City Commission approves purchase of Mount Pleasant Center property

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This story has been edited since it was originally posted.

The former Mount Pleasant Center property will soon belong to the city.

The Mount Pleasant City Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to purchase the West Pickard Street property from the state of Michigan.

Commissioner Jon Joslin acknowledged there were pros and cons to purchasing the property for $50,001.

“I know this is a tough economy and I also don’t want to see a tax increase,” Joslin said. “But I think we can do this without a tax raise and we’ve already presented ideas on how we can do that.”

What exactly will be done with the land has yet to be determined, but city commissioners are hopeful it will lead to economic development and job creation.

Commissioner Nancy English echoed Joslin’s point.

“I have no interest in raising the millage and cutting services,” she said. “We’ve uncovered funds to avoid that.”

Vice Mayor Kathy Ling said the decision allowed for good community discussion on both sides.

“The arguments for and the arguments against (both) involve risk,” she said.

Commissioner Sharon Tilmann said she knows Mount Pleasant residents are willing to take risks to prosper. She credited the community with always being proactive and willing to make their situation better.

“I view this as a long-term investment, which I’ve said from the get-go,” she said. “This is an investment for future generations and I’m proud of the commission’s decision.”

Early in the meeting, Ryan Londrigan of AKT Peerless presented the results from a Phase II environmental study on the property.

The property of more than 300 acres does have various amounts of contamination, but nothing too concerning, Londrigan said.

“Overall the contamination is very minimal,” he said.

The one site of concern was a spot that was likely a landfill. The 75 x 100 foot spot contained slag and metal, as well as bricks and some other materials.

Londrigan advised the commission to fill in the hole, so the material would be underground.

In the property’s former mental hospital, examiners found X-ray machines and oil leakage in some of the elevator shafts.

“Even with the few new things we identified, I think we got a really good study done,” Londrigan said.

The company estimates there is about $250,000 worth of salvage credit in steel. However, most of the buildings are composed of concrete and brick, he said.

If demolition was to be done all at once, the city estimates the cost would be about $2.5 million.

The 120-year-old Mount Pleasant Center complex has been used for multiple operations throughout its lifespan, but was closed in 2009.