PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The city of Portage is hitting the pause button on the consolidation of 94 different industrial development districts into six adjacent and regional districts after citizens complained about plans for their neighborhood.
City staff had hoped to streamline the method that businesses use to obtain industrial and other tax breaks, by pre-designating large industrially zoned areas as eligible districts.
Jill Bland at Southwest Michigan First says they endorse it as a way to speed up projects.
But due to confusion about a map, one neighborhood just south of Stryker got the incorrect idea that the city plans to turn their homes into an industrial research park, and a dozen residents turned out to complain.
Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Pearson and Mayor Patricia Randall agreed staff needs to fix those maps before they proceed.
The matter was tabled.
So instead of having less work to do, city staffers will have a little more work to do before the process can be streamlined for developers.
This story has been corrected to reflect it does not pertain to any development project as had been implied previously.
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