Mulliken council approves $15,697 catch basin repair bid, hears pitch for new gas station

The Mulliken village council approved a bid to repair aging catch basins and sewer lines and got a first look at a proposal for a new gas station and convenience store on West Grand Ledge Road, in a meeting that also touched on overgrown lawns, a stalled sidewalk project, and speed concerns on Charlotte Street.

Council members approved the minutes of the July 10 meeting and accepted the treasurer's report. The treasurer reported a loss of about $15,000 for the month, driven largely by the $15,390 cost of finally installing new playground equipment. The village also paid for its state-mandated annual audit, which cost roughly $1,500 more than last year because of extra paperwork tied to Act 51 road-funding forms.

A project manager representing Corrigan Oil outlined preliminary plans to convert the existing party store on West Grand Ledge Road into a two-dispenser gas station and convenience store for a prospective buyer. The plan calls for a single above-ground storage tank — required instead of an underground tank because of nearby well restrictions — holding regular, premium and non-oxygenated recreational fuel, plus a canopy over the pumps. No diesel or electric-vehicle charging is planned.

The project's biggest obstacle is a request for a variance to build the fuel canopy closer to the road than the village's 30-foot setback allows, since there is no other spot on the lot for the pumps. The plan would also require a special-use permit, which must be posted publicly for 30 days before any decision can be made. Trustees said they cannot vote on either request until it is formally posted, but asked about tank monitoring, maintenance responsibility, and site safety, including barricades and lighting around the tank. The representative said Corrigan Oil would handle monthly inspections and maintenance and would accommodate any additional requirements from the village or fire department.

Trustees said that if the gas station or any future development moves forward, the developer should be responsible for building its own sidewalks, pointing to the village's Dollar General sidewalk project as a case where the developer wasn't required to do so and the village is now covering the cost. The council noted that under Act 51 rules, the village must put a share of its road funding toward non-motorized sidewalk projects each year, but wants to avoid concentrating too much sidewalk work into a single budget year.

The council approved a roughly $15,697 bid from Iron Horse, a veteran-owned contractor, to replace two catch basins and install new pipe on French Street and to repair castings on Ames and Colfax streets. A pipe under Ames Street was inspected by camera and found to be sound, so it won't need replacement. Trustees noted the village's local road fund could drop to around $10,000 once the work is paid for, which could mean holding off on larger paving projects next summer.

Trustees flagged several properties for maintenance issues, including overgrown trees hanging over sidewalks on Ionia Street and multiple lawns around the village that need mowing; letters are planned for the property owners. The council also discussed a complaint about recycling and trash being left at the drop-off site when it's closed, and considered adding clearer signage asking people not to leave items there.

Speed signs ordered for Charlotte Street have arrived but have not yet been installed. Trustees discussed adding a solar-powered flashing speed-limit sign, similar to those used in nearby communities, to slow traffic, though cost remains a concern.

The council agreed to let a local library and a nearby business supply seasonal flags — for spring, the Fourth of July, and fall — to be hung from poles around town. Trustees also discussed vandalism at a park wall, where children have been throwing apples from a nearby tree, and agreed to post signage noting the area is under surveillance while floating the idea of a community painting project for the wall. For next year's budget, trustees raised the idea of adding a pickleball court to the park.

Ordinance-violation letters are planned for properties with overgrown grass and curbs ahead of the village's Hot Rods and Harleys event. Trustees also discussed a few vacant or troubled properties, including one recently sold that cannot be demolished until December, and another headed back to the bank amid an insurance dispute. The meeting adjourned following a motion to close.

How this report was produced

This article was generated by an automated pipeline, and we think you should know exactly how. First, the audio of the meeting was converted into text by automatic speech recognition — software that infers words from sound, without a human listening along. That machine-made transcript was then read by Willbot, American2Day’s AI reporter, which condensed it into the report above. No human transcribed the meeting, and no human wrote this summary.