The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
City denies request for $490,000
Union members allege unfair treatment at Peninsular Place
By Dan DuChene, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 15, 2007
Ypsilanti City Council unanimously denied any additional tax reimbursements to Peninsular Place, an apartment complex near the campus of Eastern Michigan University.
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Rick Kirk, an employee of Edwards Communities, asked City Council for additional tax increment financing dollars last month because the company did not receive any funding through a single business tax credit.
The money would have been used to reimburse funds the company spent on demolishing and cleaning up an abandoned paper mill near Eastern Michigan's campus.
The company, which owns Peninsular Place, is already set to capture $1.5 million in tax funding for brownfield redevelopment.
The captured funds are set to expire in 2010. Kirk asked City Council to extend the capture until 2011, allowing the company to capture an additional $490,000 in taxes.
Kirk was not at the meeting last week when council members rejected the request. Council members had said that Kirk called and said he was stuck in Ohio because of bad weather.
Council member Lois Richardson, D-1st Ward, asked to postpone the resolution, which kept tax capture at its current level. The motion failed 2-5, with Richardson and Mayor Pro-tem Trudy Swanson, D-1st Ward, voting in favor.
Richardson said Kirk had asked her to table the motion because he wouldn't be there. She said she wanted him to know why council voted to reject his request.
"If we move forward on this tonight, then I think we're doing the right thing," said council member Brian Filipiak, D-3rd Ward, before the votes were cast.
After the meeting, Mayor Paul Schreiber said the complete reasoning for the city's decision was written in the resolution.
"Mr. Kirk is perfectly welcome to come and ask again if he wants," Schreiber said.
More than 10 union workers, contractors and representatives came to the meeting to voice concerns about how the 184-unit complex was built.
Jim Burns, an organizer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 252, said no local electricians were hired to construct the complex, located on LeForge Road.
Other members complained of the company not accepting bids from local unions, importing illegal workers and a death on the job that was not handled properly.
"I'm shocked just thinking of the man asking for it," said Fred Veigel, president of the Huron Valley Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO.
Schreiber said, "We certainly want to encourage local workers working on a project."
"I certainly encourage that," he said. "Or, at least have a fair shot."
When asked about the allegations the union members made against Edwards Communities, Schreiber didn't comment.
"I don't really know," he said. "I haven't heard Mr. Kirk's side at all."
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