A bill was recently introduced in the Michigan legislature that would give qualified companies up to $15,000 in grants to offset losses caused by roadwork.
Road construction is something the Kalamazoo area has had plenty of this year, including on Westnedge Avenue, where you’ll find the Midtown Fresh grocery store.
Owner Paul Petros said he’s grateful for the bill, though it would only cover a small fraction of his losses.
“It's a great feeling to see that somebody actually took the courage to step up and do something for the small business people. And it just feels good because I feel like we've been left in the dark and left to die,” Petros said.
State Senator Sean McCann of Kalamazoo said he understands.
“We've seen, obviously, in our community lots of overlapping road projects and detours upon detours and just a whole lot of infrastructure work going on," McCann said.
"And we saw businesses really adversely impacted by that and it got me to thinking about what can the state legislature do about it.”
The Democratic lawmaker said it was an easy decision for him to co-sponsor Senate Bill 1053 to address a problem that impacts small businesses in particular.
McCann said to be eligible, business owners must demonstrate a significant decline in revenue during construction, as compared to the previous three years before the roadwork started.
And he said companies can apply annually when road repairs last several years.
McCann added that the source of funding is written into the legislation.
“What MDOT, Michigan Department of Transportation, does is if a contractor runs late on a project, they can fine them, and those fines typically go back into the general pot of money for that MDOT uses. This legislation would divert those fine dollars to this grant pool,” McCann said.
The bill is currently in committee, but McCann said, he hoped it will move quickly through the lame duck session.
But some businesses cannot wait.
The owners of Brite Eyes Brewing Company in Kalamazoo said summer road construction led to their decision to close for good at the end of the week. The brewery made the announcement Friday on Facebook.
