ACME — Local officials may try to block the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians from putting 159 acres of agricultural land along M-72 into federal trust for a potential winery or wind farm.
Placing the vacant Acme Township land into trust removes it from local tax rolls and would save the band the $19,500 a year it now pays in property taxes. It also eliminates local zoning and building regulations. Both Acme Township and Grand Traverse County were notified earlier this month about the request by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and have until Aug. 2 to comment.
Some county board members want to use the trust application as a prod to restart stalled talks with the tribe over property taxes on tribal properties. County officials want a written agreement that local taxing entities would receive payments equivalent to a property tax levy on buildings located on new trust land.
"We are trying to engage the tribe and we are getting nowhere," said Larry Inman, county board chairman. "Until such time as we have an agreement we are not in favor of putting any more land into trust."
County, township, and tribal officials began discussing a tax collection pact in 2008 when the band put land next to its Turtle Creek Casino into trust with plans for a retail shopping complex on the site. But the talks and development plans both stalled.
The county board hasn't voted on the trust application, and Inman said he doesn't know if county opposition would impact the federal government's decision.
"It's probably a rubber stamp kind of deal," Inman said.
Acme Township officials will take a different approach in their comments to the Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding the tribe's application.
"We do want to get that agreement finalized," said Sharon Vreeland, township manager. "Entering into it is something the tribe said they would do, and we would like to see it get done, but I'm not planning for the letter I draft for the board to have an oppositional tone."
Vreeland said she was told by tribal attorney Bill Rastetter the band remains interested in working out a tax agreement and expects it will get resolved.
A draft of the tax agreement was added by Rastetter in June to the tribe's 2011 trust application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The latest trust proposal covers property on the north side of M-72 between Bates Road and the Traverse Bay RV Park on the east. It is not contiguous to either the trust land adjacent to Turtle Creek Casino nor the tribal-owned Grand Traverse Resort & Spa.
Al Pedwaydon, the new tribal chairman, said he understands the application for trust status has been an ongoing issue for a couple years. He said there are no definite plans for the property at this time.
Pedwaydon referred other questions to Rastetter, who was not available for comment.
The trust application is for economic development and identifies possible uses including wind and solar energy as well as biomass energy production. Tribal officials also commissioned a study for a winery on the property, and some of it could be used as tribal housing, according to the application.
Both the township and county have requested an extension to reply to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Acme board doesn't meet again until Aug. 14 when it will decide on its response. The county wants more time to study the issue.
"Thirty days is not enough time to determine what the impact will be when you take this property off the tax rolls or determine how it will impact the county," said John Sych, director of county planning and economic development.
Region
Related Photos
-
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians has applied to put a 120-acre parcel of property in Acme into trust. Record-Eagle/JAN-MICHAEL STUMP
Officials may block putting land into trust
-
-
Traverse City schools officials prepare for bond
Traverse City Area Public Schools officials said they’ve learned from last year’s failed bond campaign and hear loud-and-clear what voters want in a 2013 capital improvement project proposal.
Continued ... -
Utility cuts trees beyond easements, property owners say
Lynn Tilson is trying to save 374 of her red pines from the chainsaw. Michigan Electric Transmission Company marked the trees for removal, beyond the 50-foot easement Tilson believes the utility has on either side of its power lines.
Continued ... -
Conservancy offers farmers a shorter-term option for land
For the last 30 summers, Dennis and Barb Dean traveled from their Alaska home to tend to their sweet and tart cherry orchards in Williamsburg.
Continued ... -
Elk Rapids now has authorized baccalaureate school
Elk Rapids Middle School is being recognized for adopting a world-renowned education style, and other local districts are prepared to follow suit, thanks in part to a $3 million Kellogg Foundation grant.
Continued ... -
BATA bus struck during three-vehicle accident
A Bay Area Transportation Agency bus was damaged in a three-vehicle collision at the intersection of Three Mile and Hammond Road.
Continued ... -
Benzie County home destroyed in fire
Benzonia Township Fire Department Chief John Hanmer said units responded to the fire on Thursday at about 11 a.m. He said no one was inside the Cook Road home and the occupants were at work.
Continued ... -
Eligibility issues cut short TC St. Francis baseball season
St. Francis High School’s baseball team’s season prematurely ended.
Continued ... -
Memorial Day-related services in Traverse City region
Memorial Day-related services in Traverse City region:
Continued ... - Thursday, May 23, 2013
-
Accused stalker faces more charges
A Grawn man who already is facing stalking charges is accused of breaking into the home of the female victim and attempting to take her dog.
Continued ... -
Victory for medical marijuana patients
Medical marijuana patients and advocates scored a victory after the state’s top court issued a decision on a long-running Grand Traverse County case.
Continued ... -
Parking lot argument chills Bardon's
Robin Bisel and Jean Cline licked ice cream cones at Bardon’s Wonder Freeze off Front Street and wondered how they’d maneuver through traffic when finished with their treats.
Continued ... -
Presidential Scholar has struggled with illness
Nicole “Niki” Tubacki doesn't remember much about her early childhood except for swinging outside in the sun.
Continued ... -
Man said to trade drugs for sex
A man arrested in Leelanau County for violating probation is accused of trading drugs for sexual favors with young women in Missaukee County.
Continued ... -
Car crashes into rocks near house
A Glen Arbor woman told deputies she fell asleep before she ran a stop sign and crashed her vehicle into a row of boulders near an Empire Township home.
Continued ... -
Local educators honored
The Outstanding Educator Award, sponsored by the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District, the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce and TBA Credit Union, is given annually to a handful of public, private and parochial educators in the Grand Traverse region.
Continued ... -
Man enters guilty plea in assault
A man accused of beating his live-in girlfriend in East Bay Township pleaded guilty to assault charges.
Continued ... -
Memorial Day-related services in Traverse City region
Memorial Day-related services and programs in the Traverse City region:
Continued ... -
Clearing the Record: 05/23/2013
Because of a clerk’s error, an incorrect address was listed in a news brief in the Sunday Record-Eagle.
Continued ... - Wednesday, May 22, 2013
-
Traverse City steps up parking enforcement
Barb Meredith recently had an expensive downtown Traverse City breakfast, but not from anything on the restaurant’s menu.
Continued ... -
Snyder, GOP lawmakers agree to budget targets
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and leaders of the GOP majority in the Legislature reached a budget agreement Tuesday for next fiscal year that doesn’t include an expansion of government health insurance for low income-adults and puts Michigan’s unexpected surplus toward funding roads and K-12 education.
Continued ... -
TCAPS contract talks continue
Traverse City Area Public Schools educators picketed outside the district’s main office building in a display of opposition to TCAPS administrators’ proposed collective bargaining contract.
Continued ... -
Panera Bread is on its way
A Panera Bread franchise likely will rise in Garfield Township despite what some planning officials consider a stale project design.
Continued ... -
Woman retraces father's steps to Indian marker trees
Dennis Downes traveled 200,000 miles over three decades, a journey to locate Indian trail tree markers around the Great Lakes, including two in Traverse City – one at the Civic Center and another at a Washington Street residence.
Continued ... -
Police looking into assault find 960 pot plants
Investigation into a domestic assault complaint led Antrim County authorities to a "sophisticated" marijuana grow operation and nearly 1,000 plants.
Continued ... -
Man gets prison for heroin possession
An Antrim County man found in possession of about 20 packets of heroin will spend at least 18 months in prison.
Continued ...
-
