Grosse Ile DDA approves TIF-plan RFP, denies charging‑station grant and clears Island Fest payment; discusses social‑district signs

GROSSE ILE, Mich. — The Grosse Ile Township Downtown Development Authority on May 22 approved issuing a request for proposals to update its downtown tax increment financing and development plan, denied a $5,000 business improvement grant application for Meridian Center LLC at 9105 Macomb Street, and authorized a payment toward the Island Fest parade.

The plan update RFP approved by the DDA will seek consultants to revise the authority's TIF/development plan and to pursue a 20‑year extension of the DDA's life so the authority can, if it chooses, borrow to finance larger streetscape projects along Macomb Street. The board also spent much of the meeting detailing options for social district boundary signs and pavement markings and agreed to prioritize getting signs in place before permitting and cup distribution begins.

Why it matters: The updated plan would extend the DDA's legal timeframe for collecting tax increment financing, a prerequisite for bonding or borrowing to pay for substantial public improvements. The social district signage must be in place before the township can deploy the cups and enforcement that accompany the state's social district program.

TIF/development plan update RFP

Ross, DDA staff, told board members the RFP would be posted immediately and that the work would produce a revised development plan that would let the DDA bond or borrow for larger streetscape work along Macomb Street if the board later decides to do so. Ross said the consultant contract to prepare the plan is likely to be in…