Grand Rapids City Council Meeting: May 19, 2026
Grand Rapids City Council Meeting - May 19, 2026
The Grand Rapids City Council met on May 19, 2026, and passed several resolutions including approvals for street resurfacing, traffic safety improvements, a construction agreement for a new apartment building, and handling of property charge appeals. All motions carried unanimously.
Discussion Items
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Summer Tax Charges and Appeals: The Council considered a resolution to place charges on summer tax statements. Discussion addressed two appeals: one for a property that was not a rental (appeal number three) and another due to a billing issue caused by ownership change timing, which nullified the charge because of a delay in deed recording. The motion carried unanimously.
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Street Resurfacing – Leonard Street Detour: The Council approved a resolution to increase the scope of work and authorize expenditures to a contract with Wyoming Excavators Inc. for rotomilling and resurfacing at various locations. The additional work involves resurfacing Leonard Street from the East Beltline to I-96 to serve as a detour during MDOT's bridge reconstruction over I-96. The cost increase is $1,109,930, bringing the total project cost not to exceed $4,743,430. MDOT will reimburse the city for this work. The motion carried unanimously.
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Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons: The Council approved an agreement with MDOT and authorized expenditures of $725,845 as the local share for installing rectangular rapid flashing beacons at eight locations across the city. The project is funded by a $750,000 highway safety grant from MDOT, with additional local funds from Vital Streets and traffic safety budgets. The motion carried unanimously.
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Verdance Apartments Construction Agreement: The Council approved a construction agreement with the developer of Verdance Apartments, a five-story building under construction on Bridge Street just east of Gold. The agreement allows the developer to bury street lighting at no cost to the city. The motion carried unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- All four resolutions passed unanimously with no opposition.
- The meeting adjourned after approving all items.
Note: No public comments were recorded during this portion of the meeting.
Meeting Transcript
The city treasure to place these charges on the summer tax statements levied on the summer tax roll July first. Thank you. So I saw the reason for appeal number three was because the property was not a rental. Um what was the reasoning for the the second um grant? The second grant there was um just it was a billing between ownership changes, so um it's just some of the timing where we weren't notified of the ownership ship change, and then so that nullified that just because of the timing of the recording of the the deeds and changing the owner. Thank you. Any other questions from the dais? Seeing none, all in favor? Aye. Motion carries, thank you, Ms. Post. Item number three this morning is a resolution approving an increase in the scope of work and authorizing expenditures to the contract with Wyoming Excavators Inc. in connection with rotomilling and resurfacing of streets at various locations in the amount of one million one hundred and nine thousand nine hundred and thirty dollars with total project cost not to exceed four million seven hundred and forty-three dollars four hundred and thirty. So, don't support it, Ms. Irving. Yes, so um, MDOT has been sharing they are going to reconstruct their bridge on the East Belt line over I 96. Um, with that effort, there's going to be traffic that needs to be detoured. Um so they asked the city if we would add on to one of our contracts resurfacing Leonard Street from the East Belt line to I 96, since that will be a primary detour, and they will reimburse us for that cost. Any questions from the dais? Saying none, all in favor. Item number four is a resolution approving an agreement with MDOT and authorizing expenditures in an amount not to exceed 725, 845 dollars for the local share of cost for the installation of rectangular rapid flashing beacons at various locations. This is a project um brought forward from our mobile GR team, our traffic safety team. They were able to get a um highway safety grant to support this in the amount of 750,000 with some additional local funds coming from Vital Streets, traffic safety and vital streets. And it s installs rectangular rapid flashing beacons at eight locations across the city. Um map was provided in the agenda. Any questions from the dais? Seeing sorry, no, I'm good, thank you. Saying none, all in favor. Aye. Motion carries. And the final item number item or sorry, resolution or item number five this morning is a resolution approving a construction agreement for Verdance apartments. So support. This is a new apartment building, five stories going up on Bridge Street just east of Gold. It is under construction right now. And they came back to the city and indicated they'd like to bury the street lighting. So they're entering into a construction agreement with us. This will be paid for by the developer. Wonderful. See no questions, all in favor? Aye. Motion carries 920. We adjourn. Thank you.
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