GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — The Grand Haven city council voted Monday night on the future of the Chinook Pier buildings.
The city has been told, no one should be in the building due to mold concerns.
At Monday's meeting no real decision was made but several shop owners at Chinook Pier raised concerns to the council, urging them not to permanently shut down the buildings, forcing them to relocate for good.
Back in August, the city-owned buildings were found to have a much bigger mold issue than originally thought, according to the Grand Haven Tribune.
Concerns from one tenant sparked a larger investigation that uncovered up to six inches of water in crawl spaces in the buildings and mold in air samples.
The city has already spent about $25,000 making repairs and says it would cost even more to make the buildings inhabitable again.
Tenants in the meantime, have been forced to relocate. They say if the building is shut down permanently it would be devestating.
"What you are proposing today is taking away our business our income, our way of life and leaving us with only our equipment. This would be devastating to Russ and I," said Renee Roberts, Owner of Dairy Cream at Chinook Pier.
"I know you have to face the monetary issue, but you also need to consider the human issue of the other people who are scrambling to save their businesses," Laura Gerard, Owner of Surf Shop said.
Council members decided two of the three buildings would not be available for occupation in spring 2020 and the third building was found to have mold levels below recommended standards, so they are looking at those reports..
The council is expected to pick that issue back up at their next meeting in two weeks.
