FILER TWP. -- A report by Filer Township DDA director, Tamara Buswinka could shed light on a number of changes coming to the district. At a Oct. 5 meeting of the DDA board, Buswinka spoke about a number of upcoming and ongoing projects in the township.
Drivers coming to Filer Township could be greeted by a new welcome sign along U.S. 31.
The sign was commissioned by the DDA and township, and current plans are for it to be installed before the end of winter, according to Buswinka.
Tom Amor, of Amor Sign Studio completed the sign based on community input, and it is awaiting installation.
"We did a planning project where we looked at the corridor, and we asked people, what they would like to see. And something that came from the residents who live there, was they wanted to see a welcome sign," Buswinka told the News Advocate. "So it was really a response to what residents said they wanted in the community. And they actually even approved the design of the sign."
Current plans call for the sign to be located near the downtown district boundary, opposite Crystal Lake Health Center. All materials have been submitted to the health center's board for their review and approval.
Filer officials are working with Realtor John Hanson who represents the property owner. Currently, the owner is still considering the proposal.
The next steps according to the meeting minutes are to finalize the exact location for the sign, get an agreement signed, get a boundary survey completed and work with consumers on providing electricity to the site.
Filer First
Preliminary plans are being drawn up for Filer First, a new project similar to Spark Manistee that sees entrepreneurs make a pitch for prizes and business start-up assistance.
The brainchild of board member Al Frye, this business development competition is aimed at helping would-be business owners.
"We're really looking to provide support to entrepreneurs," Buswinka said. "So whether they even win the competition or not, we want to provide entrepreneurs with access to resources to develop their business and to get into a storefront."
The DDA is currently building partnerships with multiple organizations in the region to help entrepreneurs find success in Filer. Among these are Venture North, a community development financial institution, Filer Credit Union and the Small Business Development Center.
Hamlet of Filer
Officials are also looking into acquiring a 4.4 acre parcel near Merkey and Red Apple Roads to create U.S. 31 frontage for their proposed Hamlet of Filer project.
Officials hope to use this site as the epicenter of a mixed-use development with different options for housing, recreation and commercial activities.
The DDA continues to provide project management services to the township board to complete the conceptual planning for the project, with this stage expected to be complete some time next month.
After conceptual planning is complete, Buswinka says the plans will be shopped out to interested developers.
"We've had developers coming to some of our meetings, and this has piqued their interest. So we're gonna hit the pavement hard to try to attract developers," Buswinka said. "We've got a couple of different products that we want developed on the property, so we're going to be attracting a couple different ones. A housing developer isn't necessarily a commercial retail developer."
The project will be attractive to potential developers because the plan will have already been vetted by the community and approved by township government, Buswinka said.
"That means there's a lot of assurances for the developer, there isn't a lot of barriers to the approval process and so we're hoping that will attract developers attention," she said.
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Things to watch in Filer Township: Business start-up assistance, possible new housing on the roster - Manistee News Advocate
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