Plans to develop the former Overton property in South Haven into housing have hit another delay.
The South Haven City Council heard this week from Jacob Horner, the head of real estate for Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids Nonprofit Housing Corporation that drainage issues on the property at 229 Elkenburg mean the group will have to draft a new site plan.
“We’re working with a civil engineer to put together a site plan, and we’ve noticed that basically we’re trying to drain all of the site towards Indiana,” Horber said. “So the issue that that creates is that along the bike path, the elevation is quite a bit lower, and so we’d have to bring in, not only would we have to take out a bunch of the contaminated fill, but we’d have to bring in a lot more fill in order to build that area up so that it drains properly.”
By “Indiana,” he means Indiana Avenue.
Horner said because Dwelling Place has to draw up a new site plan, it won’t have enough time to hold public meetings before the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s funding application deadline, which is October 1. The next opportunity to apply for that state support will be in April, meaning everything’s delayed until then.
However, Horner says the plan is overall still on track.
“I do think that we can do it. It is possible. I’ve seen sites that are more contaminated than this make it through.”
Council member Mary Hosley said she still supports Dwelling Place’s vision of turning the former factory site into an apartment building, single family homes, and duplexes. It’s now back to the drawing board for them.
At a meeting back in May, the council agreed to sell the site to Dwelling Place for $150,000 as long as the project will move forward.
