News Image by Justin A. Hinkley
This collage of News file photos shows, clockwise from bottom left, Joshua Wirgau appearing via videoconference at a court hearing, the exterior of the soon-to-be-completed Sanctuary Cinema, and Tiffany Bluemer shopping at Neighborhood Provisions in Alpena.
ALPENA — Expect to see more marijuana shops in town, four murder trials, and a new look for downtown Alpena in 2023.
On the heels of a busy 2022 for Northeast Michigan, 2023 is shaping up to give us even more news by the time we ring in the New Year 363 days from now.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest news to watch in the coming year:
DDA EXPANSION
The Alpena Downtown Development Authority’s effort to expand its boundaries beyond the city core should be decided early in the new year.
The DDA is in the final stages of broadening its borders farther down 2nd Avenue and down Chisholm Street to the bridge near the MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena.
The DDA says the move will make that area of downtown more attractive for future development and allow business owners in that area to take advantage of DDA programs.
If the expansion plan as drafted moves forward, property owners will pay a 1.98-mill property tax, which equates to just under $100 a year for the owner of $100,000 in property. The DDA changed the boundary plan last year to remove as many residential properties as possible, limiting the number of residents made to pay the tax.
A portion of other taxes collected in the new boundaries, such as those collected for Alpena County and Alpena Community College, would also be diverted to the DDA.
Before the plan can be initiated, the Alpena County and Alpena Community College boards must sign off on the tax capture deal.
DOWNTOWN REVAMP
There will be no shortage of projects in downtown Alpena this year.
Work will continue on:
∫ the Vaughn, the former antique store next to Cabin Creek Coffee on 2nd Avenue,
∫ the former State Theater, which will be renamed the Maltz Theater, across the street from the Vaughn,
∫ and the Sanctuary Cinema, the former Royal Knight Theater on the corner of 2nd Avenue and Chisolm Street.
All three projects are spearheaded by local developer Jeff Konczak, who says the new cinema will likely open first, followed by the Vaughn, which will feature a new bar and restaurant called the Foundry that will include a roll-up door to the street, curved glass, and heated sidewalks.
In November, Konczak said work is progressing on the Sanctuary Cinema, but an ongoing microchip shortage has made it difficult to acquire needed projectors and audio equipment. He said he has been told the 4K video projectors and state-of-the art sound system should arrive in March.
The work on the former State Theater has been slow, which Konczak said is not unexpected because of the scope of the project and the hurdles the government has presented. Konczak said he has tried to get the building on the National Register of Historic Places, but, to do so, he has to get the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office to sign off on the plans.
That agency, he said, has been reluctant to support the historic designation because the agency doesn’t want him to remove bricks that cover the old window from the original structure. Konczak said he is ready to move forward with the project soon without the designation, if he must.
It is likely Culligan Plaza, across the street from the new Sanctuary Cinema, will get an upgrade next year, too.
Last year, the city released a rendering of what an updated plaza could look like, but that was met with backlash from people who disliked the design and others who questioned why the public wasn’t more involved in the design process. The city scrapped the original design plan and created a survey seeking input from residents. Now, it is likely the project will be done in phases, with the first work being done this year.
A large development project on the former Habitat for Humanity property on Chisholm is also expected to commence this year. The project, when complete, could feature 15 two- and three-bedroom apartments built on the upper level of the structure and commercial business space on the ground level. The developers hope to include a daycare in the facility, too.
FOUR MURDER TRIALS
Three deaths in the past two years could lead to four murder trials in 2023.
In spring, juries in Alcona County may hear details about the death of Jayde McDonnell, a 2-year-old girl who died of multiple blunt-force traumas allegedly inflicted by her mother’s boyfriend, Aaron Trout, in July.
Trout faces charges of murder and child abuse, as does Adrienne Pavelka, the child’s mother.
Police say Trout physically assaulted the child and Pavelka neglected to get help while the girl, gravely injured, suffered for days before finally dying in the Glennie home where she lived at the time with Trout and Pavelka.
Trout and Pavelka have lodged not-guilty pleas and await their trials, scheduled for April and May, respectively, each scheduled to last three weeks.
Meanwhile, murder cases against two men accused of causing the deaths of Alpena woman Abby Hill and Alpena teen Brynn Bills move slowly, delayed by massive information dumps placed on defense attorneys’ laps.
More than a year after police called Bills’ and Hill’s deaths probable homicides, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office in October charged Alpena men Brad Srebnik and Joshua Wirgau in those deaths.
Srebnik and Wirgau have entered not-guilty pleas.
A three-day hearing, at which the prosecution would have presented evidence they believe points to Srebnik and Wirgau’s guilt, was scheduled for the week before Christmas but was postponed until March because defense attorneys said they needed time to digest more than 15,000 documents and 100 hours of interview recordings involved in the case.
If, after that hearing, a judge sends Srebnik and Wirgau toward trial in the 26th Circuit Court, attorneys will have to move through a new round of hearings, motions, and attempts to find enough time in the court schedule to accommodate the lengthy trial required for a case in which the defendants face life in prison — possibly meaning those trials will have to wait until 2024.
BURGEONING BUDS
Six new Northeast Michigan cannabis shops mean big dollars communities could spend to combat problems some link to the increasing presence of legal marijuana in the region.
Alpena County leaders ended 2022 saying they didn’t know how they would spend the tens of thousands of dollars they anticipate flowing into the county from recreational marijuana taxes in 2023, thanks to the three shops that opened there this year.
Two other cannabis stores, in Presque Isle and Alcona counties, generaged about $340,000. Some of that money went to train a police dog to detect more-deadly drugs some police say are on the rise with the normalization of marijuana use after its introduction to the region via shops that opened beginning in 2019.
Health officials have used other state money to caution young people about potential dangers linked to underage use, an effort they hope community leaders will join as cannabis dollars come in.
Alpena Township officials have greenlighted stores there, and cannabis store owners say competition drives business up, potentially enticing more customers to the region and upping the potential tax revenue funneled back into the community.
As leaders decide how to most responsibly use that money, they will also have to mull whether to allow the shops to provide curbside service after one Alpena business challenged the legality of a cease-and-desist order.
A judge said that, for now, municipalities have the right to forbid a quick cannabis pickup, but they can decide to OK such shopping methods — a decision leaders may have to make in 2023.
TOWNSHIP FIRE DEPARTMENT IN FLUX
The Alpena Township Board of Trustees have big decisions to make about the future of its Fire Department.
The township has struggled to maintain its department, which has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in subsidies from the township general fund and has been understaffed. At one point, the township contracted with the Alpena Fire Department to help cover response services, but, in 2021, township trustees voted down a proposed contract that would have had the township paying Alpena between $400,000 and $475,000 a year for firefighting services.
After the two municipalities failed to reach a long-term agreement, the township twice last year attempted to get voters to approve a tax increase to fund the township Fire Department, but the proposal failed each time.
That leaves the future of the township department clouded.
Last month, the board voted to send letters to other entities to gauge interest in providing service or otherwise working with the township on firefighting.
Township Supervisor Nathan Skibbe said all options are on the table for what comes next for the department and admitted that a cut in services could be on the table.
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