City Commission Approves Option Agreement for City of Muskegon to Purchase Lots at Windward Pointe for Waterfront Park

Summary: City Staff has worked with the City Attorney and Parkland Properties to draft an option agreement giving the City of Muskegon the exclusive right to purchase an area encompassing ten (10) lots at a reduced rate on the Windward Pointe PUD to install a new public park and Muskegon Lake access at the end of the Lincoln Street extension in the development.

Additional Detail: City staff has been working to enhance public access to Muskegon Lake in the Windward Pointe Planned Unit Development (PUD) submitted by Parkland Properties. During those conversations with Parkland, the site plan evolved to include considerably more public access points than in the original draft. However, those access points are mostly at the end of public rights of ways or smaller in area. To gain higher quality public access, staff proposed purchasing up to ten (10) lakefront parcels adjacent to a public parklet at the end of Lincoln Street originally intended for single-family houses. Staff pointed out that if we were to purchase some of the lots intended for single-family houses, Parkland would not need to run as many utility stubs and other infrastructure to these lots and potentially could leave them out of their Master Condo Agreement, saving further costs. Parkland agreed to a rate of $148,750 per lot, representing a 15% reduction in the average projected sale price on all waterfront lots in the PUD. The sites highlighted in RED on the attached screen grab of a portion of the PUD reflect the lots the City would have the option to buy. The option would commence at the closing date between Parkland and Pure Muskegon on the property, and the City would have two (2) years to execute these purchases. The staff anticipates that the PUD will come to the City Commission for consideration at your meeting on November 14th.

The image below shows the ten parcels labeled with the number 16.

Watch the recorded Commission Meeting regarding the approved Option Agreement linked below. Item begins at 1:10 during the October 24, 2023 Commission Meeting.

THESE ARE TWO SEPARATE ITEMS | THE PLANNING COMMISSION IS NOT REVIEWING THE WATERFRONT PARK PURCHASE

Planning Commission PUD Approval November 6, 2023

The City of Muskegon Planninng Commission will hear a request for preliminary and final Planned Unit Development approval at 2400 and 2850 Lakeshore Dr for a mixed use development including residential and commercial, by Parkland Acquisition Six, LLC.

This request is being heard by the Planning Commission due to a typographical error with the property address at their previous meeting on October 12, 2023. View all of the details main Windward Pointe Connect Muskegon page.

A meeting agenda and staff report is available at the following link: https://muskegon-mi.gov/documents/pdf/4665.pdf

Visit the Windward Pointe Connect Muskegon page to watch the previous Planning Commission meeting and presentation by the developer reviewing the project - item begins at 51:37.