Sidebar - County owned property should not become a blight on downtown Bellaire

A topic of discussion during the August 6 Antrim County Board of Commissioners meeting was cleaning up and seeding the former Citizens Bank property located on M-88 {Cayuga St.) in downtown Bellaire. The county purchased the abandoned bank building in the Spring of 2017, agreeing to pay $495,00 for the property, and set aside an additional $30,000 for purchase expenses that would include an environmental study, building inspection, survey and closing costs. The stated purpose for the county to acquire the property was to consolidate its law enforcement facilities, though a year later, the county was deep into discussions over a facilities master plan that included possibilities for relocating the county campus and building a new jail and Sheriff’s administrative offices.