Four candidates are running for three four-year terms on the November ballot.

Incumbents Virginia Cole and Brian Irizarry are seeking their second term on the council after having been elected in 2020 after opposition to the council’s vote to explore a sale of the Lakeshore Drive parking deck site to Veridea for development. Also running are Philip Foltz, a former councilor who was defeated in the 2020 election, and newcomer Brendan Leddy. 

Virginia Cole

Cole said she is seeking a second term in order to put what she’s learned over the past four years to use for city residents, which has spanned everything from zoning to contract negotiations.

Foltz

If re-elected, Cole would like to see the city continue with thoughtful and careful planning in terms of development and the direction the city takes in building up its resources. Making pedestrian crossings on Shelden Avenue safer and easier had been a goal four years ago; after the changes to parking in the downtown and the completion of the waterfront, the city is in a good place to look at changes, she said. Living on Shelden Avenue, Cole has seen frustration both from drivers and from people looking to cross the street. 

As a highway, Shelden Avenue would require going through other government entities such as the Michigan Department of Transportation for approval for changes. It’s still worth pursuing, Cole said. 

“I think the expectation anywhere you go, New York City to small towns, is that you’re going to be able to easily and safely and in a timely manner cross from one side of the street to the other, and that’s not necessarily happening on a regular basis,” she said. 

Cole said she was proud of the city for taking on the rehabilitation of the parking deck property itself. If the city does decide to develop, she said, residents will have a better idea of what the value of the property is, which she said had not been the case when Veridea made its proposal. 

For now she said, residents should be able to enjoy the space. Further down the road, the city can explore the potential of not only that site, but other city-owned properties considered for development, such as the city RV park. 

Irizarry

“I think we have to take more of a holistic, well-rounded look at development, not just those four parcels on the waterfront, because that’s going to make us a more comprehensive city,” she said. 

Improving the housing situation in the city will take an incremental, multi-faceted approach, Cole said. The city’s been able to rezone some areas near campus to allow for denser development, such as a planned complex on College Avenue. People can also be encouraged to do more with the property they have, pointing to second floors of Shelden Avenue properties that have been renovated to add more living space.

The past four years have seen fractious times on the council, including the city seeking the city’s attorney’s opinion on whether Cole’s presence on the council constituted a conflict of interest after her brother’s suit against the city; the city’s attorney eventually determined her work as a registered agent for his company did not violate city or state policies. Since then, she said, the council has been able to develop a professional rapport, and in some cases friendship. 

“There was this point where working together meant that we had to agree,” she said. “And I disagree with that … I think our job is to work together and look at all the points of view and make decisions based on those points of view. And we’ve gotten better at that.”

Cole said she takes her education about the job seriously, coming to council meetings regularly before running for office and regularly attending Planning Commission meetings to see what will come before the council. She said her position on Veridea had shown she is willing to take tough stances. She said she and the councilors who came in four years ago have been wanted the chance to look at things differently and to engage the people their decisions would affect.

Leddy

“Those were tough, tough decisions the city was making, but we wanted to look at them in a new way,” she said. 

Philip Foltz

Foltz said he had not initially planned on running again, he said. After a number of residents had approached him around town and asked him to consider a run, he changed his mind. 

He said he would continue the priorities he had in office before such as maintaining the mix of influences between the town and Michigan Technological University. The infrastructure knowledge Foltz gained in 18 years of working for the city has also made him an advocate for improving roads, sewer and water; currently, he said, Houghton has “more roads that need to be repaved than I’ve ever seen.”

“You want to make sure that you respect our heritage and where we are, and yet at the same time Houghton is the community that’s probably done the best over the last 25 years,” he said.

Foltz had been one of the council members to vote in favor of beginning negotiations with Veridea over the parking deck property. 

When Veridea pulled out of the project, that meant two things not happening, Foltz said: a development that could bring in additional downtown residents, and a newer parking deck that could serve the mixed-use development and also potentially connect to the backs of businesses that had gotten used to that connection.

If the city decides to sell the former parking deck property to a developer, Foltz said any addition would have to fit in with the overall design of the downtown. He enjoys the new pier downtown, which has added a new public space for concerts and other activities. 

He said he would be “completely fine” with the downtown not getting a hotel or other development, but worried about the consequences of not having additional tax revenue coming in. 

“One of the biggest problems, at least as I understand it … is that when you have tax structures that require an area to prosper in order to get that additional revenue, is our downtown doing that, and if it doesn’t does that hurt those people who are here now?” he said. “And I think the answer is yes. So how do we make sure that they all prosper as well? Because parking lots don’t pay.”

Foltz said there would be some places in Houghton for newer housing such as Sharon Avenue West; condominiums downtown could also be possible. One priority would be finding places for affordable housing, he said. 

Foltz said he had been disappointed by some of the gridlock he’d seen on the council over the past four years. He said he’d learned from his decades on the school board that “compromise is the way things happen.”

Foltz said he would give residents their best chance at a councilor who can look at all sides of an issue and come to an informed decision. 

“Not everything was things I thought were great or I agreed with,” he said. “You look sometimes for the best option you’ve got. I think I’m going to give them a better representative view of what really needs to be considered in Houghton.”

Brian Irizarry

Irizarry said he is seeking another term for the same reason he ran initially: to serve and be engaged in local government, and represent the interests of Houghton residents.

If re-elected, Irizarry would try to reach out more to Michigan Tech and Hancock to communicate and coordinate with them, something he’d like to improve on from his first term. Another focus will be continuing to support the city’s police and parks and recreation departments, who Irizarry said are doing a “fantastic job.”

He said he would also continue to look for opportunities to invest in city resources. 

“You don’t want investment that’s too heavy toward one interest and maybe it’s not in the best interest of everybody, but you want a balanced investment,” he said. 

As far as parks and recreation priorities, Irizarry said continuing to make sure Dee Stadium gets what it needs would be a priority, calling it “a really important monument for our region” with events year-round. Other goals include finding space for additional courts for the pickleball community while balancing that with the existing court space and blacktop areas, as well as the city’s trails and finding a workable location for a dog park. 

Regarding the former parking deck property, he acknowledged the desire for some residents for condominium-style housing, but noting the boating traffic through the downtown, said commercial and retail business would need to be a key part of any development. 

To avoid the sense some residents had of being caught off-guard by the Veridea agreement, he said the city should be more proactive in alerting the public about projects coming down the pike. The city can also do more to communicate about issues by having more debate in council, or by reaching out to citizens’ groups, churches or other organizations.

Speaking on the housing shortage, Irizarry said the city’s focus should be on making affordable housing more available. One remedy is rezoning for denser units, such as has been done on College Avenue and by Pearl Street. At the state level, a new program reduces taxes on developments based on the amount of housing at lower income levels.

“The middle of the market’s kind of small right now, and what you’re seeing is really big homes and really small condo apartments,” Irizarry said. “…I think everyone is aware of that and always looking for a solution, but that’s a tough nut to crack.”

Irizarry said tensions on the council had settled, though he said there is room for healthy discussion and debate as long as it’s on topic. While his appointment as mayor had been contentious, he said, it had led to a more efficient model for council meetings that had leaned more into Robert’s Rules of Order.

“I’m not asking for people to be happy or pleased or all agree, but I will always try to follow the rules of procedure and follow decorum and stay on point,” he said. “So I don’t think it’ll boil over again.”

Irizarry said voters should choose him in November based on his council experience and his leadership experience in other areas, such as a Marine officer and K-12 teacher. 

“I’m going to listen to people and I’m going to represent them as much as I can, and I’m going to bring forward agenda items that I hear from people, as a conduit and a representative,” he said. 

Brendan Leddy

Leddy, a senior at Michigan Tech majoring in policy law, said he fell in love with the area after visiting from downstate with his father; both his parents are Tech grads who met while attending the school in the early 1980s. 

A resident of downtown, he’s attended city council meetings for the past year and a half. Other residents, spotting his frequent presence at the meetings, eventually talking him into running. 

If elected, he hopes to promote sustainable practices in the city and also look at addressing Houghton’s housing issues.

On housing, Leddy said he would like to sit down with all stakeholders, including the tenants, Realtors and landlords. 

“You start by sitting down with the stakeholders in this problem and see what they’re seeing at the issues, and therefore we can come together as a community to solve the issues,” he said. 

When the city is implementing a project, Leddy said, it should always be considering the impact it will have on the environment. Part of the draw of Houghton is the connection to nature, he said. He used the example of the house he grew up in downstate, where rather than a clear-cut lot, his house was built in a way that still incorporated the forest around it.  

“It was a beautiful place, and I want to promote that up here,” he said. “And I think we already are, because a lot of residents want to do the same thing, because they like being connected to nature,” he said. 

Any change such as development on the former parking deck site should go through strict scrutiny, Leddy said, including sustainability, traffic, and parking. The construction process should also be tailored to minimize the impact on small businesses, with plenty of communication beforehand, he said. 

Leddy said he would be able to add something new to the council through his education in policy law and his youthful perspective. 

“Young people think differently, and I think that it’s important to have young minds at the table,” he said. “Being a student at Tech and being on the Undergraduate Student Government, we’re a creative bunch.”