WHITEHALL — The Whitehall city council unanimously approved a commercial rehabilitation exemption certificate for the new owners of Lakeland Inn in Whitehall at its regular meeting Tuesday.
The certificate was available as part of the Commercial Rehabilitation District the council created in 2024, said city manager Dan Tavernier. The district essentially comprises most of Colby Street. It will tax the property, soon to be rebranded as Lake Land Getaway, at the $495,000 price Jeremy and Melanie Garcia paid for it for the next 10 years even if the value of the property increases. According to the council's resolution, the Garcias plan to put an estimated $510,000 of rehabilitation into the property, including the renovation of 13 rooms and the addition of outdoor amenities.
Garcia, who attended the meeting, said a hot tub garden and a game room are among the changes and additions slated for the property, which he is aiming to turn into a high-end couples getaway. He cited that there's lots of evidence that similar properties have succeeded on the east and west coasts. There will be no changes to the physical buildings, Garcia said, apart from making one of the units Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible.
Frank Hollister, a local wheelchair user and ADA advocate, made a public comment during the meeting saying it was "super" that the Garcias plan to make their property ADA-compliant and called on the council to work with other hotels in the city limits to do the same. He said no hotels in the city limits are currently compliant, forcing those with disabilities to seek accommodations elsewhere when in the White Lake area.
Council member Tanya Cabala asked if the council could add a provision to its approval requiring the ADA addition to get the certificate, but it was not added, presumably because Garcia said it was already part of the plan for the property.
The council also heard an update from Michigan Department of Transportation regional services director Marc Frederickson regarding road work in the area. His presentation mostly focused on the White Lake Drive bridge closure (see the cover story in the Mirror), but he also discussed the Business-31 bridge connecting Whitehall and Montague, which is approaching the end of its anticipated useful life.
Frederickson said the bridge is "a box beam style bridge," which are "cheap and easy to construct," but have since been found not to perform well in cold weather, as the joints between the beams are susceptible to water degradation. The department anticipates 10-20 more years of use from the bridge without any work and is in the investigative stage of determining whether a stopgap project or a full replacement of the bridge is the most logical next move. He hopes to have a solid answer later in the year and start the project, whichever the department decides, in the next 5-10 years, and noted that conversations would be had with both municipalities well in advance of work beginning.
The council unanimously approved a senior millage allocation of $9,000 to the Viking Athletic. Center to allow seniors to use the facility at no extra charge, $3,445 to AgeWell Services and $4,800 to the White Lake Senior Center. Council member Scott Brown confirmed that the allocation was identical to 2025 with the exception of $1,000 allocated to the city now going to AgeWell.
The council also unanimously approved a $4,500 budget allocation to support Whitehall students' participation in White Lake Area Community Education's Sports n' Shorts program, with Tavernier confirming that other municipalities support their own students' participation. The council added a unanimous approval of an $11,080 allocation of funding to be used as a 25% match for a grant being pursued by The Playhouse at White Lake. The grant, which would be for $44,320, would support the Playhouse's summer theatre festival.
Tavernier reported that the city has received a $50,000 grant through a pilot program from the State of Michigan. The money, which Tavernier wryly said "is a grant to help us get grants," will enable Tavernier to hire someone to provide assistance completing an application for a $2.5 million Downtown Development Authority grant the city is pursuing.
