MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The ongoing development plans for the proposed 184 unit apartment known as The Square were brought to the Township Board meeting on March 15.

Upon further review of the site, the project, which was approved last July was found to be contaminated.

“The first was the former gas station area located on the north side of the plant, the contaminants buried throughout the site, and perhaps the most serious problem that no one knew about was the fact that the current detention pond for the site- the existing pond- is adjacent to and somewhat contiguous with a former dump site and has the potential to contaminate the red cedar river,” Ernie Schaefer of Campus Villages Communities said.

Developers brought forward the request of a Brownfield tax capture so that they could remediate the site.

The original proposed amount for the Brownfield tax was $3.8 million, but at the March 15 meeting, a new proposal was made.

“Since the last meeting that we were here, we were able to refine our costs, and reduce the cost from about $3.8 million- reduce those costs down to a little more than $3 million, almost $3.1 million.” Eric Helser, a consultant for the developer said adding that “The project will obviously not occur without the support of a Brownfield, and the project that’s there today along with the contamination that exists will remain.”

According to Helser, the developer chose to reduce the amount of $3.1 million down even further to $2.7 million in an attempt to lower the burden on the township.

“We’re saying that we’re willing to take roughly $400,000 risk on that and if it is $3.1 [million], we’re out of pocket $400,000,” Ernie Schaefer of Campus Village Communities said.

Trustee John Veenstra moved to deny the request of a Brownfield tax captrue which was seconded by Clerk Brett Dreyfus.

“This is basically asking for an approximately $3 million gift from the taxpayers. I am opposed to this. This gift is to facilitate the development of an 184 unit, 400 bed apartment complex,” Veenstra said adding, “If the developer gets the money, this subsidy, this complex- which will require police and ambulance calls and so on, just will not pay its fair share of taxes.

Clerk Dreyfus liked the original proposal of the project but said that the removal of just one building would have lowered the remediation costs significantly.

“This project would not need an extensive Brownfield tax credit if one building had been removed,” Dreyfus said. “So in summary, wonderful concepts, should have been scaled back down, no need for a Brownfield tax credit.”

Trustee Angela Wilson and Trustee Milton Scales were against the motion to deny the request for a Brownfield.

“The one key component is if we do nothing, the state’s not going to walk in here and say okay we’re going to clean this up. It’s not gonna happen. This is gonna go on the pile and this is not a high priority contamination because it’s been sitting around here for 50 years,” Scales said.

Treasurer Julie Brixie said that although the property is contaminated, she doesn’t believe it has a major impact on the community.

“As some of my colleagues have said earlier I appreciate the efforts to drive the price down because I think that’s, for me, that’s something that I‘m having a hard time with- is accepting the price of the Brownfield to remediate a property that I don’t feel is really in that great of a need of remediation, so for that reason I’ll be voting yes on the motion to deny,” Brixie said.

Trustee Ron Styka supported the original plan for the project and thought that the developer did a good job of responding to things that the board was seeking, but thought that the payback period should have been longer.

“I guess what I’m saying is I’m gonna vote for this motion to deny, but what I’m really looking for is a better proposal that gives us more money even if it takes longer to get the total thing paid off,” Styka said.

In a 4-2 vote, the board denied the request for a brownfield tax capture.

Scales added after the meeting that he hopes the developer comes forward with a new proposal so that the site does not sit empty and contaminated.