Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Ironwood — The Ironwood City Commission on Monday agreed to spend $29,704 to update its zoning ordinances.
On a 3-0 vote, the commission authorized a contract with CIB Planning and SmithGroupJJR for planning services.
In a memo to the commission, Ironwood Community Development Director Tom Bergman said since the adoption of the city’s comprehensive plan, the planning commission and economic development corporation have supported an update to the zoning ordinance.
Bergman said the city budgeted $30,000 for the project to create a zoning ordinance that will be consistent with the comprehensive plan that also meets requirements of the Redevelopment Ready Communities certification.
He indicated the city has been waiting to start the project to access additional funding from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation through the RRC program.
“We have now progressed far enough through the RRC process that the funding is available to the city,” he said.
To access the funding, he said the city needed to contract with a Michigan-based consulting company specializing in planning and ordinance development.
The resulting consulting team is made up of people from CIB Planning and SmithGroupJJR.
The total project cost amounts to $49,704, but $20,000 will be covered by MEDC and will go directly to the consulting team.
The remaining $29,704 approved by the commission includes a separate contract between the city and the consulting team.
A consultant review of the current comprehensive plan will be followed by a kick-off meeting. The city will eventually conduct a public feedback process, including social media outreach and a public forum.
When the final draft is completed and reviewed by staff, the adoption process will begin. It will include a public hearing, review of comments and a planning commission recommendation.
The final step will be adoption by the city commission.
The entire process is expected to take nine months.