HOUGHTON — The Houghton City Council approved annexing the Sharon Avenue site intended as the future site of the county jail at its meeting Wednesday.

In June, the county filed a petition with Houghton and Portage Township for the city to annex 6.2 acres of land in the township. It has been used by the First Apostolic Lutheran Church, which sold the property to the county earlier this year. Under state law, because there are no qualified electors living on the site, the annexation can be enacted through resolutions from the township board and city council.

Portage Township passed a resolution supporting the annexation in June. Its board will hold a special meeting next week to formalize the earlier vote, Supervisor Bruce Peterson said Thursday.

The county plans to seek a millage to build a new jail on the property. A recently formed county task force is discussing what the proposal would look like, including the size needed.

A larger, more modern county jail has been pursued several times over the past 25 years. At Tuesday’s board meeting, Sheriff Josh Saaranen said the jail was at capacity with 28 inmates. At several points throughout the year, that number has climbed into the 30s.

Other county offices could potentially be relocated to the existing church building. Moving the property to Houghton allows it to host offices required by law to be within the county seat, such as the sheriff’s department.

When the property is annexed, it will be zoned R-1 (single-family residential) as a default, Waara said. It can be rezoned once it becomes part of the city.

Wednesday, the council also heard from a person planning a separate development on Sharon Avenue.

Craig Harrison, senior vice president of Woda Cooper Companies, spoke to the council about the plans for 841 W. Sharon Ave., where the company hopes to build an affordable housing development.

The plan is to fill 42 general occupancy units — 10 one-bedrooms, 26 two-bedrooms and six three-bedrooms. The company is pursuing Michigan State Housing Development Authority funding for the property.

Rent ranges will span the allowable range for MSHDA funding eligibility, from 30 to 80% of area median income. About half of the units will be between 70% to 80% AMI, Harrison said.

“What’s great about that is that workers, seniors, singles, families will be able to work there, and a broad range of rents that will help those who are employers who need workers with affordable housing or seniors who’ve already contributed to the area to live there,” he said.

Harrison said he will submit a site plan to the Houghton Planning Commission as soon as its meeting next week.

In other action, the council:

• Appointed Eric James as fire chief. James was one of three applicants to replace Mike Reynolds, who is retiring as chief in September.

• Approved Downtown Development Authority facade grants by a 6-0 vote. The list was identical to one on the agenda for the previous meeting, aside from one by Rhythm & Citrus at 418 Shelden Ave., which had withdrawn its request.

The council had sent the grants back for reconsideration two weeks ago after an objection to a grant to another building at 318 Shelden Ave. owned by Edward Cole. Councilor Robert Megowen had said he would not support giving city money to Cole, who had filed multiple lawsuits against the city regarding approvals of a planned development next to the Hall Building, which he owns.

City Manager Eric Waara reached out to the city’s attorney the day after the meeting, who advised him the stated reasoning for the no vote could cause issues.

“I got advice from the attorney, offered this path,” he said. “It’s almost serendipitous there was a withdrawal as well. And this is a clean path to make that reconsideration in this type of format.”

• Appointed Councilor Craig Waddell to the Planning Commission. Mayor Pro Tem Joan Suits, who previously held the position, stepped down from her planning commission role.

“He has not been a member of the Planning Commission, and he has come to the meetings for years, and he is frequently at least as well prepared as the Planning Commission members,” Suits said. “I think this would be an excellent choice.”

Waddell was approved 5-1, with Needham voting against.

• Heard an update from Waara on the city’s community technical, managerial and financial grant from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy for lead service line mapping and verification. Out of more than 1,000 water lines that have been inspected so far, one was found to contain lead. There are about 150 left to look at, Waara said.

The city also conducted its annual lead and copper sampling. Out of 26 water samples in the city, none exceeded the safety levels.

“I think that that’s just a testament to our public works department, the water department, and how they operate that plant,” he said. “There’s a lot of chemistry that goes into keeping the pH balanced in that water so it doesn’t get aggressive with people’s interior plumbing. If there’s lead, that’s actually where it comes from.”

• Approved sending the Planning Commission a proposal to amend the city’s temporary sign ordinance. Waddell had suggested several changes, including removing the two-sign limit.

• Met as the Zoning Board of Appeals to approve a front-yard and side-yard variance to build a garage at 106 W. South Ave., a rear- and side-yard variance at 109 W. Edwards Ave. to build a garage and a front-yard variance at 1222 Sherwood Drive to build a house.

• Approved resolutions allowing service animals and portable oxygen and respirators on city transit buses.