The Pontiac City Council on Oct. 21 voted to establish a residential housing facilities district for 28 North Saginaw under Public Act 237 of 2022 and, after a public hearing and discussion, approved a 15‑year residential housing exemption certificate for the Blackacre Development project.

The proposal would convert the former Pontiac State Bank building into about 114 residential units, three floors of commercial/amenity space and two in-line retail spaces. Economic-development staff and the developer said the project requires multiple layers of financing — including the PA 237 abatement and a brownfield capture plan — to be viable. The project also includes $5 million in state “missing middle” funding that carries a 20‑year affordability requirement under the state program, staff said.

Council members debated whether to require a development agreement or a written community‑benefits package before approving tax incentives. Supporters said the project will bring new downtown residents, generate income-tax receipts and activate retail space, while opponents and some residents urged written guarantees for local hiring, affordability and benefits for long-standing Pontiac residents.

Mayor Tim Grama and Economic Development Manager Deborah Younger said the city will rely on the forthcoming brownfield plan and recommended that community-benefits terms be negotiated and documented when the developer returns to request brownfield captures or other city contributions. Council members who pushed for a development agreement said that community benefits should be explicit and not retroactive. The council’s community benefits ordinance — intended to set a consistent standard for projects requesting city contributions — was postponed to Nov. 10 earlier in the meeting, and staff said the city would seek to align the ordinance language with development agreements going forward.

Vote results: a resolution to establish the PA 237 residential district passed (4 yeas, 2 nays); the subsequent resolution to approve the exemption certificate passed later in the evening after an amendment to correct hearing-date language (6 yeas, 0 nays).