DOWNTOWN
Fennville
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About Downtown
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| History of the Fennville Downtown Development Authority On June 1, 1992, at its regularly scheduled meeting, the Fennville City Commission adopted a resolution to establish a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) in order to halt property deterioration and increase property tax valuation where possible in the downtown business district, to eliminate the causes of the deterioration and to promote economic growth of the downtown business district. The commission then set a date for the public hearing on the adoption of proposed Ordinance #166, which created the DDA and designated the boundaries of the downtown district for the DDA. The public hearing was held August 3, 1992. Ordinance #166 was approved and adopted on August 17, 1992. It became effective upon the date of its publication, which was August 27, 1992. The first board of the DDA, appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Commission on September 21, 1992, consisted of thirteen members. The first members of the DDA Board were Mayor MaryAnn Moeller, Ross Alexander, Pearl Barnes, John Darling, Tony Herrell, Ed Little, Gary McCracken, Elice Menear, Stephen Murk, Luke Plamondon, Gregg Puvogel, John Schalte, and Kym Zumbrink. The members, other than the mayor, were appointed for staggered terms of one, two and three years, after which all terms would consist of four years. Whoever is serving as the mayor also serves on the DDA for as long as that person is in the mayoral position. Two charter members of the DDA are still serving on the current board. Those members are Elice Menear and Kym Zumbrink. Gregg Puvogel, also a charter member, resigned in 2007 due to a long-term illness. The first action of the DDA was to appoint officers as follow: Chairman MaryAnn Moeller, Secretary Kym Zumbrink and Treasurer Elice Menear. The DDA then set its schedule for meetings to be held at 7 p.m. at City Hall on the first Wednesday of each month. The DDA’s Tax Increment Financing and Development Plan was completed in February 1993 with assistance from Progressive Architecture Engineering Planning. The plan details the DDA district, the amount of capture from taxes each year as well as the goals and projects of the DDA. |