“We currently don’t have immediate plans to build a store on that site, so as a result we are not planning to renew the 425 agreement. We regularly evaluate our options for new stores and will reengage community leaders if we decide to build at that location in the future,” the company said in an email statement from its corporate media center.
In 2019, Inverness Township and the City of Cheboygan signed a 425 agreement for a 43-acre site that has frontage on North Straits Highway, or M-27. The agreement called for the township to transfer jurisdiction of the property to the city. In return, Cheboygan would provide fire, police and water service for the Meijer store.
Eventually the company would pause its development plans for the site.
At the March 12 city council meeting, Cheboygan City Manager Dan Sabolsky said he had talks with Inverness Township Supervisor Rod LaHaie about the agreement because it expires in June. Sabolsky also told the council that the 425 pact can’t be renewed without Meijer’s approval because the company owns the property.
“I have asked Meijer if they were interested in selling us or somebody else the land so we could look at other development,” said Sabolsky.
The Daily Tribune asked Meijer the same question and has not received a response.
“Everything is open to discussion,” LaHaie said when asked about marketing the property or seeking another company for the site. “They would still have to have a 425 agreement with the city more than likely to get the infrastructure to the property. We already have the sewer infrastructure but the water has been the hang-up.”
LaHaie said he was not surprised by the decision.
“That is pretty much what they have been telling the City of Cheboygan also,” he said.
Sabolsky did not respond to a request to discuss the 425 agreement.
Meijer’s rejection of the 425 renewal marks the latest chapter in a years-long saga that dates back to 2013 when then-Cheboygan City Manager Tom Eustice began working with the company to place a store in the area.
In an interview, Eustice pointed to several issues that may have stalled development of the site. He believes that Meijer may have decided to pursue development sites in other areas with more lucrative prospects.
“They were building some stores around Cleveland and Indiana that were really producing significantly more revenue than what they get out of a Cheboygan store,” said Eustice.
Eustice said Meijer was also concerned at one time about the water that would be available for fire suppression systems in the store.
“The city is in the process of putting up a second water tower. I was told that Meijer may reconsider building there once that tower goes up, which is supposed to happen this summer,” he said.
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Eustice also said there was a disagreement between the city and the township over how to supply water to the property.
“The city was going to run municipal water out there and eventually Meijer was going to pay for it. The township didn’t want municipal water as they thought that would be detrimental for its future,” Eustice said. “I don’t think that would have been the case and I think it would have been helpful to them.”
Eustice also said that initially the Inverness Township board didn’t want a 425 agreement but Meijer insisted on it and so did the city. That led to a 2018 election that saw four of the five members of the township board recalled and removed from office. The new board members came in and that led to the signing of the 425 agreement in June 2019.
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Meijer declines to continue 425 agreement in Inverness Township