DICKEY
REALTY
GROUP
o Cr e marina
propo .81 spar s
�a ed debate
BENTON HARBOR -At
the Monday night, July 17,
Commission eetiug, th
propo al for the a Cree
Marina brought heated discus­
sion from the commissiQIL
Commissioners delayed c­
tioa 0 a resol· 0\u the
. ue of t will the residcots
get for &clling two pieces of
property for $1 each to Marina
developers.
Theodore Smith, preside
of the Ox' Creek Comp ny
wants to purch Graham d
Erie Streets from the c· y to
develop SOO-plus boat slip
marina.
In a letter, S indicated
that be -unwilling to go for­
ward with . P ual he
had a firm committment from
the city that they in f: ct vacate
Graham and Erie Streets for
$1.00 each ould the project go
fo d planaed,"
The city however, - co-
cerns over a railro d bridge
h hindered development of
the area p river from the
bridge. .
The cit y h pplied for an
Urban Development Action
Grant (UDAG) from HUD to
finance the change over from a
tationary bridge to a dr w
bridge so that bo can get to
the proposed marina ite,
The city's position, st ted in
a resolution for commmission
approval, i that, (1) the
developer must first secure con­
trol of the CSX right-of-way to'
the south of Graham Avenue,
(2) the developer must fir t
secure approval of financing for
the conver ion of the CSX
�ridge to a dr bridge, ·and (3) .
the developer must execute the
agreement indicating that he
hold the city harm1es from
p ying any annual maintenance
co on the CSX bridge in ex­
cess of $10,000 pea: year.
The marina proposal was
discu ed at the Thur day
workshop, and came up for vote
Monday to meet the UDAG
application deadline.
City Manager Steve Map­
ning presented letter to the
commission from Smith.
In the letter Smith stated that
he "wanted a legally binding,
agreement with the City of Ben­
ton Harbor on the acquisition of
the Graham Avenue and Erie'
Street right of ways".
Smith said he wasn't willing
to invest more time or money
until this agreement is consum­
mated.He referredto his recent
experience with the city over the
purch of the Vincent Hotel.
The ci changed its mind on
sellin Smith that property, __
en they said Smith changed
his proposal.
. Manning aid that Smit
owns all the other land . es
Eric and Graham Streets free
and de , excep fo a small
pi ece of right-of-way land by the
railroad tr ck, which he is plan­
ning on purchasing.
Comm. Ralph Crenshaw
then ed, t is Mr. Smith's
commitment far providiag
j or opportunity for j for
city residents in pproval of this
resolution. -
M nning said Smith
signed ee ent to hire
50% of the employees for
this project from within the city
of Benton Harbor.d
Crenshaw id Smith h d
to d him those jobs that will go
to city residen are going to JJe
arthe bottom.
Cre aw . d, and -I tIilitk
need to send a e .to
Mr. mith or any other
developer that com in re
that for some of th meaning­
ful j city residents must be
given the opportunity."
Commi sion George
w· to d the co .. 0
that in his first propo on the
Ox Creek Marine, Smith d
promised that lOOT 12 of the
boat sli would be open to the
public, free, for the citizens of
Benton Harbor to use.
Wysinger said -nothing in
"this proposal- st tes the ct
and ed th t i be postponed
for a week for further di
ion.
"I can't understand this
whole deal we havc with S ith,
Wysi�er said, "he starts ut
looking good, but it ends up t a
po er t ble - he's pulling e .
chi off'. "He is no playing a
square game 0 po er."
Wysinger said if Smith ets
the land for $1.00, he sho d
givc something to the city.
Mayor William Wolf told e
commi ion that Alex Li le
(former city manager) only
wanted seven slips.
Wysinger . d the city sho d
get something out of this. en
lips or even slip ate no go ng
to make him (Smith) of break
him," he said.
Commissioner Kerry Sh n­
non id the way tbe property is
now, it is worthless to the citX. "
The one who could u e this
(land) be t would be Mr. Smith,
beeause the w y his property is
situated next to it," he aid.
"If we pull this project of in
the fir t year we will receive
$115,000 in tax revenues, " S
non . d, and "some of us may
think Mr. Smith may make mil­
lions of dollars on this and we
hope he does, but there is
Continued on P lS