The new master plan for the city of Benton Harbor has been approved by the Benton Harbor Planning Commission, but with some last minute changes.
At a meeting this week, planners were asked to remove language designating Benton Harbor as a sanctuary city. Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis said he’s seen the major problems that can result in other cities that have declared themselves migrant sanctuaries.
“We’re already operating at 50% because of being short staffed,” McGinnis said. “Adding that issue — Chicago’s got 19,000 they’re taking in a week. They can’t pay for it. We see New York has asked for federal funds, and they’re not getting it. We can barely fill potholes. How can we take care of another population that will drain more resources?”
McGinnis said he welcomes all Latino residents and is recruiting officers who speak Spanish, but having a major influx of migrants would not be helpful. City Commissioner Juanita Henry also wanted the sanctuary city language dropped. The planning commission then voted unanimously to remove it.
Chair Lee Reed said the master plan places a big focus on housing development.
“We talk about attainable housing,” Reed said. “We talk about single family residences, and we talk about multi family residences. We even talk about income properties. All of these properties will have to be looked at closely, determine what parts of the city will be the most favorable for that type of development.”
The plan would also establish new opportunity areas with special development objectives. It envisions growing Benton Harbor’s population by 10,000 by 2040.
The master plan has been in the works for more than a year with dozens of meetings and workshops being held.
The planning commission voted to approve the plan and sent it on to the full Benton Harbor City Commission.
