City Council approves rezoning of Opheim Addition after public concerns

With all members present, the Lennox City Council met Monday, Nov. 24 at Lennox City Hall.

City Administrator, Nate Vander Plaats asked the council to approve Ordinance 662 as the City of Lennox as received and processed an application to rezone the Opheim Addition from A1 Agricultural to R2 Multifamily Residential.

“There have been no changes since the fi rst reading of this ordinance, recommend motion to approve,” Vander Plaats said.

Mayor Danny Fergen asked for public comment on the motion and Betsy Hills stood to speak.

“I am the adjacent land owner and in my presentations, my message has been: here are the things you need to know if you more forward and I’m trying to alleviate some potential problems down the road if this occurs, and I’ve also shared what I need in order to be a good neighbor in this. Now, I am willing to work with a developer if he’s willing to work with me and if this occurs. I’m willing to work with the City of Lennox, but the question is, is the city willing to work with me? And I’ll say this again, is the city willing to work with me? My family is the one who told you and Nate about the tile line, we’ve talked about the water lines going to the cattle shed, we’ve talked about our drainage concerns, how this is a FEMA flood plain, and how there will have to be a lot of coordination between the city, developer, and land owners. There are laws with drainage impacting neighbors and so it has to be done responsibly. The city has to ensure there is not a change with the base flood elevation

with earth work or grading and you can’t be a detriment to your neighbor,” she said.

Hills showed the council photos of her land through the 2024 flood occurrence in the area.

“I wanted to note, I’ve talked to some surrounding landowners as well, and I know this wasn’t in the plan, or at least the plan we know of right now, but single family homes, tax-wise, I’ve talked with some of them, and they would be content with single

family homes. Plus, the fact that you would get more taxable income to single family dwelling homes. There’ll be more money available for the city, township, and county,” she continued.

Alderman Bill Daugherty asked how the council is going to provide access to the farmland Hills was requesting.

“We’ve already had some discussions with the developer about a desire to make sure that there’s access to the

western side of this property and I believe that’s going to be incorporated into a preliminary plan,” Vander Plaats responded.

Motion to approve by Daugherty, seconded by Lauren VanDriel, motion carried.

Alderman Daugherty and Chad Swier requested a real estate purchase be added to the agenda for discussion.

“The property at 609 S Main Street has been listed for sale. The City Council has previously discussed the potential purchase of this property, and this item is an opportunity to discuss interest in moving forward with a purchase. The City Council last discussed purchasing this property in August and September of 2024, with an offer drawn and presented but ultimately not executed. The current listing price on the property is $309,900,” Vander Plaats said.

“With it now being up for sale, it offers an opportunity for us to control an element within our park, giving us flexibility for future expansion, parking needs possibly, whatever we think we want to do, we can’t do if we don’t own it and there’s a house there,”

alderman Daugherty said.

“That property is really ideal for the city to own. I would like to suggest we look into this a little bit more to figure out some

more hard costs with it, but if we can recoup some of those costs, that would be great,” Mayor Fergen said.

President Swier asked if the property was owner occupied or if it was a rental property.

“Owner occupied,” Vander Plaats responded.

Vander Plaats asked the council if they would like him to proceed with finding a realtor to work with to find possible solutions.

“Before I would be interested, I’d like to understand what we could get for the house, whether it’s us moving it or auctioning it and just in general terms because I’m naïve and don’t know, how much effort is that?” Swier asked.

Vander Plaats assured him it was no more work than making a few phone calls and could have more information by the December 8 meeting.