Moderator John Hansen’s notes:
Everyone was in a good mood this morning as we worked through a list of local issues.
Those of us in District 1 will have a new county commissioner next year. Jason Maciejewski won the Democratic primary and will run against Rod Anderson in November. There is a little lesson here for potential candidates on down the line. Jason ran for this seat two years ago and lost by 60 some votes and won this year by 1,700 votes. Sometimes you need to try again and try a little harder.
We thought about starting a new rumor that the Mexican restaurant is going to open a drive up window in the new roundabout but we were worried that someone might believe it to be true. (The restaurant has a sign on the building and a help wanted sign in the window and the roundabout IS going to open before school starts.)
It appears that our local manufacturer of hot air balloons has faded away but nobody knew for sure.
Let’s be clear here. There are no plans to allow folks to build anything in or on alleys in downtown Dexter. There are, however discussions – as part of normal reviews of master plans and zoning ordinances – about parcels or portions of parcels of land that could accommodate another structure but only have alley access. Right now you can only do that with special permission. There are virtually no buildable lots available in the historic village area. When one comes up for sale the price is around $100,000. This makes it seem desirable to tear down an existing small historic home and replace it with what is sometimes called a bigfoot model thus reducing the availability of so called starter or affordable homes. And we are only fifty miles from Detroit where you can buy the lot next door for one dollar if you agree to mow the grass and where a candidate for mayor promised to demolish 40,000 houses.
The new (temporary) parking lot on Broad street is part of the accommodation needed to build the new residential building at 150 Jeffords that you see advertised on the billboard by Mill
Creek School.
The decision by the City Council to investigate the Copeland building and the St. Joseph’s property as possible sites for the new fire station provided enough energy to generate a boat load of rumors. It is safe to say that the church will remain standing and the senior citizens will not be thrown out in the cold but beyond that we have to wait for information from the council.
In true Dexter Forum tradition when the subject came around to the progress of the school projects we were able to turn to Greg Brand, the senior project manager on the job, for his first hand report. The new elementary school is scheduled to be available around Christmas and is running on schedule. The many outdoor facility components of the project, which are less critical to the beginning of the school year, are also moving right along.
The next meeting of the Dexter Forum will be on Saturday, September 1 at 8:30 AM at the Dexter Wellness Center. Yes, that is Labor Day weekend and opening day for Michigan football but the game is at Notre Dame and it is in the evening.
The Dexter Forum is supported by the Dexter Wellness Coalition as part of the 5 Healthy Towns initiative to “help connect with others in healthy ways”. The purpose of the Forum is to create an opportunity for interested women and men to gather to discuss important issues facing our community. All are welcome on a drop-in basis. The group meets on the first and third Saturdays of the month.
The Forum is co-moderated by Karl Fink and John Hansen.
