Made In Walker

The Long Game: Senator Huizenga and Walker's Future

• City of Walker MI • Season 1 • Episode 18

Share episode

The bridges we build, the roads we travel, and the paths we create literally shape how our communities grow and connect. In this enlightening conversation with Senator Mark Huizenga, we dive deep into the infrastructure projects that have transformed Walker from the ground up.

When it comes to the Fruit Ridge Bridge project, persistence proved powerful. After eight years of advocacy that spanned from Walker City Hall to Washington D.C., Senator Huizenga finally secured $25 million in funding for this critical expansion. What was once a dangerous two-lane bottleneck connecting five-lane roads will soon safely accommodate both commercial traffic and non-motorized trail users. Most surprising? Despite the nine-month construction timeline, residents recognize the necessity and have embraced the temporary inconvenience for long-term gain.

The tunnel under M45 Lake Michigan Drive tells an equally compelling story of determination. When initial grant funding fell short, creative partnerships with philanthropic organizations made the difference. One potential donor, after witnessing pedestrians playing "Frogger" across the busy highway, immediately recognized the life-saving potential of this project. Beyond safety, this infrastructure improvement created what developers call a "radius of impact" that enhances surrounding property values and development opportunities.

Looking ahead, Walker faces continued infrastructure challenges with Wilson Avenue (M11) and potential regional attractions like the proposed aquarium. Senator Huizenga reveals how the innovative development of the Northridge industrial corridor through 425 agreements and creative tax strategies has already brought thousands of jobs to the area while maintaining separation between industrial and residential zones.

Through consensus-building and a commitment to finding win-win solutions, Walker continues to evolve with infrastructure that serves residents, businesses, and visitors alike. Follow Senator Huizenga on social media to see behind-the-scenes tours of regional facilities and stay updated on the projects shaping West Michigan's future. What infrastructure improvements would make the biggest difference in your daily life? Share your thoughts with us!

If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects you to the people, the stories and the ideas shaping our community, from local innovators to everyday changemakers. We're diving deep into what makes Walker a great place to live, work and grow. Here's your host, nicole DiDonato.

Speaker 2:

We're talking about something that affects us all, whether you're commuting to work, running a business or even just walking the dog, and that's infrastructure. And we're pleased to be joined by Senator Mark Huizenga today, someone who knows all too well and has worked very closely with cities like Walker to get them the resources they need in order to grow. Senator, thank you so much for joining us today.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, glad to be here today. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2:

And let's kick things off with the Fruit Ridge Bridge. All of us see it is going on, but there has been a lot in the background for years. How were you finally able to get this off the ground for us?

Speaker 3:

Well, I think it's important to think about the historical context. Back in 2017, when we were working on the FedEx facility, then we were taking really that long view, and I always like to do that because, you know, if we live in the moment, people will say things fall apart. But back in those days, I said we were talking about the Walker Avenue Bridge. We had plenty of infrastructure there. We had to do some work with some on-ramps and things like that, but it was going to be ready for massive amounts of trucks going in and out of there, and making sure that it's safe for our regular residents and other people that are going to work was really important to me. And I asked the folks from MDOT. I said so, what does it look like with the Fruit Ridge Bridge? Because, as we continue to grow this area, we're going to need more infrastructure and more bandwidth on that bridge. And they said, well, we don't really actually have plans for anything right now. And I said nothing. And they said, well, actually, in 2024, we're planning on putting a new deck on the bridge. And I said save your money, man, this is a real problem. I'm not a construction engineer or anything, but look when you've got a five-lane road that goes to a two-lane bridge that connects to a five-lane road. That's probably a problem.

Speaker 3:

And so then, even then when I was mayor, we had conversations about redoing some of the duct work underneath there and putting in culverts and things that needed work, and I said I think we should save our money and really play the long game and make sure we get the funding for this. And I said I think we should save our money and really play the long game and make sure we get the funding for this. So we did work with the right place, with the local transportation folks from MDOT. We planned out what this thing could look like, but the magic issue was no funding. And so even though there was a need and it was clearly demonstrated by this and with the growth that we continue to see in Walker through that industrial corridor there just wasn't funding.

Speaker 3:

I had a chance to go to Washington DC and advocate for this, to talk with folks from the Department of Transportation. We had a great video advocating for this and it just didn't happen. The current mayor, mayor Kerry he went to Washington, also advocated for it and during that same time when I was mayor, I went to Lansing and advocated for the dollars. It just didn't happen. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that there was a budget cycle and they needed my vote, and I said look, this is the one thing that I've been working on for literally eight years.

Speaker 3:

We absolutely have to do this, and so I was able to secure the funding for that $25 million and it's a ton of money, but at the end of the day, it's going to be safer for everyone, it's going to provide throughput for truck traffic and allow for development to continue to occur. And, probably just as important, one of the things that people probably don't think about is the non-motorized trail aspect, and so connecting the Muscatawa, the Fred Meyer Trail and this network, that was really the weakest link. I can tell you firsthand my son was doing a merit badge for Boy Scouts and we were riding from Muskegon back to our house in Walker and had to ride over that bridge, and I told him afterwards. I said we will do that once. It is just too dangerous. So seeing safe passageway and building trails and infrastructure is something I've long been an advocate for.

Speaker 2:

We are so, excuse me, grateful for you and just the feedback that we're getting on social media other people have pointed out there's no complaints. There's very minimal complaints about this. Everybody knows it was needed, and how does that feel to have a major construction project that people are like, yeah, we support this. It's nine months long, but we got it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I know that's the bane of anybody who's elected, I would say, is that when the roads or bridges are bad, we hear about it.

Speaker 3:

When we fix them, then people complain because it's detours and things like that. But for my office we've had very little complaints about it as well, and I think people know like, hey, we can get through the summer and by the time the fall comes around, the project, last I heard is on target for completion, so that's good and it's pretty close to being on budget, which is also pretty rare. So we're very excited about that. You know these kinds of infrastructure projects are so important. I'll give you just one other example.

Speaker 3:

That is when we were working on that FedEx. We had a problem because the the driveways didn't quite align up the right way. So if you're taking 96 eastbound and getting off by where the old Bob Evans was there we had to put in a new signal and the problem was the roads didn't align. And so we were there having breakfast and talking about it and the folks I was with said, well, we can't do it now. But, nicole, I was on the planning commission for six years. We know that safety is a huge deal and if we align those intersections and play the long game, it's going to make a big difference. Now nobody will probably notice that right now, but during that time I said, guys, we have to try. We have to try to make this work.

Speaker 3:

And so they said there's three things that are wrong with this. Number one, that off ramps at MDOT property project we don't have the funding for that. Two, that property that they need to align, that it isn't ours. And three, timing-wise, the way this is going to go with all the trucks that are going to come through there. It wasn't going to work for them.

Speaker 3:

So I said we have to try. So I talked to the folks at Meijer and they said, boy, if you can make this happen, mark, we'll deed this to the city, to MDOT or whoever needs this, because it Because it's better for our people that work here, it's going to be safer and for our truck traffic. And so it was just a great example of working together. We got a grant from MDOT to do that work there and the signals went in and when it was completed it was basically seamless. So no one really knows that story, but it's that long-term thinking that I think is really so important in infrastructure in West Michigan, absolutely and your ability to work with everybody and to come up with a final solution.

Speaker 2:

that is huge. Yeah, and we were speaking also about some other infrastructure changes. One of the biggest things during your tenure as City of Walker, mayor, was the tunnel under M45 Lake Michigan Drive there. What can you tell us about that with the Standale-Meyer Trail?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's a really interesting project because trails are so important. It's one of those things where safety is also paramount. Of course, we want safe passageway and we received a grant from the state for that and the dollars came in too high. It was going to be a very expensive project, of course, extremely complicated. Putting a tunnel of that size under a super busy road like M45 is hard, expensive and very disruptive. And folks in the city said I guess we're not gonna be able to do this. And my comment back was do you think it's going to be less expensive in the future if we postpone it? Do you think it'll be that grant will be available in the future if we don't do it right now? And if we don't do it now, are we going to put people in harm's way? And of course, you know the answer to all those. And so we tried, and we tried really hard and we raised money from all sorts of philanthropic sources, including the Meyer Foundation they were great as well as other organizations around the state, and one of the best stories of that is that an organization that I requested a grant from, they said you know, huizinga, we're going to have to check this out and make sure this is valid. Look, we like you and trust you. But you know, trust but verify. So they sent a crew out there and they were taking a look at it and they called me afterwards and said man, mark, this is so needed. We are happy to support this.

Speaker 3:

He said we were watching people trying to traverse M45, and he said it was like the old-fashioned arcade game of Frogger, where these people are going around dodging the cars. And he told me he said we were actually worried that we were going to see somebody get hit. And he said somebody almost did. So. No greater testimony than that the project was disruptive. But again, now that it's there, people actually love it.

Speaker 3:

And you know, an interesting story was I had a developer ask me Mark, are you guys really going to do that tunnel? And I said, yeah, we are. We expect it to be completed on such and such a date. And we got done talking. I said, look, I just have to ask why. Why is it that you even care about the tunnel? And he said, oh, it's actually super important for development because the radius of impact for a project like this makes it easier for us to do our projects. Radius of impact for a project like this makes it easier for us to do our projects, whether it's housing, apartments or what have you. It's really important. So sometimes I think it gets lost for those of us in local government and, at the time, or state government to know how important these infrastructure projects are for the people that we serve and for the developments that people want to live in.

Speaker 2:

So far-reaching even for visitors who are coming into the community. So I was one of those folks that would sometimes I would go to the corner of Kinney, try to cross. Other times I would try to dart across Lake Michigan Drive. So from someone who loved walking in the area, it's a wonderful investment, yeah and if you've ridden on it it's pretty seamless.

Speaker 3:

People say like gosh, I don't even really know, I'm driving underneath a super busy road like this? Oh, not at all it feels serene and it's kind of tucked in there, it is it is you don't hear anything about that.

Speaker 2:

One of the things that we were hearing as well wanted to throw in with the proposed possibility of an aquarium coming to South Walker. We know that the infrastructure there would need to be upgraded. A lot of folks, probably during your tenure and beyond, have been asking about the widening of M11, wilson. What could we expect in the future with Wilson?

Speaker 3:

Well, no secret, m11 is one of those areas where the state has actually done a pretty good job of expanding it where it needs to be expanded. But on the flip side, if you drive that way from the Grand River towards Dandale or towards City Hall, the road goes from five lanes to four lanes to three lanes, to three lanes, to four lanes to five lanes and back and forth. And they did that because there just simply wasn't funding. I'm hopeful that we see an infrastructure package come through the House and Senate. The House package actually looks pretty good and really a couple billion dollars that are sorely needed for projects around the state are on the table, and I've been advocating for this Wilson project probably as long as I advocated for the Fruit Ridge Bridge almost, but we know it's needed. The interesting thing is that the right-of-way that's needed for the widening through there already exists, so they don't have to do property acquisition or other complex things like that. And then you couple that with a massive regional or super regional project like the aquarium. If that happens, we're going to need a lot of money to make sure that works, from off-ramp redesign to on-ramp redesign, probably some work at that bridge and even some work for access in and out of that aquarium. But of course people are going to travel from north of Michigan, from the south, and taking M45 from Ottawa County or elsewhere connecting to M11 to the south. That's all going to be important. So I actually put in a request this year, last year and the year before for a huge amount of money to widen that road. We'll continue to work for that every year.

Speaker 3:

It's really our top priority, not only for future growth. But here's the thing people oftentimes forget why is this area so important? Well, what's the next crossing onto the west side? If you go north on the river, the next bridge that crosses that is Wealthy Street. And if you think about it, if you go down river, if you travel to the west, where's the next one? It's out in Allendale. So there's a huge amount of traffic that's going to continue to grow that way. Allendale is a very heavy-growing area Talmadge, township, walker, and guess what? That's the primary way that a lot of people get in and out of the city. So building that infrastructure will be important for all of us and I'll continue to advocate for that one.

Speaker 2:

And supporting cities like Walker and their growth, whether it's broadband and infrastructure and such. You know we hear what you kind of do behind the scenes. Why is that so important for residents to know what is going on in Lansing on behalf of you know folks who want to live and work in areas like this.

Speaker 3:

Sure. So I think probably the best example of that is roads. And why are roads important roads? And why are roads important To the average resident of Walker or Kent County or anywhere in my district?

Speaker 3:

Our residents don't know or don't care, nor should they care, if they're riding on a city road, a county road or a state road. They just want the roads and infrastructure to be good. They want safe passageway, they want to move without heavy traffic, and so that means that we have to work across a broad variety of governmental agencies and couple that with federal agencies about policies and what makes that work. But working towards those goals means that we work with the county folks, the state folks Kent County Road Commission, ottawa County Road Commission. I meet with those folks on a regular basis and we meet with MDOT on a regular basis to find out what kind of projects they have, what kind of things we can do. And you know, I think it's one of our jobs as these so-called boots on the ground, meeting with constituents on a regular basis to identify what their pinch points are, what problems they see, and that's really the best way we can advocate. Representing the people is what we're supposed to do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. And then kind of going back to the big economic engine, really Northridge, the industrial area, and again how Fruit Ridge was so integral in helping that grow too. Where do you see that kind of coming up and is part of the region as well?

Speaker 3:

Well, you know it's interesting, when that FedEx facility was being designed and I was working with the developers on that project, they only wanted to extend that Northridge Road to the FedEx facility. And I said to them guys, any chance we can extend this out to Bristol, to the east? And they said we really don't have any plans to do that. It's expensive. Just because you see vacant land out there doesn't mean it's developable or even available for industrial usage like we have there. And so we worked with complex tax strategies, called a 425 agreement, where the property actually is under the Grand Rapids tax rolls. And they did that because they could access brownfield tax credits and that meant that those tax credits would be used for the developers to put that road in. Now it was wildly successful.

Speaker 3:

I thought that would probably be 10 or 15 years before it was fully developed, but boy, just a few years into it we saw just a massive amount of employers come in that area and pretty soon I saw the opportunity to say look, we also have to extend this because industrial growth, warehousing, manufacturing is key to West Michigan, but they need a place to land.

Speaker 3:

So we did exactly the same thing to the west. We worked on extending Northridge off to Fruit Ridge. Now there was a little section where it went to a cul-de-sac, but there was a massive amount of property in the middle, lots of property owners, and if you go back and talk to staff that were there during that time, there were contentious moments about like how do we, how do we work with landowners? We're not going to do eminent domain, we're not taking anything over, but we work with developers to create infrastructure and a place for businesses to come in and land and be successful. And that area too continues to develop massively. I mean thousands and thousands of jobs brought right here to Walker, close to home. And also, I guess the other thing I'd say is that this strip of property is different and set aside from where the residents live, which I think is really important and great too.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, and you know your just ability to be able to work with everybody and be able to kind of come to a single conclusion that works, a single conclusion that works for everyone. What? What is the secret to that, you know?

Speaker 3:

You know, I would say that consensus building is so important and finding ways to get to yes.

Speaker 3:

And I think a lot of that comes from the six years that I spent on the Walker Planning Commission. Because planning is hard, because no one likes change, myself included. Nobody wants anything in their backyard, but sometimes it's about persuading and showing the details about how we're going to stand up and protect what they have, making sure that their assets, their home or their property or business isn't going to be adversely affected by this new change. And if you can demonstrate a win-win, that's how we get things done. And you know it's not always easy, but the hard work it's really never easy, I would say.

Speaker 2:

Yeah but rewarding, I'm sure, when you get to, you know, get feedback from people. Yes, yes, and you do a wonderful job with social media. So if people want to find you and follow up with you, what types of stuff do you display there?

Speaker 3:

You know we do a lot of videos just talking about the great things in our district. We toured where the Michigan State Games are held the West Michigan Sports Commission facility in Plainfield Township a couple weeks ago Really some amazing things going on there. I was able to secure a grant from the state for $3 million to help them expand. That. It's really really not just a regional impact, but the statewide People from all over the state of Michigan come in. We've got some really cool drone shots about that what the construction looks like. We'll do some finals when it's ready to go this fall.

Speaker 3:

But showing people what kind of things that we stand for, why this infrastructure is important, getting your kids to get outside play, build competitive sports, learn about teamwork and things like that those are lifelong skills and lessons that they can carry with them.

Speaker 3:

Learn about teamwork and things like that those are lifelong skills and lessons that they can carry with them, obviously for their whole life, and so that's pretty cool. We do videos about things that people probably don't know about. We just did one last week about the Van Andel Institute and it was a really special tour, a time to learn about what they do in there and how it impacts our state, our country, but the whole globe. And what some of that research means and some of the incredibly sophisticated things like an electron microscope that can't quite see an electron but darn near that can see like the shadow of an electron on an atom and that kind of research that makes a difference for diseases that we all know somebody who's been afflicted by cancer or Parkinson's, and the philanthropy that goes into that organization and what it means for mankind really is really important and it's right here, right here in West Michigan.

Speaker 2:

That is so special, we are so fortunate and lucky to be in this area, and if folks do want to learn more about you, maybe if they have to, if they want to reach out, you know, for feedback, things like that what's the best way to do that?

Speaker 3:

Yep, you can find us online, just Google Mark Heisinger, michigan Senate. But, from a social media perspective, we're really out there on most of the platforms, from X to Facebook to Instagram, we try to talk about what kind of things we're voting on. We try to do as much media as we can to get out there and let people know that we're working hard for them every day.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and you guys do a wonderful job at that.

Speaker 3:

Great, thank you.

Speaker 2:

Senator, thank you so much for all you've done for West Michigan and for Walker and beyond. We do appreciate you.

Speaker 3:

It's my honor. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for tuning in.

Head Shot

Nicole DiDonato

Host