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Riverview council approves $75,000 Bonner study for Red and Gold golf courses amid wetlands and ballot concerns
Summary
After extended debate over wetlands, reuse of golf-course soil for landfill capping and whether a sale would require voter approval, Riverview—ity Council approved a $75,000 engagement with Bonner Advisory Group to develop conceptual options for the Red and Gold golf courses. Two council members voted no.
The Riverview City Council voted to approve a $75,000 Bonner Advisory Group engagement to prepare conceptual real estate and economic development work for the Red and Gold golf courses despite sustained objections from Councilman Webb and Council Member Clark. The motion passed by roll call; Councilman Webb and Council Member Clark voted no.
Councilman Webb read a prepared statement urging the council to table the item for a study session to review vision-plan survey data, to seek wetland mitigation analysis and to consider alternative soil sources for capping the landfill. Webb argued the March toward a vote was premature and warned that spending on plans could be wasted if a public vote required to sell the property later failed. He said the vision-plan survey had limited responses and that "77 people" answered a question about selling city-owned property, which he said represents a tiny share of roughly 9,000 registered voters.
Other council members, including the mayor, described the Bonner engagement as an information-gathering step that would provide a market analysis, wetlands and infrastructure studies and illustrations for potential developers; they said the proposal does not authorize a site plan or a sale. The city manager told council the work is intended to generate options and that any developer-charged costs would be tracked in a dedicated account and required to reimburse the city for design and site-plan work if a developer is selected.
Council members also discussed alternatives to using the golf-course topsoil to cap the landfill, such as exploring 111 acres on the west side, but the city engineer (speaking through city management) cautioned that utility and access costs make that site expensive and potentially infeasible to develop. Council members asked that an EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) specialist be involved in subsequent study work to clarify mitigation requirements; the city manager said Bonner would interface with EGLE as part of the study.
The council previously authorized $22,000-$24,000 in earlier design sketches for course redesign; the Bonner fee would be added to that account. The roll call on the Bonner motion recorded Yes votes from Mayor Swift, Council Member Williams, Council Member Ganaga (listed in the record as Gagnaga/Ganaga), Council Member O'Neil and Council Member Pray; No votes were recorded from Councilman Webb and Council Member Clark. The motion carried.
