BENTON HARBOR
Harbor Shores cleanup work clears hurdle
By JULIE SWIDWA
H-PStaff Writer
BENTON HARBOR — The Benton Harbor City Commis­sion helped clear the way Mon­day for developers to seek financing for cleanup work, roads and other improvements related to the Harbor Shores project.
An amendment to the Berrien County Brownfield Redevelop­ment Authority Brownfield Plan, approved recently by the Berrien County Board of Com­missioners, adds most of the 570-acre Harbor Shores project area into the county’s brown­field plan.
The Benton Harbor City Commission on Monday approved the same amendment, adding the parcels in Benton Harbor into the county’s brown­field plan.
Harbor Shores is a proposed, mixed-use, $500 million devel­opment that would include 850 new residential housing units, commercial and retail space, four marinas, two hotels, a water park and a golf course.
Much of the project area, near Michigan 63 north of Graham Avenue and west of the CSX Transportation Co. railroad tracks, sits on old factory sites that are contaminated. Parcels that are included in brownfield redevelopment plans can quali­fy for state and federal funds for cleanup.
The amended county brown­field plan will allow Harbor Shores to go forward with an estimated $ 126.1 million in cleanup and site preparation, demolition, construction of streets, sidewalks and other infrastructure.
The brownfield status will allow Harbor Shores Communi­ty Redevelopment, a nonprofit corporation, to be repaid for the cleanup and infrastructure costs through tax increment financ­ing.
Future tax revenue on new

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construction and other improve­ments in the project area can be “captured” to repay the invest­ment.
City Manager Dwight “Pete” Mitchell said the improvements will include $72 million in new infrastructure. The infrastructure is expected to be completed within five years, with building construction starting sometime during that period
MPRI report
Also Monday, the City Com­mission heard a presentation by Peggy Schaffer, Berrien County community coordinator for the Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Ini­tiative; and Rojelio Castillo, supervisor of the Berrien Coun­ty Parole Office.
The MPRI began a year ago, with Berrien County as one of eight pilot sites in the state. The program’s purpose is to provide prisoners with the tools they need to be successful and remain crime-free after they are released from prison.
The long-term goal of the MPRI is to reduce prison recidi­vism rates and cut state costs. Schaffer said plans call for the program to be operating in all 83 counties by 2008.
The state spends $ 28,000 to $ 32,000 a year to incarcerate one person, compared to $2,000 to $ 3,000 for a parolee in the MPRI program.
The MPRI provides help in finding jobs and housing, obtaining education and voca­tional training, fighting sub­stance abuse, obtaining health care and transportation.
Statewide, 48 percent of parolees go back to prison with­in two years for new crimes or parole violations.
Schaffer said in Berrien County, the MPRI has served 217 parolees since its beginning and just 18 have returned to prison.
“We’re at 8 percent recidivism right now. We’re very excited about the results, but we realize we’re comparing nine months to two years,” Schaffer said.