Berrien County is in line to receive a $2.6 million grant to pay for the demolition of the former Modern Plastics building in Benton Harbor.
Speaking to colleagues this week, Berrien County Commissioner Mamie Yarbrough said the funds are coming from the Michigan Land Bank Authority. The county already applied for the grant, but was rejected.
“We applied for this through the land bank earlier in the year,” Yarbrough said. “There was some kind of all those initial grants going on, and we thought we would get it and we did not. They looked through at the end of the period, and there was money left over and they called or wrote or something and said, ‘Do you need any money?'”
Why, yes, Yarbrough said the county still needed the money.
County Administrator Brian Dissette tells us a resolution will be coming to the county commission next week to officially accept the funds. He says, “It appears that we have the funding.”
Yarbrough said this will help clean up blight that’s been an eyesore for her each day as she drives by.
“I just think it’s going to be magnificent and the state of Michigan has given us the money to do it.”
The county sold the Modern Plastics property to Harbor Shores this year, but Dissette says that doesn’t mean the county can’t still seek funds for its cleanup. He tells us the state is aware of the circumstances with the property and approves.
