Houghton City Council to address ethics, Coles Creek rezoning

With the Coles Creek rezoning on tap for the Houghton City Council, there has already been efforts by a political action committee to encourage public comment on the issue. They have taken out ads yesterday and today in the local newspaper. Those include claims that there is inevitable large-scale commercial development set for the site, including a five-story hotel. City Manager Eric Waara says he is not aware of anything concrete, or even in the early planning stages suggesting that such an endeavor will happen.

A lot of the concerns for the former Michigan Smelter location are environmental in nature. Waara says it is important to remember that those types of issues aren’t addressed through zoning. No matter what the final nature of work that would occur there, the project still need to get the go-ahead from appropriate state and federal regulatory agencies.

The council is also set to have a discussion on ethics and rules surrounding what types of conversations require Open Meetings Act disclosures.