MONTAGUE — The Montague city council unanimously approved the reception of a land donation from former Ravenswood Resort owner and current city resident Chick Caluwaert during Monday's regular meeting, and subsequently approved naming the park that the donation will create Caluwaert Park.
The gift completes the transfer to the city of 40.46 acres of undeveloped land once owned by Caluwaert on Old Channel Trail. Most of the 40.46 acres had previously been acquired by the city over time, with Monday's gift providing the city access to the remaining 14.5 acres.
Caluwaert is a longtime Chicagoan and now a White Lake area resident. He owned and operated the old Ravenswood resort in Montague from 1981 until he sold it to Mike and Sue Summers in 1998. The resort permanently closed in 2004.
For the moment, the intent is to leave the area as open green space, but it could be developed into a full city park down the line.
As a condition of the donation, the city would only be able to sell the land by a 'supermajority' council vote - five of seven members - as well as approval by city voters in an election.
City manager Jeff Auch said an appraisal of the land was completed Nov. 13, and the council delivered its approval of the gift after seeing the results.
During discussion, council member Paul Schultz said Caluwaert did not ask the park be named after him; the city made that decision. Fellow council member Ken Mahoney said once the formal donation is completed, the city should provide Caluwaert a note of thanks.
The city also has been recommended for a $400,000 Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund grant for its Cullen Fields improvement project, the DNR announced Friday, Dec. 12. Auch presented the project to the council earlier this year. Planned improvements include paving the gravel parking lot next to the fields, adding Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant parking spaces, a storm drain that would prevent water overflow from leaving the park, a set of pickleball courts near the fields, and some parking next to those courts.
The council unanimously approved two ordinance changes regarding the US-31 business route and pedestrian crossings. The first was a state-mandated change regarding yielding the right of way to pedestrians at crosswalks, and the second is similarly based on the city's traffic code and added a provision making it illegal for people to use white walking canes with a red bottom unless they are blind or partially blind. The provision is being put in place to protect blind persons, allowing a simple way to identify vision-impaired folks walking on sidewalks or crosswalks.
Council member Laura LaGuire asked if there was a way the city could install auditory indicators at the Water and Dowling Street intersection that could alert blind pedestrians that it was safe to cross, referring to similar indicators she's seen in other places. Auch said such an addition could be made, and he will look into the cost of doing so.
The council confirmed several mayoral appointments to boards and commissions, many of them reappointments. Greg Johnson was reappointed to a new three-year term on the Zoning Board of Appeals, on which he serves as chair, and was also reappointed to a three-year term on the planning commission, of which he is also chair. Sarah Riehl was also appointed to the commission as a new appointment, and Busy Bee Cafe owner Miranda Combs was appointed to a three-year term on the Downtown Development Authority to replace a seat vacated by Martin Bennett. Additionally, Bruce Froelich was reappointed to the White Lake Ambulance Authority for a new two-year term.
All appointments were confirmed unanimously except for Combs', which was made 6-1 with Schultz dissenting. Schultz confirmed before the vote that the DDA requires members to own a local business or property (or to be on the city council), but not to reside in the city.
The White Lake Fireworks Committee was unanimously granted a charitable gaming license after the city council received specifics on what sort of raffles the committee intended to pursue. The request had previously been tabled due to a lack of those specifics. The committee intends to stage a 50/50 raffle, potentially a kayak giveaway raffle, and a raffle that would sell 100 tickets for $100 each with multiple drawing dates to award prizes to winners; ticket buyers would potentially be able to win more than once, as stated at the White River Township board meeting the previous week. The license will be effective for one year.
