DOWAGIAC — Efforts to promote new housing initiatives in Dowagiac continue to be a top priority for the Dowagiac City Council. At Monday night’s city council meeting, a resolution proved their efforts could be working.

City Manager Kevin Anderson authorized a resolution for the sale of a property to Fred Binns and Katina Lovelace for the purpose of constructing a house on Parsonage Street.

Anderson called the resolution, “a really fun one to bring to the city council.”

“It was only a couple of months ago that we really kicked off the idea of a housing initiative, and started to really push out into the community the information we had been working on for six to 12 months,” Anderson said.

The housing initiative has been part of the city’s plan to address the need for new housing in the community, as the council has taken down deteriorating properties.

Binns and Lovelace are in the process of getting financing with the purpose to build a house with the new energy concepts the city is encouraging, Anderson said.

The resolution passed will allow Anderson to enter into a real estate purchase agreement and sign on behalf of the city, with the city attorney’s review of the documents. As per the housing initiative, there will be no cost for the land, no charge for the utility connections or the building plan review. An additional four lots in the same area would also be eligible for the same criteria outlined in the housing initiative.

“We’ve had the better part of eight or 10 phone calls on it,” Anderson said. “We’ve met with five or six people, who after they hear more about it, are showing some interest. We may have some good luck along the way.”

Councilmember Charles Burling brought up the possible need for a time limit, suggesting if people looking to buy a house have not begun construction in a certain amount of time, the property would revert back to the city. 

Anderson said he would add a reversion clause of six months to the contract, because efforts can sometimes break down even after financing and contracts are in place, he said.

Also on the agenda were two resolutions to set public hearings for the purpose of determining if properties located at 105 Jay St. and 309 Wooden Ave. are nuisances, according to the city.

Joshua Mellema, a neighbor of the property located on Jay Street, addressed the council about several issues during comments taken from the audience.

“The [Jay Street] property is actually into our backyard,” Mellema said. “We’ve seen a lot of vagrants coming in and out of there.”

Mellema also said another neighboring property next to the 105 Jay St. building was running an electrical cord from their house to the building at 105 Jay St., which ran through Mellema’s backyard. Anderson said the city had looked into this before but that he would check to see if the cord was back out.

Mellema added animals from the 105 Jay St. complex come and go throughout his yard, using it as a bathroom.

“I’d like to be able to have my kids run through my yard and not have to worry about that,” he said.

Mayor Donald Lyons said a public hearing will be the first step in what he believes will lead to the property being taken down.

Lastly, the council approved a resolution to award a contract with Kalleward Group for the construction of a new park on Cass Avenue.

The first round of bids came in at $100,000 more than what the council had originally budgeted for. After an extensive redesign of the park, original ideas were all kept, including parking, walkways to the water, a fishing pier and a substantial play area for the youth.

While the project still comes in at about $30,000 more than the city’s original budgeted amount, Anderson said he believes if the council waited until spring for more bids, prices would increase.

“A lot of work went into the last four or five weeks,” Anderson said. “This still puts us in a position that, weather permitting, we should have that done this year.”