Boards & Commissions

Are you interested in community service? We are always in need of citizens willing to be part of our governing process. Please take a few minutes to introduce yourself:

• Stop by or call City Hall and request an application form
• Print an application and return it to City Hall
  (.pdf file requires an Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• Request a .pdf or Word 97 version by email from the City Clerk

Those who serve on local boards and commissions are involved with planning, zoning, hospital, library, downtown development and other issues. Vacancies currently exist on several of our boards. The work is challenging but your reward is in doing a great service to our community.

City Planning Commission

Our City Planning Commission conducts regularly scheduled meetings at 4:00 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month. The meetings are held in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. For further information, contact the Zoning Administrator.

View Meeting Minutes

Membership and Appointment

The Mayor, subject to the approval of the City Council, shall appoint a City Planning Commission consisting of nine members who shall represent, insofar as is possible, different professions or occupations only one of whom may hold other municipal office and they shall serve without compensation. The term of each member is three years. All members shall hold office until their successors are appointed.

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ZBA

Our Zoning Board of Appeals meets on an as-needed basis when appeals are filed with the City. The meetings are held on a date and time mutually agreed to by the members. Public notices are published in the Times Indicator one week prior to any meeting. For further information, contact the Zoning Administrator.

Membership and Appointment

Pursuant to Michigan Revised Statues, there shall be a Board of Appeals, consisting of 6 members appointed by the Mayor, with the approval of the City Council, for overlapping terms of three years running from January l, of the year appointed. Vacancies shall be filled by appointment for unexpired terms. One member shall be a citizen member of the Planning Commission. The Board shall elect its own Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Secretary from its membership.

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Board of Review

Our City Charter establishes the March schedule for Board of Review meetings:

• 1st Session: 1st Monday in March for at least three days
• 2nd Session: 3rd Monday of March for at least one day

State law establishes the dates for the consideration of mutual facts or clerical errors:

• 1st Session: Tuesday following the 3rd Monday in July
• 2nd Session: Tuesday following the 2nd Monday in December

Notices of meetings are published in the Times Indicator at least one week prior to the meeting. For further information, contact the City Assessor.

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Downtown Development Authority

Our Downtown Development Authority meets quarterly on a date and time mutually agreed to by its members. Notices of upcoming meetings are posted prior to the meeting in compliance with the Open Meetings Act. For further information, contact the City Manager.

View Meeting Minutes

* Business/property owners in DDA District
** On DDA by virtue of position

Staff Advisors:

        Bryan Gruesbeck - Fremont City Manager

• Todd M. Blake - City Clerk / Finance Director
• Michele Ribant - Fremont Neighborhood & Economic Development Director

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Local Development Finance Authority

Our Local Development Finance Authority meets quarterly on a date and time mutually agreed to by its members. Notices of upcoming meetings are posted prior to the meeting in compliance with the Open Meetings Act. For further information, contact the City Manager.

*Appointed by Newaygo County Board of Commissioners
**Appointed by Fremont Public School’s Superintendent

Staff Advisors:

• Bryan Gruesbeck , City Manager
• Todd Blake, City Clerk/Finance Director
• Michele Ribant, Director, Neighborhood & Economic Development

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Parks & Recreation Advisory Board

The City of Fremont, Dayton Township and Sheridan Charter Township joined together to develop and adopt the Fremont Area Recreation Master Plan (2000-2005). It was envisioned that creating an area-wide recreation plan would enable the communities to provide recreational opportunities to their residents in the most efficient, effective and fiscally responsible manner. The Fremont Area communities began the process of producing the Recreation Master Plan by establishing a Recreation Advisory Committee. This committee was comprised of two representatives from Dayton Township, two from Sheridan Charter Township and three from the City of Fremont. The committee’s primary responsibility was to oversee the task of preparing and recommending a Recreation Master Plan for the Fremont Area. Public input was received and a community-wide survey, conducted in the summer of 1999, was referenced and summarized throughout the planning process.

The Action Plan of the Master Plan details the culmination of the Committee’s research and discussions into recommended goals, guidelines and capital improvements for the a five year period (p.73-83). The Action Plan specifically includes a natural ice rink in Year 1 (p.77) of the Capital Improvement Schedule and basketball courts are listed in Year 2 (p.78). The results of the background studies, recreation inventory, needs analysis and Advisory Committee discussions were used to create this portion of the plan.

Since the Committee’s establishment, the 5-yr Capital Improvement Schedule within the Recreation Master Plan has been annually reviewed and updated.

View Meeting Minutes

Target Population: The construction of this unique multi-purpose court will provide the various recreation opportunities not available in this area to all ages and especially to the youth of the communities in the Fremont Area and Newaygo County.

Collaboration: This project is the collaboration of the City of Fremont, Dayton Township and Sheridan Charter Township. The Fremont Area Community Foundation has been a major contributor in funding many of our projects.

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Fremont EDC

The nonprofit Fremont Economic Development Corporation (FEDC) exists to coordinate, encourage and facilitate economic development activity, to create and retain job opportunities with a major emphasis on industrial jobs, to increase private sector investment and to increase and diversify the tax base of the City of Fremont and the greater Fremont Area.

The EDC is organized for the benefit of the City of Fremont and the surrounding areas of Newaygo County, Michigan. Its purposes are to:

• Encourage and facilitate economic development activity.
• Retain and create new job opportunities.
• Increase private sector investments and the community tax base.
• Provide the City of Fremont and surrounding areas of Newaygo County, and its local units of government, with economic development services.
• Develop, coordinate and deliver services relating to economic development.
• Improve and diversify the local economy.
• Coordinate economic development programs, projects and services.
• Expand the programs and services, assist new and existing businesses, assist with the expansion of existing industries and attract additional industries.
• Coordinate with the existing service network of economic development agencies and activities and develop new economic development initiatives, incentives and programs.
• Form goals, policies and strategies with respect to the economic development of the City.
• Assess the performance and progress of various economic development activities.

The City of Fremont's Goals For The Fremont Industrial Park:

• Within the first five years of construction of the Industrial Park, create at least 600 new full-time industrial jobs to equal the employment at the Gerber Production Facility.
• Create at least 1,000 new full-time industrial jobs within the first ten years of expansion of the Park.
• Diversify the City's employment and tax bases with additional industries, preferably with a mix of growth and recession-proof businesses.
• Place more emphasis on the expansion and retention of local and regional industries than the recruitment of new industries.

Read about the FEDC's major activities since 1993 inception.

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Fremont Community Joint Planning Commission

Cooperation between the City of Fremont and Sheridan Charter and Dayton Townships with regard to joint planning was initiated in 1998. Officials from each of the governmental units met on a regular basis to discuss how best to handle the expansion of utilities and other services into the Townships. After extensive negotiations, a utility map was created. This utility map needed to be incorporated into a regional plan, so the natural progression was to develop a regional master plan, which resulted in the adoption of the Fremont Area Joint Comprehensive Development and Growth Management Plan (the “Plan”) by the City of Fremont and Dayton and Sheridan Charter Townships in June of 2001.

By the time the Plan was created, the three governmental units had worked together enough to understand the positions each had on various topics, even if they did not necessarily agree with the positions held. Officials became aware of each others’ positions on matters, which made negotiations more productive. After the Plan was created, the issue of the City providing utilities and other urban services to areas of the Townships was still a topic of conversation. After extensive negotiations, an Agreement was executed in December 2004 titled the “Development Cooperation Agreement among the City of Fremont, Dayton Township and Sheridan Charter Township.” The Agreement was drafted under MI P.A. 425, which allows for the conditional transfer of property from the Townships to the City in return for the City providing urban services and in Fremont’s case, sharing a portion of the newly raised property tax revenue back with the Townships.

When the new Joint Planning Act, Michigan P.A. 226 of 2003 became law, there was talk within the Fremont Area Joint Planning Committee that Garfield and Sherman Townships should be part of the planning efforts in the Fremont Area since these Townships are a key part of the Fremont community. Therefore, the existing Fremont Area Joint Planning Committee desires these two Townships be a party to any multi-jurisdictional agreement that is created so that all five government units in the Fremont Area can be involved in joint planning efforts. Sherman Township has chosen to be involved with the creation of the multi-jurisdictional agreement whereas Garfield Township has chosen not to participate at this time. The agreement that is to be created should provide for adequate representation from the City of Fremont, Dayton, Sheridan Charter and Sherman Townships.

General policy and/or program goals of the multi-jurisdictional partnerships

All governmental units who are party to this project have the same goal for the Fremont Area, which is to promote “Smart Growth” principles in any planning efforts in the Area. These principles include the following:

• Mix land uses
• Take advantage of compact building design
• Create walkable communities
• Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a sense of place
• Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmentally sensitive areas
• Strengthen and direct new and infill development toward existing communities
• Provide a variety of transportation choices
• Make development decisions predictable, fair and cost effective
• Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions

All Members are appointed by their respective Governing Bodies. Members serve at the will of their Governing Bodies with no designated terms and serve until replaced.

View Meeting Minutes                 Meeting Schedule 2010 Amended

   Zoning Working Group 2010 Mtg Schedule

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City/Township Cooperation Committee

While cooperation between the City of Fremont and Sheridan Charter and Dayton Townships with regard to joint land use planning was initiated in 1998, the three entities had been meeting since the mid 90’s as the City/Township Cooperation Committee. The group originally began looking at developing a cooperative boundary adjustment/extension of utilities policy between the City and the townships.

It became clear that the three entities needed to work on laying a proper foundation for future joint efforts. The Committee put its boundary/utility debate on hold for a while as it became the champion organization for the development of two key planning & visioning projects for the “greater Fremont community.”

The Committee obtained grant funding for a year-long technical assistance project to develop a computerized “Community Information System” (CIS) with the help of the Land Information Access Association (LIAA) out of Traverse City. This “Building a Sense of Place” (BASOP) grant was seen as the “inventory stage” for the future joint master plan. It helped the overall community define & identify what we value as Fremont’s treasured places, events, history, etc. The teamwork & extensive volunteer base used on the project was the catalyst for the three entities embarking on the development of a very innovative and progressive Master Plan for the entire 72 square miles of the City and Dayton & Sheridan Townships titled The Fremont Area Joint Comprehensive Development and Growth Management Plan (the “Plan”), which was formally adopted as the Fremont community’s plan by all three governing bodies in June of 2001.

Once the Plan was in place, the City/Township Cooperation Committee resumed meeting on a monthly basis for over three years to discuss how best to handle the expansion of utilities and other City services into the Townships. After extensive negotiations, an Agreement was executed in December 2004 titled the “Development Cooperation Agreement among the City of Fremont, Dayton Township and Sheridan Charter Township.” The Agreement was drafted under MI P.A. 425, which allows for the conditional transfer of property from the Townships to the City in return for the City providing urban services and in Fremont’s case, sharing a portion of the newly raised property tax revenue back with the Townships.

The City/Township Committee has continued discussions on the next cooperative efforts toward achieving Smart Growth in the community. Exploratory discussions are now occurring on the possibility of completing the Sheridan Twp. Sanitary Sewer District around the west & south sides of Fremont Lake. The planned logical extension of water & sewer services to the area on the south side of the City limits, in the vicinity of 56 th Street and Warner & Luce Avenues is also in the “what if” stage of discussions. The Committee will continue to serve as the conduit for cooperative efforts on a number of fronts.

All Members are appointed by their respective Governing Bodies. Members serve at the will of their Governing Bodies with no designated terms and serve until replaced.

View Meeting Minutes

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