of that event. Um we would be hosting it, but the people who led it last year are going to transition and pass that off to us because we're deeply involved with that organization as well. So I just wanted to ease everyone's mind that um it's going to be very similar to years past and it's a lot of the same people leading it.

Good. Great. Good to know. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for coming. All right. Any conversation? No. Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. And it is approved. Item 12, the township sign. Is there a motion to approve the purchase of a new sign out front here? So move. Support. Okay. Move. Support. You saw the sign comparisons and I think if you paid attention to the sign, you see different sections that have gone out. I didn't realize this, but I think these signs, correct me if I'm wrong, guys, but 5 to seven years. Mhm. Is their longevity, which seems not great. I know. I feel like they didn't advertise this when we started buying these. Yeah. Yeah.

But you're talking specifically about LEDs. You mean, right? Like they go bad after eight years. So, honestly though, they're proliferating everywhere, not just townships and but schools and churches and Yeah.

Right. So h uh one of the thoughts here was that the look is appreciated. That wood grain look is is thought of well and the consistency of that look around the township has been good. It's not been great for longevity either. Beyond the the panels, uh the wood itself has been uh rotting and we're trying to get the same look only with the longevity of a of a veneer. And so, um, services looked at the different possibilities, colors, uh, products that were out there, and we came up with the one that we'd recommended tonight. So, wonder what the rest of you think of it. I like the white letters. Um, the the blue letters on the wood grain at the fountain. You can't read them,

right? Yeah. At least I can. Maybe it's my eyesight, but it doesn't it doesn't pop. This pops a lot better than that does. So, and the color we suggested is closest to what the existing signs are uh for parks and such. It's a little w it's a little larger screen, right? A little better resolution. Yeah. Yeah. Colorado.

Yeah. Andy, you looked at all this stuff. Give your pitch to those who weren't on services. Universal, who we're going with, has been well, both both of the top two out of the five bids that we got were amazing to work with. Um, but Universal came out very strong with a 5year warranty for parts and service, which is borderline unheard of in this industry. So, yeah, it's a very wellto-do company. They do a lot of high-end work, so it's going to look sweet. Great. Great. It's a reflection on us when people drive by. It's got to be good. Mhm. That's right. Make it look good. He said yes sir. It's all anyone else?

The conversation we had at services committee really surrounded mostly around that warranty piece. The prices were pretty similar and um but I think it's worth noting that that warranty is is pretty unique and it's something that really weighed heavily on our decision- making. Yep. Okay. ready to vote. I just had one comment. Yeah. You talk about branding and that new sign that's on Chicago Drive coming from Hudsonville. It's green and white and I'm always wondering why it doesn't match anything of our GT branding. It it's the cheap you're entering type, you know, sign that you have at different points like on ETH and other places.

We ever want to make something nice at all those locations? I was just curious. Doesn't even have a GT like we like we our logo. I always go by I'm like for some reason it's Jennison public schools scholars that's why I ask the question. So you know what I'd say to that Gary? I know it's not before us right now but that is a obviously one of the key entry points to the township and I wouldn't be opposed to something nicer in the future that's more consistent with what we do. I'm not trying to spend more money. I just every time I go by it because I go quite a bit. I'm like why is this sign not branded like everything else? It's branding. If you're going to spend the money branding, then brand everything then. You know, that's just my thought. But yeah, you're right.

It it looks almost like it's a uniform requirement because you see it in all cities. You're now entering. You're now exiting. I don't know if there's an M dot sign that know this is what they look like. But if we could the rationale was cuz there are smaller signs that we have at our entry points for green and those color scheme. Yeah. And we wanted to keep that. But I guess in the future after this, it is a lot of wear and tear living or being on Chicago Drive that eventually we will have to replace it. Yeah. Well, that doesn't know what we're doing now. I'm just I just brought it up cuz we're talking about signs. Yeah, I agree. Okay. Motion's before you. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed?

Motion's carried. Item 13, addendum to fertilizing contracts for 2526 with Priest Enterprise LLC. You recall we had this issue come before the board and I think it was Gene who brought up uh some comments related to fertilizing. Then we identified which places actually could use it, which ones don't need it. Went back to services and it's now back I'm sorry, went to finance. Now it's back in front of the board. So is there a motion to approve the addendum to the fertilizing contracts with Priest Enterprises? So move support is supported. comments, questions. All right, hearing none. All in favor say I. I.

I opposed. It is approved. Item 14, bank signature request with West Michigan Community Bank. This would be to add Andy to our accounts as well as the assistant superintendent. Is our motion to approve of this addition uh to signers on our accounts. So move support. It was supported. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? It's carried. Item 16, resolution to commit funds to the Ottawa County Agricultural Land Preservation Program. You'll recall that we get 15. Sorry. 15.

Sorry, Chief. Um, fire department personnel policies and procedure manual. Is there a motion to approve the fire department personnel policies and procedures manual as recommended by the finance committee? So support moved and supported. I trust everyone had read through that. I'll tell you that uh legal counsel was very involved in the drafting of it as were chief and deputy chief which was appreciated. Collaborative work um comments. It was a lot of reading questions. It was a lot. It was a lot of reading. Yeah. Makes sense. It's thorough. Y and it looks like you, you know, crossed your tea, dotted your eyes, crossed your teeth. Is this is this uh

I I don't do policy manuals and stuff, but in other townships or fire departments, this something that's gets reviewed every two or three years just to update what we think, you know, things change. You know, the law changes lot. There's always like we just went through a lot of changes. That's why I'm asking is that something that's reviewed annually or bianually or what's the thoughts on that? Justin,

so basically as we run into issues like I've been sitting down with our six uh candidates that accepted the position for firefighter and you know we talk about the position we talk about what the expectations and all six of them brought up different things that we may have not covered in the manual and I said well we're going to write it down we're going to re-evaluate and we'll benchmark this because you know this isn't the silver bullet to fix everything it's a starting point So, okay. Good.

It's a good point though and I think chief and deputy chief are pretty good about bringing things to our attention that they'll notice because they'll hear things in the industry so to speak that we don't. And then legal counsel has been helpful albeit sometimes you need to ask um hey would you review? And maybe that's a tickler that's you know every every year two years on a given um set of policies and procedures or handbooks or whatever. Has anything changed that we should be aware of? I know we had a lot in the past year, the past couple years legally that impacted um a lot of my clients I know and I think it would impact us as well. So, we need to stay on top of that and council does help us with that. Uh other comments.

Okay. Hearing none, all in favor say I. I opposed. It is passed. Now item 16, resolution to commit funds to the Ottawa County Agricultural Land Preservation Program. Is there a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the township to commit funds to this land preservation program as recommended by finance? So moved. Support. Okay. Moved and supported. This is sort of the next step beyond what we voted on a couple of months back where we agreed and passed a resolution supporting this preservation program. Now, this would be uh positioning us to commit funds

if there were an opportunity within the township. Um, and I want Justin, so I think it's important to understand the nuance behind this in terms of how the money works, how it works with the property owner and how we continue to to remain in control of the money and at our discretion as a township. So just participation and commitment to funding doesn't automatically mean the right uh of access to that fund. We have to actually authorize it. Could you give a for instance?

Yeah. So um I guess we've I guess I've been working on this since uh other communities in our area have been fighting against u battery plants, solar, wind, energy. Basically everything revolving revolving around public at 233. Um, we I kind of want to turn the tables and give the the local municipality power to basically I guess control and fight back. And this is a tool that we I guess I helped and worked with Alberta County um county to de develop. And so far in the entire Ottawa County, no municipal have done anything like this. And what it does is that land owners who have land would apply to the program um and they're ranked and the ranking um as you can see from this uh what we have on the screen Andy want to put that on the screen for everyone the screen um these lands land owners have their property has been preserved and what this does is there's a ranking and the ranking typically they um take the first couple two uh And if you're have a property in your municipality that people apply their interest in preserving it and it didn't get um adopted to the program, uh Ottawa County then call us and say you have this property owner, they came in whatever ranking they are. If your board wishes to um fund it, we can de delegate funds to this program and preserve farmland. Um, I think this is would help combat as we look at um our high transmission power lines that we have through our northwest quadrant with vacant property. I know our property values are higher than other areas. It's kind of skewed them away. Um, but it seems like every time I read the news, every municipality around us is dealing with this. And this

will be at our doorstep if um because we have those high transmission lines and that allows us protect our farmland um and give us a tool to fight back. So it doesn't lock us in. It doesn't mandate that we have to spend. It's up to the board to decide yeah this is opportunity for us to preserve it and uh we can do so with uh township dollars. So, uh, Justin, are there federal and state dollars available for this very same type of purchase? Right.

Correct. But usually that perhaps one of our properties could be purchased with funds other than township funds as well. Right. Ideally, um, we would, you know, if a landowner would like their property preserved, that program would take it. Um, but we are also competing against other municipalities across the entire county. And there may be a farm that's uh that scores higher um to the out county standards for farmland preservation. So far, we're not one of the starred spots, so we've not had one as yet. No, but we just entered the agreement last fall. Sure. Good point. Good point.

I'm excited. I think um I've been reaching out to a few property owners. Uh they're interested, but they're cautiously optimistic. So um what would be the benefit for the property owner other than they could maintain the property as a farm yeah so they the development rights so say it was worth $10,000 an acre um they would get 75% paid to them in a check and they could continue to maintain and operate their farm. So the township would not take any property. Uh we would just be committing funds to preserve farmland. So these large chunks of 40 to 80 acres we could preserve.

And you could either have the county hold those funds or we could hold them in a separate account. Yeah. Under our control. Correct. So in the 2026 budget, I didn't allocate dollars because we this wasn't on our radar. Um moving forward into the 27 budget, we can allocate dollars for that. Okay. All right. And if something came up before then, we'd have to look at an amended budget. Correct. All right. Yeah, I don't want a battery plant. You say that, but let me let me go the other way with it. Okay, so let's say you preserve 80 acres

in the northwest quadrant and the rest of the property gets developed. The first time that guy drops that disc in there in the spring and starts putting cow manure, all them people that live around that 80 acres is going to be calling here going, "What are we going to do? I mean, this is terrible. I moved here in Jennison and you got this 80 acres and this guy just continues to farm it. I I've gone through that. I built dormitories in Allenale by Grand Valley and they they spread turkey manure one day and I'll tell you what they'll draw the people out of the buildings. So it'll it'll burn a little thing between your nostrils. And I'm just like, that's my that's my concern is that you can say you can save that property, but if we're a bedroom community and we continue, we're still going to be developing some of this property. I get it. You want to save some for farmland. But I also with Kelly, it's not necessarily prime farmland because it's it's going to be developed around it. So that's why that's my only caveat is that if you go ahead and devel and you save that 80 or even if you save 160 acres and they develop around it, all of a sudden you got upset people because they don't understand they built their house in the winter and then spring comes and now they've got noise and dust and smell and they they're not going to be ready for that.

Yeah. So yeah, and and there's language that has to be included in many many deeds to that effect. If you move next to a pig farm and then you complaint that it smells like pigs, right? It who who is there first, right? Kind of being presumptive to go, oh, it's eventually going to be houses like this. Maybe it won't, you know, and we have the right to farm. That is the net. But it's our people that'll take the brunt of it because they're going to get the phone calls. Mhm. And if a farm enters the preservation program, is that a revocable decision or irrevocable?

Irre once it gets adopted, it's irrevocable. So, So, I have a quick question. Um, you know, when we brought up this PDR program, and in fact, I'm the one who brought it up and brought it to a committee. Um, you know, if I remember correctly though, there was some hesitation on the township's part. And that hesitation surrounded, from my memory in terms of what would the township be giving up or committing to this? And at the time when we made a motion, it was this is just to add another tool in the toolkit. This is just to give people simply another tool, kind of add to their arsenal uh to maintain their property rights. Uh and that was always my focus. It's tool in the toolkit for folks to be able to kind of manage their property rights in whatever way they see fit and works for them. I guess I'm just a little confused as to how we get got to the point from that conversation to today where we're ready to spend taxpayer dollars to have government-owned property. So, can you explain to me how we're here kind of deciding to commit township dollars to support a program that sort of had some hesitancy around it in the beginning? At least that's my recollection.

Yeah. Um I can explain it. I'm go with Jim. I don't want a battery plant. I want to deal with the questions behind a battery plant and under public act 233 under the current guidelines I have no control over it and we're stuck and if a if a land owner is approached by a developer to put in a battery plant or put in wind solar whatever it is I have a tool that I can say you know what they're giving you money to basically retire or whatever and that's going to be stuck a battery plan or wind solar the township has the ability to counteract it. That's that's where I came up with this toolbox. Nowhere else in Ottawa County has done this. And the reality is is I think if you talk to Jamestown Zealand or other communities around in Ottawa County, if they would had this, they would say yes, I would commit dollars because I don't want to deal with this.

But then is the tool being used to preserve farmland or just prohibit other land uses? as as of right now is to be protect protect the township. I can't guarantee in the future what it could be because I hope in the next year public PA233 is repealed.

And then my last question is do you have a dollar amount uh in mind that we would fund this program with? That's the one thing I noticed was missing in this language. And my concern would be that we would be voting on a blank check potentially. So every property would come to the board and you would evaluate it for how much it costs. Does it benefit the township? Um I talked to Otto County. They said, "Well, we have people that have muck property that they want to preserve." It's like, I don't see long-term vision that the township should preserve muck fields um because it's really unbuildable. But for a property that's adjacent to high voltage power lines, it may be advantageous for us to protect it. Would we notify property owners that this may be available to them?

Yes. After if I know I have this tool in my toolbox, I'll engage them more than I have been. You would send out notifications. Otto County has sent out uh cards currently and I would follow up um areas of interest that would benefit the township. Not every landowner, but areas of interest. Kelly, did you think that initial vote was to open up support for what the county might do and what they might pay? You weren't thinking of township participation.

I mean, if you go to the Ottawa County Agricultural Preservation homepage on their website, it very specifically says Ottawa County would, you know, basically take your property. We would manage or you would, you know, give up your development rights. Property owners are required to supply 26% of the fair fair market value and the remainder value would be paid to them through state or federal grant funding.

So then when I followed up further on that it was nobody else is using local tax dollars to fund this. And I think we're maybe that's framed as a positive thing is we're in a position where we get to use local tax dollars to do that. I'm not quite sure I see it that way unfortunately. I I think we had an ability to provide a toolkit and now we're sort of taking it to to a place where I I'm I'm just concerned about what the precedent we're setting in terms of directing what we see fit in terms of land use by owning property. So we wouldn't be owning property. We

well essentially through the rights you would be you'd be ma you'd be master of the rights if you will. I I don't think so. So I think you'd be removing the ability for for its use other than a farm use, right? So to that degree, you're not the owner. You're not in control of the property. Sure. Different that way.

Yeah. And all of that's fair. I just think it's interesting, you know, when I talked to Becky about the program, right? I mean, one of the things is is that they do rank properties, right? They rank properties and she kind of confirmed that there's not a single property in Georgetown that would outrank another piece of farmland in Ottawa County. we just simply don't have prime farmland. We are too developed already. Um and so we likely wouldn't qualify for this program. And on that, you know, with knowing that maybe there's some wisdom in this, but I'm just not sure that the way that I see it, I'm comfortable designating with everything else we have going on, I'm not sure that I see that this is a

I guess one, you just made the point stronger for it to say that we really don't have the kind of farmland that would rank high enough. In fact, I don't see any stars on our map there. Right. Right. So, this would still give us an opportunity if it was important to the township but not to the county to be able to step in. That to me is in favor of it. And I guess as it relates to the concern about funds, we we're not committing any funds. We're just providing the avenue that if the opportunity presented itself, we would be able. I think all of those are fair points. I think to the point about prime farmland versus not, the purpose of this program is to preserve prime farmland for agricultural use in perpetuity. And so that's just where my hang-up is.

I don't see the word prime up there. I mean, that's not how I took it. It's farmland. Sure. I I had a different conversation with Mrs. cutting that today. But yeah, I mean I think we all are seeking our own information and that's sort of where I where I was left after kind of doing some factf finding of my Yeah, I my interpretation of that then is that they're saying we don't have the dollars to go after as many pieces as we might wish. So we're looking at the prime, you know, that makes sense. It's not itself in the title. It's not itself necessarily even limiting that way, but the funds may dictate as much. We really can't afford to buy here, there, and everywhere. We're going to target the really prime opportunities, right? And we may not be one of them. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, that's that's my question, too. So, if you send out notification to property owners that this program may be available if the solar farm comes, what is our commitment then if they if they go, okay, I've been given this offer. Do we also have to come up with all this money to do this? And where's that money come from? Cuz grants and everything take time. and we don't get them over the overnight. So, my concern is that we make a promise to something that we can't fulfill. And we we got if we sign a resolution on that, I just I'm just not I mean, I understand we're doing. I think it's it's I I I agree that it's it's good we can try to get ahead of the solar and battery plants and all that stuff. I don't want that in the township either. But I'm trying to figure out if we put oursel in a position that we can't do what we say. I mean, I know what are we saying that we will do it or that we'll consider it?

Well, that's what I want to know. The notification you send a property owner. Are you saying that we will do this if they get a offer from a solar company or we're going to consider it? I would think you could only cons you wouldn't be able to commit because you're not the Well, that's why I just want to make sure we're not committing to something that we can't fund. Yeah. And then we say can't we'd have to vote on it, right? Well, each time consideration and we're told continually, especially during election years, you've got way too much money. You guys have this rainy day fund that has no end.

I I could see very well allocating, you know, 23 million of that so-called excess and saying we're going to we're going to still get interest on it. We're going to invest it. Let's put it over here in this segregated fund for the long-term benefit of the township when those opportunities arise because because we have the ability to do so because the management has been there in that respect. Might say other townships wouldn't have the same ability. Is the land value determined based on the assessed value or a appraisal like a fair market appraisal? I I don't you spoke to Becky today. I believe it's the the market value of the property.

It's to Gary's point that that you know person one, you know, applicant A comes to us and the fair market value is just something through the roof, right? You've got a very limited property. Um so you now dedicate funds potentially for this and then applicant B comes with an even more egregious project, but now we don't have any money left over for it. There there is a concern about where this goes. I think

well the com the people you're competing against have bigger pockets than we do. You know the Microsofts and the Googles and them they've got deep pockets and that's why they pick on the poor townships to be honest with you because they don't have any money to fight them. I mean fortunately we we're not one of them yet. But I'm just saying there are other townships that I think they they pick on. I trust a future board to make a wise decision if something like this should arise. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, it still would be voted on. Even if we we voted yes for resolution, we we we wouldn't be committed because we vote yes on this resolution without a board approval to spend the funds. Right. Right. Right. Correct. Other thoughts? All right, hearing none. So, roll call vote. Wearing yes. Grassman, yes. Beldink, yes. Ellie, yes. Piper is a no. Motion passes.

Okay. Item number 17, introduction and first reading of ordinance number 2026-03, which would be a temporary moratorum as recommended by the finance committee. Is there a motion to approve the introduction and first reading of this ordinance? So move support.

All right. So introduction and first reading is for discussion and debate. It's not for decision tonight. Uh this came out of finance and um I feel compelled in that respect although uh Kevin thankfully filled in. I know John was gone and Jean was gone. Um the idea is is not entirely new but it's something we've kicked around and thought about. There's just a there's just a lot going on in the township. We're at a I keep using the word tipping point, but we're at a point where um development wise in in future wise, what are we going to be? What are we going to become? What are we? We're a bedroom community as as has been pointed out. I agree with that. So, what does that look like? Um and and what does the next 20 to 30 years look like? It's part of the reason we're going through the master plan review right now, which we're required to do every 5 years. Um, you know, I I I know we've been told before the master plan isn't uh, you know, the beall end all. Can't dictate what happens, but we've seen time and again how it does um, and how important it is and some of the decisions we make. We've we've looked at and we've all noticed the fact of congestion and traffic and the lack of arteries to get here and there and not having a bridge across the river and not getting an exit at 48 and people getting more and more frustrated with um their commutes around town. But more importantly, as is pointed out in this um intent and findings here, we've been hit here in the last year or two with um issues related to water and water capacity and future expenditure and and uh city of Wyoming's requirements of us. We've had uh issues related to uh a fire department that's saying, "Look, we need we need to grow uh into the, you know, size that we are for this township. the

the township's 56,000 people and we've taken a step in that direction. Um but we're still potentially going to grow a lot more uh depending on which way things go over the next 20 to 30 years. And so um I want us to be my viewpoint. I want us to be thoughtful at this inflection point in terms of making sure that if we're going to go more the direction of we want more development, we want, you know, a greater tax base, whatever it is people want, if they want apartments, if they want this, that, or the other. It's not my thing, but it might be the majority view. Uh, whether now or in the future. Well, we've got to be sure we can provide the services to that type of view and to that type of development. And right now, I think it's in question whether we can provide the utilities and the fire safety, health, welfare of our residents in those areas if we just allow growth to continue um without an overall plan for what the future ought to look like. So, it seems like an opportune time with the master plan being reviewed, with the growth in our fire department, with the issues we're having now in terms of providing water, and I think we talked recently uh to one of the experts on what would it cost to to provide water in a couple of the sectors. It was like $20 million between two different holding tanks. I mean, these are serious significant growth challenges that we would have depending on where we head with the use of remaining land in the township. And rather than be at the whim for the remainder of this time between now and the end of the master plan review process, approximately the end of the year, um we thought it'd be good to say, "Okay, time out. Let's let this play out. Let's continue to do the study we need to to figure out what this is going to look like. fire safety wise, water provision wise, even electricitywise. Um,

we need to do this thoughtfully and and smartly because otherwise we look back later and we say it's too late. It's too late. This has gone to approval and that one's gone to, you know, this use or this future use. So, um, it happens. Mortoriiums, as I've looked into it, happen more often than than you might think. Um, but they have to be temporary and this one's proposed to be temporary 8 months. Um, and I think it would be uh a wise decision to be thoughtful about where we head with future planning for the township. So, that's one person's view. Floor's open.

Yeah, I agree. um sitting on the utilities committee. I know that when Cedar Valley was approved on the north uh north side of Filillmore, um the uh engineers we have had questioned whether or not the lift station at uh Filillmore was going to be sufficient to do the 190 plat, which they they're not doing all at once, of course. And so we we put a flowchart on there and we were told that we need to be on there for three years, only been on there two. So, I talked to Joe last week, our DPW guy, and he's like, "Yeah, we're going to start getting readings on there pretty quick." Um, because that left pump goes to Maplewood Lake and then that goes into the gravity feed back to to uh Granville Sewage Treatment Plant. And so, there's a there's a water water probably as a big issue is what sewer's going to be. I think there's going to be some talk about up upgrading lift pumps, making them larger, and it's going to be expensive. And um the development that's at Cedar Valley and then uh the one that we looked at for uh Eastbrook Homes um that those between the two of them, you're looking at almost uh almost 500 houses on that on that lip pump system. And so I think this would give our DPW guys an opportunity to figure out what to do because like I say that that metering station only been on there for two years and it was recommended to be under three. So I'm hoping that we can get some good numbers on what to do with future um sewage pumps.

Justin, um talk about what this would prevent and what it would not. Uh it's nuanced. Yeah.

Yeah. So like the I guess plats that are already been uh through the process uh up to so if they had a a preliminary plat approval um they would still move through one new ones um would have to would be holded. Um any person with a lot um one lot they want to build this house they're planning to build this house they could still build a house. It's the bigger development that we're looking at. Um, just to piggy off what Gary said, um, I have a memo that's going to utilities um about sewer sewer capacity, what that looks like. Um, and it's going to be expensive. Uh, I think the it was $750,000 per pump. So, we're looking at $1.5 million for that. We also, I guess about six weeks ago, I had Joel gave me an estimate from Pride New Hoff to look at our service capability of Georgetown Township as a whole. What does that look like? Wyoming is doing a Wyoming uh water reliability study and for the whole system and we're going to do one for Georgetown and we should have both those reports this summer and then we can come back with the findings. Um the biggest thing that issues we have is spiking of our township water system in the summer. Our we have for five months out of the year we don't have capacity for homes. the other seven months we do because the way that people are using water in Georgetown is blowing past the 80% threshold and we're basically causing the Wyoming water system to do all these improvements because we're demanding so much water compared to our high usage and our low usage throughout the year. So that's something we have to look at. And one of the um I guess without do the

study they came up with that you're probably going to have to have more capacity so that during those peak event days you can draw down your water tanks versus trying to pull water from the system. Um like you said Jim like per tank it's $9 million. And for us to take on that that cost, it takes years for us to build up enough capital to to make that type of investment. And the other the flip side is do you want to make that investment for something that you use only for five of the 12 months of the year? Because the other year months of the year we don't need it. So that's that's there's a lot of there's a lot of things that we have to look at and evaluate and make sure that we're making good decisions today so that we have an adequate water today so we can meet our demand needs today, tomorrow in the future. Yeah,

I think similar to um the last agenda item though, I read through this and I kind of thought to myself, I mean, sure, we've talked about water, we've talked about sewer, um but Jim, you mentioned, we've been kicking this around and I just don't remember that truly. I don't know if I've ever heard the words moratorum once uh spoken out loud by this board. So, for me to kind of open the finance committee meeting minutes and then seeing this agenda, um I was just a little taken aback, right, as a board member, it feels like I was on the outside of a pretty major decision. Um and and I'm just kind of a little shocked by how we got to the point of of reading a full fully drafted ordinance night when in my opinion, I haven't heard the words moratorum before. When I said kicking around, I didn't mean in board discussion like this. I might be talking to Justin. What do we do about city of Wyoming? What do we do now? City of Granville. What do we do with these challenges coming at us? And it was more in that context or thing. Do we look at that? Do we talk to council about that? What does that look like?

And so, fair enough. It wasn't in this context. Um, and so I guess with that, you know, I I take kind of what we wrote in our intent and findings uh pretty seriously. And I think that if we're going to move forward with with such a an ordinance, I think it's worthy of kind of dissecting some of these

uh intention finding uh statements a little bit further. So, I just had a few questions and I'm not sure if Justin you're the right person or if there's other members of um the board, but even you know item number A, right? The provisions of the township zoning ordinance and master plan regarding various matters uh matters have not kept pace with development patterns that feels like such a broad statement. Um and so I didn't know if there was something particular we could point to. You know, for me, I don't know that I love the idea of just kind of throwing in catch-all phrases. is is there a particular issue with the zoning ordinance or master plan that we're trying to address with this? And if so, you know, should should that be a part of this documentation or at least part of the discussion for the board to say it's, you know, these ordinances are are the things that we really need to take take note of or or discuss further. So I think going back to that point um I guess through this whole process for the master plan we talked about yeah we can have a master plan but if we don't have ordinances around that to support our vision for the future what's the purpose of our master plan? So I think that was the intent.

Okay. And again this was drafted by our attorney.

Okay. Um, and then talking about the the water issue, the the I or the statement that I highlighted was the current public water system can have its capacity exceeded during peak demand days. And I think you you you kind of answered my question. You you made a reference to that 80% threshold mark. I just think that's really important to clarify because it almost sounds as if like there are times during the year when people would turn on their faucet and water wouldn't run. And I don't think we're there yet. So it it feels like that statement might need a bit more context. But then I also what Gary said I think is equally important. You know this document takes a lot of time uh a whole paragraph dedicated to water capacity issues when in the reality there might be sewer capacity issues as well. Right? So I feel like we might be missing part of the context if if we really want to put in a moratorum and be thorough about what we're going to speak to. I mean is are there also sewer issues that we should be looking to? I mean this document in my opinion is going to kind of guide what we do during a moratorum. It's going to guide the decision making and if sewer is the issue, sewer's, you know, not brought up at all, right? But the sewer uh come this summer, I'll have more information from the meetings I have had with the Wyoming um uh committee, looking at their operations, looking at their CIP. Um, after our last meeting, I left and I talked to Pat and I said, "Pat, I think I need a rep for either you or the city of Granville to come and talk about what's the needs are at the Granville sewer plant."

Yeah, we spent a lot of time with that discussion because it's it's going to be a scenario just like the city of Wyoming where yeah, it's fine until all of a sudden, hey, you got to do X, Y, and Z. It's going to cost this million million dollars and you owe this much percentage. It's that's coming,

but I haven't got those numbers yet. Sure. And I think on that note that that's kind of also important to the context of this decision, right? We've got a a water study that's going to be coming from the city of Wyoming, but not available till this summer. We've got Joel doing some research on his own, but that data is not going to be available to this summer. As Jim pointed out, mortoriiums are meant to be temporary, and some of the most critical information that we need to make quality decisions won't even be available for months from now, eating into that moratorium timeline. So I just wonder are we a bit ahead of ourselves because we don't what is the data that we're trying to correct here. I mean at this point we have a we have a pulse on it but then it feels anecdotal as compared to actually having hard data to say this is what we're trying to correct. Um I just had a couple other items. um the paragraph speaking to fire uh concerns, fire response times, if you will. I also sort of I just want to clarify for me, you know, I read that and I kind of thought we spent a lot of time talking about fire response times and and that was a part of the decision making in terms of how we landed on six additional full-time firefighters was because six additional full-time firefighters was sort of the the minimum full-time number of firefighters we would need to maintain adequate response times or similar to current response times. So, you know, the fact that that that's sort of the rationale that we used for our decision-making, it caught me off guard a little bit to read that the township has not yet established anticipated response time requirements and it sort of suggests that that hasn't been thought out yet. So, I was a little um confused by the language that was included there and I wasn't sure if you could maybe speak to that a little bit further. So, I guess uh chiefs in the room here

may have to jump in, but as we transition from the EU unit that spread around and basically moves around the township to a static point, we don't have that data, right? I don't know what this looks like. And to throw in hundreds of homes, thousands of people is to me is not doing our due diligence as uh stewards to our citizens.

Uh and then just a couple other points. Uh, you know, obviously I I'm in this business, so my coworker spends a lot of time dealing with franchise utilities, and I have not heard that there's going to be electrical grid issues. Is that something that we've we received notification on that there's an issue with the electrical grid? I mean, we we work with consumers, you know, nearly every day and that's not come up on my radar yet.

So, um, Consumers Energy was supposed to be here in January. the weather was terrible, so they cancelled. So, there's a rep um who would like to come back. I haven't spoke to him recently, and he wants to give an update on basically substations and infrastructure they would have to include in Georgetown Township in the future. Okay. Uh and then the last one, just the impact of increased traffic on public safety. This has come up a lot, but again, this feels sort of like this big broad catch-all statement. And I just wondered, is the township considering implementing their own traffic study to actually collect data on what the traffic impacts are or what traffic impacts we aim to correct.

So that again, we work with our partners, the A County Road Commission. That has not come up through utilities, but something we're evaluating when you add hundreds of homes and thousands of people. The the only reason I bring up these points is like I said, I think it's really important that we dial into exactly what we're suggesting this moratorum is for. And I think that after looking at these different statements that are being made and kind of hearing that we're waiting on a lot of data. We haven't received this data yet. You know, the consumer's energy rep hasn't spoke to us yet. We plan to get some information this summer. I think it's really important that we make thoughtful, as Jim said, thoughtful and smart decisions for our constituents. Um, and I'm not necessarily disagreeing that ultimately the moratorum might be the proper tool to do that with. Um, but I'm not sure it's prudent at this point. I don't think we have enough data to warrant saying that a full stop moratorum uh is the route that we need to take. we don't have the data to say this is what's happening. We're it's it's anecdotal and I'm I'm concerned that that uh is not thoughtful and smart decision-m when we don't have data to support uh what we're doing. And I just think that's worthy of of bringing up here is that I think in order for us to be thoughtful, be smart, be good stewards of our community, we can't be making decisions based on perception and personal opinion. We need to be making decisions based on actual data that's been presented to us. And I I don't know that I've heard any information that we have data to support this document. And not to mention that development doesn't come in the thousands at a time. You know, a single phase is 20 to 40 houses maybe. So development is incremental and it's decreased significantly over the last few years in this township. So I'm not

sure again that the data really supports this decision. And I just want to make sure that we're again being being thoughtful and being smart with with what we're doing here. Anyone else?

I I actually think that this is, you know, you're right, Kelly, we don't have a lot of the data in front of us, but this gives us the opportunity to gather the data. We have studies that are due within the next couple of months leading into the summer. This moratorum gets us until 9 months and it's got to go through two readings obviously. So it wouldn't be fully put in place probably till either the next board meeting or the meeting after that. So you're probably talking December that this gives us a stoppage point up until to gather that data to find out what Wyoming says about the water, what Granville says about the sewer, what Consumers Energy says about the power and and what Ottawa County Road Commission could tell us about traffic studies. But I think that is being good stewards because at some point in time, just because the land's there doesn't mean we have to develop the land. But we have to make sure that if we are going to develop the land that we take in consideration the public healthy safety and welfare of the 56,000 residents. You know, putting the cart before the horse doesn't make sense. You know, I I really think that we have to make sure that what we have whether it's police and fire, whether it's whether it's water, whether it's sewer, will serve that new development going in. not saying that we don't want to develop any more of Ottawa County or Georgetown Township. It's saying that if we are going to, we have to make sure that we can serve that those people and serve those residents that are going to be moving into those areas. I also think that again you I always remember this scenario when they built M6 and they put the bridge in that connected M6 and 196 and they never tested it to hold cars. It tested to hold the strength of the concrete, but they had to rebuild the darn thing because they thought, "Oh my gosh, there's going to be cars on top of that, too." Well, we have water over there and we have sewer over there, but is it

enough to provide for an additional x amount of houses or residents? So, I I think this does do the due diligence and does allow us to take kind of a stop and say, "Hey, okay, hold on a second. Let's take a step back and just say we've had so much issues with water over the last year and a half and and price increases from city of Wyoming and guaranteed there'll be another one this year, right? It's probably no secret that they're going to go, "Well, guess what? Your your capacity increased again." Uh I think it does give us a chance to step back and just say, "Where are we at?" You know, I mean, if we're going to continue to to to approve plat or continue to approve development, we have to make sure as a township that we can provide those services. Anyone else? And I would say that that we have some record. We're looking to develop the record further and the analysis further with some of these studies that are mentioned. But we have, those of us who sat on this board the past year, a great deal of information already as it relates to the the water situation as well as the fire and we were presented with a lot of detailed information about that. And so I think we're informed by that, but we can be uh more fully informed with further study um and input that we're about to receive during the coming months. So I don't want us to I don't want to stand that that we don't have a basis on which to make the decision with present information but I think there will be additional information that will be developed during this this period of time as well. The other part of this is you know our master plan that's be completed sometime early summer as well. Am I correct in saying that?

Mhm. So, the final draft there, I guess, to see where we're at with that and how that all conforms. Not hearing anyone else. It's a roll call vote. Wearing yes. Piper's a no. Grassman, yes. Yes. Beldink, yes. Motion carries. Right. Item number 18, second public comment period. At this time, you can come forward if you wish and address the board on any topic, whether we covered it tonight or not.

Yeah. Okay.

I saw some people standing up, so I wanted to Good evening. My name is Anna White. I'm actually from Park Township. Um, I'm running for Ottawa County District Court Judge this fall. I wanted to come meet all of you. Um, I'm currently the deputy public defender for Ottawa County and I've lived and worked in Ottawa County for over 20 years now. Um, both as an attorney and also as a social worker. I started my career working with victims of domestic and sexual assault at Resilience. So, um, been working in this county for a long time working with individuals, families on all sides of legal issues. Um, I also did a lot of mediation during that time in private practice as well. um married. My husband is Josh. He works at Gentex. He's been there about 24 years. Um we've been in this community for a long time and plan to stay. Um I have a 14-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter and I want to make a community that's good for them. Um so that's part of my goal is to be a judge who will listen, treat people with dignity and respect no matter what brings them in. Um and also hold people accountable because I think accountability is really important for community safety. Um thank you so much for your time. I have some cards. May I stand up and give you these while I'm standing here if that's okay? Whose position would you be running for? Who Who's stepping down?

Yes, Judge Canal is aging out. So, he will not be running again. So, thank you. Aging out. 70 years old. Oh, don't tell my kids that. I've been using that term for now on just aging out. Been aging out. Oh, did I aging? Yes. if it was open. Going backwards a bit, I think you just said all this was open to Oh, yeah. Anything you wish to. Yep. Yep.

Mick McGra with Eastbrook Homes and Building Business Now and Banking Before Building for 50 years. I've had a chance to to watch a lot of this. Uh and we appreciate our relationship with Georgetown Township. We we enjoy working with you guys. It's it's it's been good. Uh just a comment uh watching, you know, where where we're going. I know that you use the word tipping point and and where things are going. Uh we track building permits almost everywhere and and look at that and see what's happening. Georgetown Township I think in 2015 had 20ome single family permits. It shrunk to 2024 I don't have a end of data for 2025 down to 84. And if you look at uh 20 U three and two, it was like 140 120 and then 84. I don't know where it'll be for for 25, but I think it'll be close to that 84. So you're not seeing this ground swell of development. It's actually going in that opposite direction. The um I think the concern for it um taking over your capacity probably isn't here now. might have been true 20 years ago, maybe even 10 years ago, but it's really that, you know, the data doesn't support that growth that supports you're doing, you know, 40% of what you were doing just 10 years ago in the way a single family permits. So, just just for a little bit of information to to chew on as well.

Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Hey, Jim. Yeah. You'd have to give his address. Oh, my address is uh uh 5333 Settller's Pass, Kentwood, Michigan. Thank you.

Like on your own time. Yeah. Good evening. So, my name is Alair Schneider. I'm at 7553 Schneider and I'm at 7553 Hidden Force Schneider. Yep. Okay. Drive again.

All right. So, the few things I want to go over, I'll try to go really quick. Um, when you're talking about the farms, um, maybe look at farm co-ops. That might be a way to actually money, more money to your farmers, kind of like a Costco for the farms. Um, changing from grass to something like no water and creeping time might be a good idea, especially because we're going to have an AI data center here soon, and that will heat up water and electricity. And a lot of these AI data centers are renowned for taking their electrical cost and putting it onto the surrounding communities. So maybe you might want to look at some things like two turup lines and our communities turbines to try to offset people's electrical costs because those are going to go skyhigh. So just some things to think about in your electrical stuff and your water long-term needs. Now the reasons I actually came here for today are two things. One, I would like to deflock our area and the other is I would like to stop any 287 agreements that we have between ICE and our local police officers. Um the deflocking. So in regards to that, I do not want our data going to big tech bros. It's not just to the local police. It goes to big tech which is Peter Teal and Elon Musk who were in the files who went through Doge and now they're being prosecuted for some of the things that they were doing. Um Teal's the one who has palente balance state that is where all the stuff is going to. That means you know Ring cameras just got involved with that but they're actually giving that data to the tech pros as well. I do not want that data going to them. Here are some of the things that they are doing in other places. I am going to leave this so you can look at this woman in Denver actually. Here's the information on how you were guilty and you have to prove yourself innocent by flocks. Guess what? She was innocent. She had to prove that. Another teenage boy, he had a gun. That's what the AI said. Send in cops. Guess what? It was a bag of chips. Now he doesn't want to come and leave his house. Um, we also have in the UK, they have a digital ID, which is what Ellison, another tech bro, wanted, and they're locking their systems down. They're trying to use the flocks over there to say you have a 15-minute city. You have so many times you can leave free from your city in the current legislation they're trying to put through. Then you're going to be charged to leave your town. How are they doing that? The flocks. I do not want dynamic pricing. All of this is being done by flocks. I want them out. So, I'm going to leave this information you just to do that in regards to the stopping the 287gs with ICE in the Renee murder case.

The FBI will not release the footage of the murder to the state so they can prosecute. That is obstruction of justice, not justice. We have the Epstein files. They're not releasing them even after an act of Congress. That is obstruction of justice. We have a top lover that is not not following law. I do not want we just now had a whistleblower come out in the last 48 hours and he is stating in the training that they are actually teaching them not to be accordance to our basically violate our rights. Right? They don't even they're not cops. They're not allowed to even give you a speeding ticket, let alone bust into your car, bust into your house, which is violations of amendment four and other violations of your rights. I do not want that being done in these locations. This is if this was about crime, then why are they not going after the rich white men who make money off knowingly illegally hiring people who are undocumented, making a profit off it. Instead, they're going after the poor brown people who are just trying to work. I do not want affiliations with ICE. And if they are violating the laws, I want our police officers arresting them like they would do anybody else.

Here's the information. There's court cases. Yeah, give it give it to Justin. He reads all that stuff. He's really good at it. Thank you.

Tom Healey, 2659 Cedar Grove North, Jennison. I just appreciate the board and the manner in which you conduct a cordial discussion of the points that are pertinent to all of you. I think you all commit a great deal of effort, energy, and integrity to this process, and as a citizen of this township, I am grateful for that. Thank you. Thank you. I'd say the same to the planning commission,

Pete Plowman, 6877 Creek Ridge Court, Hudsonville. Um, couple things on the farmland preservation. Great. I I totally agree with the decision you made. Good job on that. And it really comes down to data center, battery plant, solar company wants to come in here. At least it gives us one more tool because without it, our hands, we're not going to be able to do anything on the building moratorum. I think that was a great choice as well. You need to give yourself a little time to figure out all these issues before we go ahead and build out. I think that was right there. Um the other point is if um ICE comes in here, I want them in here by the millions so they can help, you know, handle law and do it the right way so that everybody lives by the same rules, not just exceptions for others. And the last thing I want to say, wasn't that a great hockey game Sunday night? USA. USA. Thank you. Thanks.

Are you going to say something about Verlander coming back to Detroit? Anyone else? Yes.

Welcome. My name is Michelle Bada. I actually do not live out here. I am here in regards to the Christmas lights. You can Yeah, if you can give us your address anyway. Yeah. Okay. It's uh 5586 Belding Road. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that was the No. Okay. My bad. Thanks for recognizing that. I thought maybe she just I promise. All right. We don't want to get drawn in that committee. We already got

Yeah. Um seeing no one else, we'll close this public comment period. Go on to item number 19, discussion and general information. And I I definitely want to lead this off. I wanted to bring Kevin some Kentucky Fried Chicken tonight, but uh I understand you might be you make some good chicken and we might want to go over to your place sometime for that if you can control the smoke and all, you know. Thank you. Appreciate it. Smoked flavor. Smoke. I agree. I think we need to send him a bill for that. Thanks for saving his place. Oh jeez, that's

Yeah. It's not It won't be the last time. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I'll fill you in later. Okay. It's got to be a story.

I wasn't there. All right. Discussion, general information. Otherwise, hearing none. Item 20. This would be to go to close session for a property acquisition uh discussion. We did so approximately a month or so ago for the benefit of the public. We go close session for property acquisition discussion but not for decision making. So if there is a decision made while in close session about a purchase, we must come back on the record here and in the public cast a vote related to it. So that could happen tonight. If that does happen, then we'll come back in here and we'll reopen the meeting and uh you would be able to hear the discussion and vote. All right. So, is there a motion among the board then to go to close session to discuss property acquisition?

All right. Okay. A roll call vote.

Kyper is yes. Wearing yes. Yes. Yes. Kelly, yes. All in favor? All right. We are therefore now in close session. We will go to the small conference room and when we're done, we'll come back out here. Take your microphones off. Oh yeah. Okay. All right. Is there a motion to come out of close session?

So move. Support. Who's supported? Again, roll call vote to come out of close session. Kelly, yes. Yes. Grassman, yes. Yes. Piper's a yes. Thank you. All right. We're back on the record and uh there is no uh property acquisition that will take place this evening and so at this point I'd entertain a motion to adjourn. So move support. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed and the meeting is closed. I me to give you a wrestling update.