Following a public hearing last week, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution approving a Brownfield plan for redevelopment of the site of the courthouse and other county buildings in Leland.

Varley-Kelly Properties, L.L.C. plans to acquire the 2.5-acre county campus in Leland and develop the property for single-family and multi-family residential units after the county government vacates the site and occupies a new Government Center nearing completion in Suttons Bay Township, tentatively in the spring of 2008.

During the Nov. 20 hearing, Varley-Kelly consultant Mac McClelland explained that environmental concerns on the site were “fairly minor and limited,” but were enough to qualify the project for brownfield designation. An initial investigation revealed some hydrocarbons and metals in soils and groundwater that will require the development to be served by a community water supply system.

Additional environmental studies may result in additional requirements – but the studies and any cleanup required will be paid for in part through tax increment financing and other advantages available because the area has been designated a brownfield, including loans and grants through the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

Earlier on Nov. 20, the county’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) met and voted to recommend that the county board approve the brownfield plan for the courthouse site as well as a work plan and a proposed loan/grant application to the Michigan DEQ.

The county board voted 5-1 to approve the plan with District No. 4 commissioner Mary Tonneberger absent and District No. 7 commissioner Melinda Lautner opposed.

The vote was identical on another, separate brownfield issue considered by the county board at its regular monthly meeting last week. The board voted 5-1 to approve a loan/grant application for a brownfield project previously approved by the board, the West Shore Crossing Project in Greilickville.