UPDATE: MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The Township Board members have made their final decision about the Douglas J concept plan.

At the September 18th Township Board meeting, the members took a vote on the project.

Residents and Tuba Museum owner, Will White, were able to voice their concerns to the members before the vote. They talked about their concerns about walk-ability and traffic flow around the site as well as ways to preserve the historical look of downtown Okemos.

One issue that was widely discussed was preserving the Smiley House, which is now home to Triple Goddess Bookstore. However, the wish was to move the building into the Meridian Historical Village, but it was believed to be too expensive.

"All that's going to be destroyed. That doesn't make sense to me when you can preserve it and make everybody happy. We like Douglas J, we want them to be successful, but there's a way to do it that doesn't hurt other businesses." said Tuba Museum owner, Will White.

President of Douglas J, Scott Weaver said, "There were some concerns that were brought up, you know, that they wanted answers to. And we certainly had no problem providing some of those things, certain things are with or within reason, you know, we're certainly more than happy to as well always have been. And other things just are, not necessarily possible."

The board members ended up voting 5-1 in support of this project. Now, the next steps would be for Scott to close on the property with the bank and start working on what they need to build and how much it will cost.


ORIGINAL STORY: MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - On Tuesday, September 18th, the Township Board members will officially make their decisions about the proposed Douglas J project. Stay tuned for that decision.