Adrian City Commission appropriates loan fund to Brownfield Redevelopment Authority

ADRIAN — Only a couple of weeks after a handful of new members were appointed to its board, the city of Adrian’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority will take on a pretty large task.

The redevelopment authority, which facilitates property redevelopment projects on behalf of the city, was appropriated a revolving loan fund through action taken March 4 by the Adrian City Commission. The loan fund was created for the purpose of allowing the BRA to move forward with predevelopment plans that are in the works for rehabilitating the currently shuttered Bixby Hospital campus.

A developer approached the city commission in January with a proposal for tearing down Bixby Hospital and constructing a rental home community in that space of land along Riverside Avenue and across from the Adrian High School campus. Fifty-three rental homes are slated for the site, which is not intended to become a low-income housing project.

Because of time constraints and a project timeline moving forward, swift action needed to be taken on the part of the city if it wanted to allow the Bixby Hospital redevelopment to proceed. That was another reason why the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority was the first of several city boards and commissions with vacancies on them that was able to fill up the necessary number of members to meet and conduct business.

From January 2024: Adrian City Commission hears proposal to tear down Bixby Hospital, construct rental homes

The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority is the proper vehicle/mechanism, Adrian City Administrator Greg Elliott said, for allowing the city to move forward with the hospital development plans.

New members were appointed to the city board in February, and it is ready to start holding meetings, Elliott said. However, the redevelopment authority — since it will soon meet for the first time in almost five years — does not have the necessary funding it needs to effectuate a predevelopment loan, Elliott explained Monday during the city commission’s premeeting work study session.

As one of the newest members appointed and approved to serve on the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Elliott presented a resolution to the commission as part of its regular business agenda stating the city would provide $850,000 in funding to the BRA coming from the city’s general fund.

More: Adrian residents continue to show interest in serving on Human Relations Commission

The idea of the resolution, which was later approved by the city commission during its regular meeting, is that the city will place the money into a revolving loan fund for the BRA and then the BRA must begin meeting to come up with policies for how such funds will be used.

“(The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority) had some money already in it,” Elliott said. “It had $100,000 already in it, so (we are) giving ourselves $50,000 extra to play with in terms of administrative expenses.”

The city commission reserves the right to have any unused funds allocated to the redevelopment authority to be returned to the city’s general fund if it should appear in the commission's “sole and absolute discretion" that those funds are no longer needed by the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, according to the resolution approved by the commission.

When asked by commissioner Bob Behnke when the redevelopment authority plans to hold its first meeting, Elliott said the authority proposes to meet Thursday or Friday, March 14 or 15, depending on scheduling matters for some members.

Jay Marks, Nathan Owen, Tim Robinson, Brad Watson and Elliott are the five members who make up the redevelopment authority.

Subscribe Now: For all the latest local developments, breaking news, and high school and college sports content.

A “brownfield,” Elliott explained, is a piece of real property that is tax reverted, blighted or functionally obsolete. In Adrian’s case, the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority seeks to promote revitalization, redevelopment and reuse of such property, including Bixby Hospital.

“The city has had a BRA since the year 2000,” Elliott previously said. “However, it has not met or been utilized in over five years."

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: City of Adrian appropriates loan fund to Brownfield Redevelopment Authority