An amendment to the special use permit for the Connie Binsfeld Resource Center is being sought in hopes of making the facility more attractive to buyers.

Roger Schaub of ReMax Bayshore Properties of Lake Leelanau, while acting on behalf of the Benzie-Leelanau Board of Health, has sought an amendment to the special use permit for the building to broaden the kinds of potential occupants at the site.

“When the original special use permit was issued, it was to allow only governmental, non-profit or educational organizations at the site,” said Bill Crawford, director of the Benzie-Leelanau County Health Department. “The zoning is going to have to change to make the building more marketable.”

Schaub’s group has been contracted to help sell the building, whose two main occupants other than the health department have already or are scheduled to vacate within the next month.

Rent paid by the occupants has been used to cover the mortgage for the facility. However, with the closing of the Leelanau Peninsula High School last summer, the department has been forced to cover that portion of the mortgage. With the impending relocation of the county Commission on Aging to the new county governmental center just down M-204, the department will have to cover even more of the mortgage.

“We’re expecting to be $88,000 in the red if we’re not able to find new occupants by the end of our budget year Sept. 30,” Crawford said.

In addition to the special use amendment and the listing contract with Schaub, the department is also working with the Northern Health Foundation to refinance the mortgage and reduce its payments.

“We don’t know if or how soon we’ll be able to sell it,” Crawford said. “So, we need to do what we can to reduce our payments.”

The non-profit foundation was formed in 1998 as a vehicle through which the department could seek funding for construction of a building. Leland Township signed on in support of funding for the project with the understanding it would own the building after the mortgage was paid off.

Crawford has been in communication with Leland Township officials with updates on the status of the facility. In November, the township board took no action on either alternative (sale or refinance). However, it agreed that the township would expect some compensation in the event of a sale of the facility.

In other business during the first meeting of 2008, the board of health:

• Approved out-of-state travel for two employees to attend a public health (bioterrorism) conference in Atlanta next month. Participation and travel expenses are being covered through a Homeland Security grant.

• Established the following meeting dates for the remainder of the calendar year: March 27 at the Benzie Resource Center; May 22 at the Binsfeld Center; July 24 at the Benzie Resource Center; Sept. 25 at the Binsfeld Center; and Dec. 4 at the Benzie Resource Center.