GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Those who golf at Gracewil Country Club in Alpine Township may soon see changes coming to the rural area.
Developer JTB Homes wants the property for Wilder Crossings. It would have over 500 units ranging from single-family homes to attached single-family townhomes.
Dale Kraker is the president of the company.
"We believe this is a benefit to the community, our site plan, and we hope the residents see it that way also, and then after the vote, we'll, we'll see which direction we go from there," said Kraker.
That vote will be to determine if Gracewil can be re-zoned from R1, low density residential, to an open space neighborhood planned unit development.
The switch will allow developers to build the homes with 70 acres of open space, pickleball courts, a splash pad, and more.
"It's multigenerational, it meets the needs of the master plan provides housing for seniors is or there's a large need for senior housing," said Kraker. "And this is all for sale, there's no rentals."
Not all are on board with the plan, however.
Attorney Ken Sanders, who is against the development in its current form, is behind a petition that sent the rezoning to the voters in Alpine Township.
He's with the group Residents for Responsible Alpine Township Growth.
"It's a very wet golf course it drains from different locations around the golf course," said Sanders. "So that's one, traffic is another issue. The corridor here between Walker four mile and peach Ridge is already extremely busy."
Sanders said the group is not opposed to development, but wants to make sure the area maintains its "rural character".
"I think it has to be managed growth," said Sanders. "That's why we're calling ourselves responsible growth, that you can't just think about the size of the piece of property and put as many homes on there as practical."
If the rezoning request fails on Nov. 7, Kraker said one options will be to see how they can develop under the current zoning.
If approved the development is expected to take about 20 years to complete.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Watch 13 ON YOUR SIDE for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and on your phone.