By Alex Kohut
Kochville Township voters also chose change on Election Day. Township residents selected Democrat Jim S. Loiacano as their new supervisor over incumbent Patricia A. Bourdow and Republican David Sanchez.
Loiacano received 593 votes, while Sanchez finished second with 422. Bourdow, who can as a write-in candidate, likely received the majority of the 361 votes.
About 1,500 of the 2,090 registered voters in the township hit the polls on Election Day.
One of the first actions Loiacano plans to take as the township’s supervisor is the implantation of a rental ordinance.
Such an ordinance would supplement the current zoning restrictions, which limit the residents of housing to single families.
Loiacano says a rental ordinance would enable students to seek residence throughout the township and not just the town homes near campus.
He says this distribution of students throughout the township would facilitate interaction between students and other township residents.
The distribution would also thin out the volume of students living in the town homes. Loiacano says this could in turn result in fewer negative incidents in that area of the township.
He says mixing students and other Kochville residents could help erase the negative perceptions each side has of the other.
“Mixing them would get both sides to intermingle and I think also show each side the other one isn’t as bad as they may think,” Loiacano says.
Loiacano is the township’s third supervisor since 2004. Bourdow assumed the role in 2006 following the recall of Kenneth P. Bayne.
The result of the supervisor race is good news for township residents who have opposed much of the area’s development over the last several years.
Loiacano has said developers should limit development to the Bay and Tittabawassee before branching out.
In another tightly contested race, Democrat Stephen J. Yanca retained his spot as the township’s treasurer, defeating Republican Sally J. Knowlton 686-658.
The Board of Trustees appointed Yanca to the role last June, filling the vacancy left following the May 5 recall of Crystal Kaurer.
The margin of votes between Yanca and Knowlton was the same when the two squared off for the position in August’s special election.
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