City commissioners let land proposal motion die

MARQUETTE — Last month, the City of Marquette received an offer to purchase a portion of land at the former Cliffs-Dow site to be potentially converted into student housing. But at their meeting tonight, city commissioners let the motion die.

Hiawatha LLC, a development agency out of downstate Harbor Springs, put an offer on the table to purchase ten acres of land at $12,000 per acre with an additional seven acres at $15,000. Monday night’s meeting was intended to negotiate the sale, but the public and the commissioners had a hard time accepting the proposal.

After a lengthy discussion debating work sessions and postponing any decisions for three months, council members ultimately chose to let the motion die for now.

“From the city’s point of view, any unused city property that we could dispose of or sell is always a benefit, as long as it benefits the community as a whole,” said Marquette City Manager, Mike Angeli. “There might be people in the community think we might have enough housing of this nature, but there are others that think we don’t have enough.”

The master plan for the land reuse was for multi-use, which would accommodate student housing. The property currently has a MDEQ deed restriction placed on it and it would be lifted only by successfully petitioning the DEQ.