BrentI respectfully ask city council to consider taking the steps necessary to update the Master Plan for Harbor Island. Initial reactions might say it’s premature. However, the following suggests a Master Plan update is needed sooner rather than later. Now might be the right time.
Sims Site Cleanup
The city’s current engagement with environmental firm HDR (https://www.hdrinc.com/) is to provide a holistic approach to clean up Harbor Island and make the site ready for future use. That current engagement calls for HDR to help get the island ready for future use. It does not include visioning and planning out the island’s future. HDR’s focus is island cleanup, not island buildout.
Most agree that HDR is on task and doing a good job blueprinting the cleanup effort. A website dedicated to Harbor Island’s cleanup is now in place. It’s interesting, informative, and updated frequently as activities and events continue to take shape. The public should visit it often.
https://www.renewharborisland.org
Harbor Island town halls so far have been updates on the remediation efforts for the island. Future town halls will be, primarily, the same. The city and HDR additionally plan for community engagement with “blue sky” surveys for how the community sees Harbor Island in the future. These are all good steps, important steps. However, since HDR’s current mandate from the city is for cleanup of the Sims site; any community “blue sky” surveys will likewise narrowly focus only on the Sims site and immediate surrounding area (becoming known as the “western area”). Under the current engagement, HDR cannot veer outside their contractual marching orders; namely, focus on the Sims site area (western area).
The Public is Getting Antsy about the Future
Understandably, the public is getting antsy. It’s starting to wonder and want more clarity in the future of Harbor Island. With the cleanup moving along, when can we also plan for the island’s future? Why do we have to wait 3-5 years until the cleanup is finished? Can’t we start now to concept the island’s future uses, even while the cleanup is ongoing? Why not make the whole island the conversation, and not limit it to only the Sims site western end of the island? Where do the wetlands, Linear Park, soccer fields, marina launch, and recycling area fit in if not part of the conversation now? How can the public have a vision for Harbor Island overall if the discussion is hamstrung by a section – section – section piecemeal focus? The cleanup is wisely taking a holistic approach. Why wouldn’t the island’s future use also be approached holistically?
Recent Opportunities for the Island
Recent, longer range visionary uses of Harbor Island reinforce the public’s desire to blueprint Harbor Island’s future, and add pressure for the city to launch work on the island’s Master Plan.
One recent development is a 2021 report by the National Audubon Society that identified the “Grand River Coastal Corridor” as an ecologically meaningful landscape for visioning and planning. The same report identified Harbor Island as “perhaps the greatest conservation opportunity area” in the Corridor. That is a powerful and significant status of Harbor Island for ecology, birding, plants, various wildlife, and recreation.
Another recent development is a 2024 proposed project for the Sims site that includes nature, community solar power, recreation, and energy battery storage. The proposed project has been selected and sent to the EPA as part of the 4 county West Michigan Prioritized Climate Action Plan (https://www.michigan.gov/egle/faqs/climate-and-energy/climate-pollution-reduction-grants). The Grand Valley Metro Council (https://www.gvmc.org/) and KERAMIDA Inc. (https://www.keramida.com/ ) led this effort. The Sims solar farm project could supply annual energy of 4 GWh, the equivalent used by upwards of 600 BLP residential customers. The solar farm could be bundled with a 1 MW battery storage, a pollinator garden for birds and butterflies, adjacent recreation, walking paths, and picnic settings along the river. The grant amount based on the estimated Sims solar garden project cost for solar, battery, and garden/recreational elements is estimated at $10 million. The deadline for seeking the grant money, however, is April 2024.
Getting Started on the Future
The city would need RFQ’s to develop an updated Harbor Island Master Plan. Grant money might be more available if the city formally declares such a vision. The community is full of ideas for Harbor Island, as a whole. Launching a Master Plan update effort would fan the flames of those community ideas. But, narrowing the community’s involvement to only the Sims site would instead cast a wet blanket on the public’s energy and ideas.
