Watershed Voice Local, News

Kalamazoo City Commission meeting: October 21

A screenshot of Public Media Network's livestream of Monday's Kalamazoo City Commission meeting. You can find the link to PMN's livestream at the bottom of this article.

Meeting Monday evening, the Kalamazoo City Commission approved contracts for real estate underwriting, geotechnical services, election staffing, aggregates, cloud migration, playground equipment, water main, trash removal, brush collection, wastewater treatment, affordable housing rehabilitation, and permanent supportive housing.

The commission also greenlit a $120,000 contract with Plante Moran Realpoint for real estate underwriting consulting services and a $126,150 contract with SME for specialized geotechnical and testing services. Additionally, they approved a $50,000 contract supplement with Robert Half for temporary election staffing, bringing the total contract amount to $149,262.

In other infrastructure moves, the commission approved a $153,150 contract extension with High Grade for miscellaneous aggregates and road gravel and a 12-month cooperative MIDEAL purchase with Oracle for Oracle Cloud Migration Services, not to exceed $160,000.

The commission demonstrated its commitment to affordable housing by approving several key initiatives.

They adopted a resolution approving a 10-year 5% Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) to ANR Kalamazoo Limited Dividend Housing Association LLC for the rehabilitation of 40 affordable units at 1500 E. Kilgore. Additionally, they approved a developer agreement with the same organization for a HOME Investment Partnership Program loan of $400,000 for the same project.

Furthering their support for affordable housing, the commission approved a 35-year 4% PILOT to Kalamazoo Community Courtyard Limited Dividend Housing Association Limited Partnership for the creation of 18 permanent supportive housing units at 3405 Duke St. They also approved a $700,000 ARPA grant agreement with Zero Day to support this project.

In other actions, the commission approved a 50-year 4% PILOT for Kalrecovery I Limited Dividend Housing Association for the creation of 46 housing units on a portion of 333 East Alcott Street. They also approved a $700,000 ARPA grant agreement with Kalrecovery Limited Dividend Housing Association Limited Partnership to support this project.

You can watch the meeting online here. You can review the official agenda and detailed reports and documents related to each agenda item (beyond what is provided in this summary) here.