COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A public hearing has been scheduled for Monday’s Coldwater Planning Commission meeting on a request from MVAH Partners and Coldwater Community Schools to consider conditionally rezoning over nine acres of property at the site of the former Fremont School Building at 95 South Fremont Street.
The request is to re-zone the property from A-1 One Family Residential to A-3 Multi-Family Residential.
MVAH Partners has a purchase option on the site and authorization from Coldwater Community Schools, which owns the property, to seek this rezoning.
Coldwater City Planner Dean Walrack says a conditional rezoning differs from a traditional rezoning in that the applicant is volunteering restriction onto the application which, if failed to be met, will cause the land to revert to its previous zoning classification.
This property was previously granted a Conditional Rezoning in September of 2019 which was set to expire on June 30, 2021.
Prior to this expiration, MVAH was awarded tax credits from the State of Michigan to develop senior housing units.
But Walrack says progress on this development has been delayed due to rising material and labor costs, and further complicated by the presence of soil types which further shrink the area that can be developed.
A neighboring property owner says he was told by the developer the changes were made to the plans due to mercury being found during the testing of the soil.
While the mercury has been removed, it’s estimated the cost of the project has risen to $2.7 million.
According to Walrack, MVAH is requesting an extension of the rezoning with a couple of changes to the previous plan.
They want to increase the maximum height to two stories and increase the minimum yard setbacks to 100 feet. The number of residential units would also drop from 48 to 41.
After the public hearing is held, the Planning Commission will be asked to make a recommendation on the request to the Coldwater City Council on Monday night.
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