SAUGATUCK — Saugatuck residents agree that infrastructure must be tackled in 2025, but have growing concerns about the city’s ability to attract new businesses and foster economic growth.
That’s according to the Saugatuck Strategic Planning Community Input Survey, presented during a goal-setting work session on Friday, Jan. 24.
In public comments, residents highlighted ethics, short-term rentals, parking, legal fees and other concerns about current representation on Saugatuck City Council.
But the survey itself, which received 157 responses, saw consensus on one major point: The need to focus on infrastructure during the upcoming fiscal year.
Residents were overall positive about the quality and accessibility of parks, and with how the city is managing and protecting natural resources — but they were critical of Saugatuck’s efforts in attracting new business and fostering economic growth, with only about 21% of respondents rating the city “excellent” or “good” in the area.
There’s also room for improvement in communication, which over 40% of respondents ranked as “fair ” or “poor.”
The Sentinel reached out to all seven councilmembers and City Manager Ryan Cummins for comment following the survey’s release. Mayor Holly Anderson said the work session was productive and engaging, and believes council’s priorities match well with those identified in the survey, with infrastructure improvements at the top.
“We will continue the important work on the Maple Street design and construction, new bathrooms at Mt. Baldhead and plans for lead service line replacement to name a few,” she said. “And we will begin to explore how best to address our parking issues.”
In terms of overall satisfaction with the city’s performance, 62% of respondents gave “satisfactory,” “good,” or “excellent” rankings.
Councilmember Scott Dean addressed some anonymous negative comments directly, saying it’s easy to know who’s behind them — both in the survey and online.
“It usually traces back to a handful of failed city council candidates or short-term rental advocates — the same group that’s suing the city,” Dean wrote in his response. “Ninety-nine percent of it is baseless, but the First Amendment protects such speech and fact-checking is no longer considered necessary on most social media platforms.
“Fortunately the residents of Saugatuck are smart enough to see through the baloney and have voted time and time again to protect our neighborhoods, parks and small town charm.”
Anderson said councilmembers spent time discussing ethics, alleging there’s “zero evidence” that any member of this council or last year’s council “committed an ethics violation, despite dark claims to the contrary.”
Council plans to review and make updates to its ethics policy over the next several weeks.
“I hope all of council will now move on to focus on the important work of the city, rather than inventing or amplifying false stories that undermine people’s confidence in councilmembers and staff,” Anderson said.
Councilmember Chris Peterson acknowledged many of the comments raised issues that she ran on during her campaign — including respect and transparency. She also felt council was “receptive to making the STR ordinances more user-friendly by looking at an appeal process and grace period.”
Anderson said she’s excited about what lies ahead for the city, especially after a productive 2024.
Remaining councilmembers, including Gregory Muncey, Lauren Stanton, Joe Clark and Russ Gardner, did not respond to The Sentinel’s request for comment.
— Contact reporter Austin Metz at ametz@hollandsentinel.com.