If a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is ever formed in Clark Township, the process to do so will have to start all over. The Clark Township Board of Trustees unanimously voted Thursday, May 21, to drop all consideration of forming a DDA at this time.

Clerk Mike Miller said the board doesn't feel comfortable going forward with a DDA, owing to inaccuracies in its formation and a large public outcry against it. Specific problems the board has had include that notices describing the proposed DDA boundaries to notify property owners within the district were not posted, taxing authorities were improperly notified about their tax reallocation options, and property owners within the boundary do not have the option to be excluded from the district.

"It's my contention that if we do proceed with a DDA, we need to start over from day one. It was not done properly and I do not want to be causing the township any problems down the road," he said. "I would also recommend if we do pursue it, that we downsize the boundaries."

Trustees agree that the proposed DDA boundary, which includes both Hessel and Cedarville downtown districts, is too large and includes too much residential property. Under state law, DDA boundaries have to be one continuous district. Properties along the M-134 corridor connecting the two downtowns were included in the boundary.

If a DDA does form in the township, it will have to be in one downtown or the other, said Trustee Mike Lofdahl.

"To try to get both downtowns in it and the highway connecting them; we can't shape to this. It just doesn't work here," he said.

Clerk Miller said his office received 21 letters against the formation of the DDA in the last month and none supporting it. Overall, the ratio of letters against a DDA to letters supporting a DDA is three to one, he said.

"A clear majority of the letters in the clerk's office are against it. Some of these people do not live within the proposed DDA boundaries," he said. "We're dragging too much residential into this. I would not be happy, personally, if my property was in the DDA as a residence."

The township board is not against the formation of a DDA in Clark Township if it is done properly and is the will of the property owners who will be directly affected by its formation, Treasurer Katie Carpenter said.

Clerk Miller said: "If we do it, it's got to be a couple months down the road. It's not going to be a now thing."

ZBA alternate appointed and annual meeting date set

The board appointed Leroy Pieri of Cedarville as the second alternate to the Clark Township Zoning Board of Appeals. Tammy Cruickshank is the other alternate. The board typically has two alternates and has been operating with only one for several months.

In other news, the floors of the Clark Township offices will be cleaned by Atlas Cleaning in the coming weeks. The board approved Atlas' bid of $298.41 to clean the carpets, beating Northwoods Restoration's bid of $395.

The carpets in the township offices haven't been cleaned in about two years, Mrs. Carpenter said.

The board also set Saturday, June 27, as the date for its annual meeting and budget hearing to present the fiscal year 2010 budget to the public. The meeting begins at 10 a.m.