Months after the City Commission ordered a pad­lock on the prop­erty, a house in Big Rapids is sched­uled to have its doors re-opened on Dec. 9.

Previously occu­pied by Ferris State Delta Chi mem­bers, the house located on 120 Locust St. was sug­gested to be pad­locked by the Big Rapids Department of Public Safety after mul­ti­ple nui­sance party com­plaints in 2009.

The rental prop­erty belonged to Craig Chapman, owner of Chapman Housing. Chapman, along with Ferris stu­dent ten­ant Brandon Archambault, attended city com­mis­sion meet­ings lead­ing up to the deci­sion to pad­lock the property.

Archambault, along with the other ten­ants, vacated the prop­erty by the end of the aca­d­e­mic school year. The doors of the rental prop­erty were even­tu­ally pad­locked in May.

In November, attor­neys for Craig Chapman and the city of Big Rapids met in Mecosta County’s 49^th Circuit Court to dis­cuss the City Commission’s deci­sion to pad­lock the property.

The city of Big Rapids pro­vided state­ments from neigh­bors and police reports con­cern­ing nui­sance party com­plaints and a dis­turb­ing the peace com­plaint at the rental home.

Recently appear­ing before Judge Scott Hill-Kennedy on Dec. 2, Chapman said he hopes to gain a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the city’s decision.

“The ordi­nance was very big, so we are try­ing to get a bet­ter def­i­n­i­tion,” said Chapman.

Big Rapids Chief Executive Administrative Officer Steve Sobers said he has been liv­ing in Big Rapids for seven years. Sobers said since mov­ing to Big Rapids, there has been an increase of Ferris stu­dents liv­ing off campus.

“There has been a mete­oric rise of stu­dents in the com­mu­nity,” said Sobers.

Sobers said though a small per­cent­age of res­i­dents may neg­a­tively affect the neigh­bor­hood, he encour­ages stu­dents to remain in the local com­mu­nity. He said he is pleased to see the changes student-living has made in Big Rapids.

“There is a mar­velously pos­i­tive change, and I’m extremely happy for it,” said Sobers.

Big Rapids has a nui­sance pad­lock ordi­nance allow­ing the City Commission to pad­lock prop­erty for up to one year if there are three or more nui­sance com­plaints in nine months.

Prior to pad­lock­ing the house at 120 Locust St., the City Commission has only enforced the ordi­nance at one other loca­tion. n