Zeeland has cancelled a special planning commission meeting slated for Aug. 25, after officials learned the meeting was improperly noticed.
The session, likely to be rescheduled for September, will focus on the next stage of requests from Mead Johnson for an expansion and modernization project.
Zeeland received rezoning applications for the properties at 515, 549 and 553 E. Main Ave. on July 23. The municipality may also receive a temporary land use application for a parking lot at 725 E. Main Ave. — which is already part of the company’s existing plant.
All three properties are currently zoned Residential R-2 and R-3. Mead Johnson hopes to change those designations to Industrial I-2.
515 E. Main Ave. is home to Bethel Christian Reformed Church.
The properties at 549 and 553 E. Main Ave. hold single-family homes. The latter property, and Bethel Church, weren’t included in a list provided to The Sentinel in June of six properties purchased for the project: 126 N. Fairview, 107 and 109 N. Carlton, 640 E. Washington, and 549, 605 and 633 E. Main Ave.
605 and 633 E. Main Ave. have already been rezoned to I-2, following approval from Zeeland City Council on July 21.
” … we have recently acquired three properties and, as planned, are proceeding with the city’s rezoning application process,” the company wrote to The Sentinel in a statement Aug. 4. “While much of this was already included in our public presentation and renderings, due to the timing of the closings, they were not included in the previous rezoning applications.”
Mead Johnson hasn’t pegged the new development as an expansion, but rather a necessity to make the modernization of the company’s current facility possible without disrupting operations and the supply of infant formula.
“Repurposing nearby residential land for commercial use allows us to establish an essential facility to prevent disruption, avoid supply shortages and ensure families across the country continue to receive the formula they depend on,” the company wrote in an initial community presentation.
The new facility would have employee-focused spaces, including a new front office, an employee center, breakrooms, locker rooms, a hot food cafeteria, a mothers’ room and collaborative workspaces. It would also include a new community park on the corner of East Main Avenue and Carlton Street, as well as an upgraded Veldhof Playground, currently located at Bethel.
The project won’t necessarily add jobs.
“(The project) really is to secure the approximate 500 employees that we currently have at Mead Johnson,” company representative Art Pike previously told The Sentinel. “There are another 100 to 200 contractors on-site on any given day.”
— Cassidey Kavathas is the politics and court reporter at The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at ckavathas@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on X and Bluesky @cassideykava.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Zeeland must reschedule special Mead Johnson meeting after improper notice
Reporting by Cassidey Kavathas, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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