Allegan council adopts rezoning for former Girl Scout site to allow 38-unit development

The Allegan City Council on Nov. 10 voted to adopt Ordinance 532, rezoning about 14 acres of the former Girl Scout property on the north side of the Kalamazoo River to a planned unit development and preliminarily approving a 38-unit mixed-density residential development.

City staff said the site sits near the Highland, Wolcott and Riverside neighborhoods and that the proposal would reclassify the parcel from MDR (medium-density residential) to PUD (planned unit development) to streamline approval for housing. "We have 38 units, 26 what I would call conventional condominiums and then 12 row houses that we split up between 2 buildings, 6 per building," staff said during the second-reading presentation.

The rezoning moved through the city’s two-step ordinance process: a first reading at the Oct. 27 meeting and a second reading with a public hearing on Nov. 10. Staff noted multiple neighborhood meetings had been held and that developer Patrick Kapinga (Allegan Development Company LLC) had applied to the Planning Commission; Kapinga was represented at the meeting by a representative named Kelsey. The council opened the public hearing and recorded no public comment, then adopted the ordinance after a motion and support.

Council members did not engage in extended debate on the item during the meeting; staff said the lower level of the development would be transferred to the Algonquin Conservation District for an “outdoor learning lab” to be owned and maintained by the conservation district. The ordinance passage authorizes rezoning; specific site-plan approval, building permits and any subsequent plan revisions will follow the city’s normal review and permitting process.

The council adopted the ordinance by voice vote. The city clerk will publish the ordinance and staff will coordinate any required next steps with the Planning Commission and developer.