If your group rents a meeting room from Ottawa County, the price of doing that may be about to change. A revised county policy, sent to the full board on a split committee vote Tuesday, drops the rule that lets the facilities director waive fees for nonprofits and would raise rental rates, sixfold for the biggest rooms.
It was a quieter week for the big boards. None of them held a full meeting between Oct. 9 and 15. Ottawa County's committees carried most of the load, and a circuit judge ruled for RWE in a land-rights dispute involving roughly 30% of the proposed Silver Maple Solar project. Here is what happened, and what is coming up.
Ottawa County
Nonprofits could lose their break on county rooms
The county's Facilities Use Policy covers who can rent rooms and parking lots, including at the Fillmore Street complex in West Olive, and what they pay. Staff rewrote it as part of a routine review. The changes that matter most to community groups:
- The facilities director would no longer be able to "waive any and all fees for non-profit organizations."
- Renting a parking lot would go from $50 to $200 a day per lot.
- Canceling without a charge would take 48 hours' notice instead of 24.
- The director's option to require a deposit, and language limiting rentals to uses "of an appropriate nature," are both removed.
Room rates would rise too. Every room now rents for $25 a half day or $50 a full day. The new version prices them room by room:
- $50 a half day and $100 a full day for most of the smaller Fillmore rooms
- $100 and $200 for the Hickory room and the James C main conference room
- $150 and $300 for the Maple room and the James D Macatawa Room
The Planning and Policy Committee sent the policy to the full board 4-2. Commissioners Phil Kuyers, Jacob Bonnema, Jordan Jorritsma and Jim Barry voted yes. Kendra Wenzel and Allison Miedema voted no, though neither explained why on the record. The board takes it up Oct. 27.
The camera pause doesn't move forward
Miedema brought her own proposal on the county's Flock license plate cameras. Her draft resolution would have frozen any renewal or expansion of the contracts and directed staff to write an ordinance banning fixed cameras by November, while still letting deputies use readers mounted on their patrol cars.
The draft puts the sheriff's network at 31 cameras: 15 the county pays for, two mobile units, and 14 installed for individual cities and townships that reimburse the county. Sheriff Eric DeBoer questioned whether the plan could work in practice.
The committee didn't send the resolution on. County Administrator Patrick Waterman will talk with Board Chair Josh Brugger about putting the cameras in front of the full board. A recent renewal keeps the system running for two more years, WHTC reported.
Farmland, trails and smaller fees
The Finance and Administration Committee recommended a long list for full board approval. Most items passed 6-0 on roll-call votes with Commissioner John Teeples absent, and a few, including the cremation fee, passed without a recorded tally:
- Purchase agreements for development rights on about 228 acres of farmland, which would keep the land in farming: about 25 acres in Jamestown Township, about 90 and 36 acres in Chester Township, and 77 acres in Polkton Township.
- A $100,000 needs study for the county's Environmental Sustainability Center, which passed 5-1 with Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea opposed.
- Three new part-time sheriff's cadet positions, paid for with $58,658 from contingency.
- $297,847 for MSU Extension services next year.
- An increase in the medical examiner's cremation permit fee from $50 to $70, effective Nov. 1 if the board approves.
- A support agreement for the newly independent Community Mental Health Authority, with the county still handling its HR, finances, IT and buildings.
The planning committee also sent along $248,126 in state trust fund money and matching dollars for the next phase of the Idema Explorers Trail along the Bass River, bringing that project to $1.28 million, plus an easement for the trail's Allendale segment.
One discussion is worth watching. Commissioners said the dollar amount of a contract shouldn't be the only thing that decides whether it reaches the full board, and they want the administrator to have more room to bring forward contracts that matter to the public.
Next meeting: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 9 a.m., 12220 Fillmore St., West Olive.
Grand Rapids
The numbers behind the emerging developer complaints
The commission didn't meet this week, but the slides city staff showed its Economic Development Project Team on Oct. 6 fill in the picture behind last week's angry public comment from Black developers.
The city's Emerging Developer Grant program, started in 2023, has made 22 awards across 30 parcels: 10 in the First Ward, four in the Second and eight in the Third. Together they could add about 335 homes. The city has approved $3.18 million and paid out $2.43 million so far.
Where those projects stand:
- 12 have moved on to other incentives or construction.
- 7 are still working through predevelopment.
- 3 are looking for new owners.
Staff told the panel the program needs partner money for both projects and technical help, and that five applications from fiscal 2026 are still waiting.
The Land Bank Authority laid out what it has done with its land. Of the 14 parcels it has sold or transferred:
- 5 became for-sale homes for buyers earning under 80% of the area median income.
- 1 became a rental duplex under that same limit.
- 1 became an apartment building with a fifth of its units for households under 60%.
- The rest went to market-rate housing, listed on the slides as two single-family homes and five duplex units.
It also described a $5 million partnership with the city's Affordable Housing Fund to buy more property. Money for the Land Bank's housing work divided two sitting commissioners at Saturday's candidate forum. More on that below.
A third briefing covered the city's contractor inclusion plans. Since 2021, developers seeking a brownfield deal or tax break have had to set voluntary goals for hiring minority-owned, women-owned and micro-local subcontractors.
The city counts $829.6 million in private investment covered by those plans, and 26 projects still building. The slides don't agree on how many plans have been filed, putting it at 57 in one place and 50 in another.
The amphitheater vote is set
The official record of the Oct. 6 meeting shows the first step on the Acrisure Amphitheater went through on the consent agenda, 6-0 on a recorded vote. It publishes a change to the city's nuisance chapter, scheduled for a final vote Oct. 27. The same meeting logged four more noise complaints about the venue.
Next meeting: Tuesday, Oct. 27, with the amphitheater change and three rezonings scheduled for consideration.
Holland
A housing-heavy week
Council didn't meet, but its boards had plenty of housing in front of them.
The Planning Commission's Oct. 13 agenda included:
- A single-story, 60-unit building at 740 College Ave., replacing the church on the west side of the site.
- 28 independent-living cottage homes, four detached and 24 in duplexes, in the next phase of the Farmstead development at 875 E. 24th St.
- Another extension for a 120-unit apartment project at 367 Country Club Road.
The next day, the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority was scheduled to consider recommending brownfield plans for that Country Club Road project and for Kensington West, a Michigan Housing Partnership development.
These plans let a developer recover eligible costs out of the new taxes a project generates. Council's next agenda sets public hearings on both.
Two answers from Oct. 7
Last week we couldn't say how council voted on a new industrial development district covering 1659 M-40, 4416 52nd St. and 931 and 933 Interchange Drive. The minutes are out now.
Council created the district 6-0 after a public hearing where nobody spoke. It lets future tenants apply for industrial tax breaks, and the resolution ties it to an industrial expansion on the site.
The same night, council accepted a $650,000 gift from Velo Kids to the parks department for the Holland Bike Park.
What's on the Oct. 21 agenda
- Final votes on the two downtown brownfield plans set for hearing two weeks ago: the 8th-to-9th Street block between River and Pine, and 166 River Ave. and 93 W. 7th St.
- Next year's assessment rolls for the Washington Square business district, the Principal Shopping District, downtown parking and downtown snowmelt.
- An engineering contract to keep replacing privately owned lead water lines.
- A bid and cost-sharing deals for snowmelt on 7th Street, and a grant for a new playground at Prospect Park.
Next meeting: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6 p.m., City Hall. Study session Oct. 28.
Kent County
The animal shelter points to housing
The Policy and Operations Committee's Oct. 13 agenda scheduled two annual reports. Animal Shelter Director Angela Hollinshead's report says the shelter took in 1,030 cats and 1,668 dogs last year and doesn't euthanize for space or length of stay.
The first challenge on her list is housing. The report points to an estimated shortage of 15,742 rental units in the county through 2030, and says pet rules, deposits and breed limits are pushing families to give up animals.
Parks Director Ben Swayze's report highlights the Wahlfield Park expansion that opened in July, with new parking, restrooms, a mountain bike trailhead and a 10-acre fenced dog park, and the 21-mile Grand River Greenway the county is working to build toward Ionia County.
The draft plan for how the county handles trash and recycling is open for comment through Nov. 30. Open houses:
- Oct. 29, 8-10 a.m., North County Campus, Cedar Springs
- Nov. 12, noon-2 p.m., Kentwood Community Center
- Nov. 18, 6-8 p.m., Recycling & Education Center, 977 Wealthy St. SW
Next meeting: Thursday, Oct. 22, 8:30 a.m. The agenda includes the 2026 apportionment report and a closed session listed "to consider the purchase or sale of real property."
Allegan County
Last week we couldn't confirm how the Oct. 8 budget vote went. The minutes are now posted: commissioners adopted the 2027 budget 5-0, keeping the total levy at 6.94 mills. Nobody spoke at the public hearing.
The new stairs at West Side County Park are running later than the county said last month. Administrator Robert Sarro now expects them done by Nov. 15.
Next meeting: Thursday, Oct. 22, 9 a.m.
Around the region
Judge sides with RWE on Silver Maple land
Ottawa County Circuit Judge Jon Hulsing ruled Wednesday that RWE Solar Development properly exercised its 2020 lease options on the Smallegan family's land. That's about 563 acres, roughly 30% of the 1,900-acre solar project planned for Zeeland and Jamestown townships.
The order gives RWE exclusive use of the property and bars the family from opposing the project while the agreements stand. The family's attorney told FOX 17 an appeal is being considered. The project still needs approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Candidates go on the record
Nearly 500 people came to Together West Michigan's candidate forum at Calvin Church on Oct. 10, by the coalition's count. Candidates were asked whether they would work with the coalition on each of its priorities.
- All four state Senate nominees in the 29th and 30th districts said yes to telling residents about the state's new housing laws, funding the Rapid, a state child care tax credit and expanding the TriShare child care program.
- The split came on the Drive SAFE bills, which would let undocumented immigrants get driver's licenses. The Democrats said yes. The Republicans said maybe.
- Every city commission candidate there, from Grand Rapids, Walker and Wyoming, said they would work to release their police department's use-of-force data.
- In Grand Rapids, Commissioners Lisa Knight and Kelsey Perdue opposed sending money to the Land Bank for affordable housing, questioning whether the Land Bank would actually develop the housing.
The full race-by-race answers are in Michigan Advance's story from the forum. Mosaic doesn't endorse candidates.
Wyoming starts on two corridor districts
Wyoming council members at their Oct. 12 work session backed staff's push to create corridor improvement authorities on Division Avenue and Burton Street. These districts work like a downtown development authority, holding onto growth in property taxes along a street and spending it there.
Staff said both corridors qualify and Division Avenue business owners on a steering committee were "very supportive." Burton Street businesses are next.
Kentwood has an open seat
Commissioner Robert Coughlin retired Oct. 15 after 30 years on Kentwood's commission and city boards. Ward 1 residents who have lived in the city at least a year can apply to replace him by noon Oct. 27.
On the Nov. 3 ballot
Kelloggsville Public Schools is asking voters for a $38.18 million bond, which the district says isn't expected to raise its debt millage rate. Byron Township has a parks millage that could raise up to about $2 million.
Coming up
- Holland City Council: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6 p.m.
- Kent County Board of Commissioners: Thursday, Oct. 22, 8:30 a.m.
- Allegan County Board of Commissioners: Thursday, Oct. 22, 9 a.m.
- Ottawa County Board of Commissioners: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 9 a.m., West Olive
- Grand Rapids City Commission: Tuesday, Oct. 27
A note on names: we name elected officials, public staff, developers and the people who speak for organizations. We describe residents who speak for themselves by where they live, not by name. If you spoke at a meeting we covered and want to be credited by name, write to us at mosaicwestmichigan@gmail.com.
