After halting park project, Cass commissioners to reconsider key funding vote

The Cass County Board of Commissioners will meet Thursday, April 9, where they are set to reconsider funding for improvements at Dr. T.K. Lawless County Park after rejecting the proposal last month.

During their March 19 meeting, commissioners split 4-4 on two funding requests tied to the project, effectively halting it despite more than $100,000 already spent on design and preparation by the county. 

“I just want the members of this board to understand what just happened,” Commissioner Samuel Barrera said at the meeting. “We have $110K invested into this project — now what are we going to do? … I’m really not proud of us right now.” 

Commissioners are now scheduled to vote again on a proposal to allocate $249,192 from the Bombardie bequest to help close the project’s funding gap.

What’s different this time?

The April 9 agenda includes reconsideration of the Bombardie bequest funding, but does not include a vote on additional capital improvement funds that were previously part of the funding package.

Project background

The project centers on improvements at Dr. T.K. Lawless County Park, an approximately 820-acre park on Monkey Run Street that offers year-round recreation and is designated as an International Dark Sky Park. 

In 2023, Cass County Parks received a $428,600 grant through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Land and Water Conservation Fund, which requires a dollar-for-dollar local match, bringing the total project cost to about $857,200. 

The project includes plans for a paved parking lot and driveway, a new gatehouse, improvements to the Schug Pavilion and installation of a splash pad.

After about $119,000 in design and engineering costs, the remaining construction budget totaled roughly $737,000. Initial bids came in at about $1.06 million, leaving a funding gap of more than $320,000. 

In response, the Parks Board worked with OCBA, a consulting/engineering firm involved in the project, to revise plans and reduce costs, approving an additional $5,000 for a bid addendum.

Even with revisions, the project remained underfunded, with officials estimating a total shortfall of about $376,000, including contingency costs. 

To close the gap, the Parks Board requested $249,192 from the Bombardie bequest and $127,327 from the county’s capital improvement fund. Both requests failed on tied votes at the March 19 meeting. 

County records show roughly $100,000 has already been spent on the project, though construction has not yet begun.

Other business

Commissioners will also consider adopting a new fee structure for cannabis cultivation sites under the county’s Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control (SESC) program. 

“In Cass County and across the state, outdoor cannabis facilities now represent some of the largest single-site soil disturbance operations,” county documents state. 

Currently, cannabis sites are treated like other large commercial projects, with a $400 base permit fee plus $125 per acre. Officials say that structure can become disproportionately expensive for large operations. 

The proposed change would keep the base fee but introduce a tiered system: $125 per acre for the first 75 acres and $50 per acre for additional acreage. It would also create a lower-cost annual renewal permit for sites that are tilled each year.

Data center development

Commissioners are also expected to continue discussions around data center development in the region following a recent public information session.

Cass County hosted a March 26 discussion led by a University of Michigan researcher that drew local officials and residents seeking more information about how data centers operate and their potential impacts. 

As previously reported by Watershed Voice,  Las Vegas-based Hyperscale Data Inc., which operates a data center in Dowagiac, announced plans on Monday, March 30 to acquire approximately 48.5 acres of land in southwest Michigan to expand its operations.

The company said the acquisition would support growing demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, though it has not publicly identified the location of the property.

Local officials in Dowagiac said they were not informed of the planned purchase and have not received any development proposals tied to the expansion.

City Manager Kevin Anderson told Watershed Voice the city has no documentation identifying the property and had expected any future expansion to occur within the company’s existing 600,000-square-foot facility.

Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.