Neighbors oppose expansion of River of Life church building

A group of neighbors to River of Life Assembly of God attended the July 10 public hearing before the Van Buren Township Planning Commission to oppose the proposed expansion of the church facility.
The church is located on 8.72 acres at 870 Savage Road between Sheldon and Martinsville and has had a sign in its front yard for some time showing a drawing of the new building “Coming Soon.”
After the public hearing, the commissioners voted unanimously to recommend to the township board approval of the special land use permit for use of the parcel for a church building and to approve the preliminary site plan, with 14 stipulations.
Chairperson Carol Thompson was absent from the meeting, which was presided over by vice chairperson Donald Boynton.
“We have approval and a whole list of marching orders that need to be handled,” vice chairperson Boynton said.
At the beginning of the public hearing, Gary Lamarand, design engineer, explained that the church currently is 5,000 square feet which contains the sanctuary, classrooms, and a common area.
The proposed sanctuary addition is 8,263 square feet. It will include sanctuary space, ADA bathrooms, lobby area and a corridor between the proposed and existing buildings. There will be 125 parking spaces in back.
It will be a wooden structure with a masonry belt and wooden siding above. Although fire suppressants were not originally planned for the building, they now are being added.
Lamarand said the ditch on the property is proposed to be moved 75’ back from its current location to connect with a bioswale, which is a larger ditch with plantings. The ditch path will stay the same as it comes into and exits the property, but will be curved inside the parcel to bring storm drainage to the bioswale, as suggested by Wayne County.
The southern end of the land is wooded and will be left untouched, said Vidya Krishnan, township planning consultant from McKenna. She said the church states there will be no music, bells, chimes, or similar audio presentations used on the site.
The elevations proposed show a maximum building height of 21.25 feet to the mid-point of the gable roof and 28.1 feet to the top of the roof peak, which are within the maximum allowable height of 30 feet.
In her report to the commission, Krishnan said there will be a new, five-foot sidewalk along the Savage Road frontage. The site has two existing curb cuts and the east access will be widened to 24 feet and is intended for two-way movement of vehicles. The west drive will remain at 11.5 feet wide, an existing nonconformity, and will be for emergency vehicles only.
Paul Kammer of Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber, the township’s consulting engineers, reported on drainage and utilities.
Kammer told the commission the ditch running through the property is not considered a county drain, but discharges into the Henry Drain along Martinsville Road. He said this is what the church engineer told him, but more research has to be done.
“Residents are assessed for the Henry Drain,” Kammer said. “More information is needed. I don’t know what the county will do.”
When the public hearing opened, Kelly
Walker of 920 Savage Rd. distributed a letter to commissioners. She said the back part of her property is adjacent to the church property.
“I feel this is too large for our neighborhood. It’s doubling its size and the parking lot is too large.”
She said they moved there two years ago and her children play in the woods. She complained about the proposed landscaping and, aside from privacy, she had concerns about drainage. She said her property flooded this spring and still has standing water. She said the church plans to raise its parking lot six inches to three feet higher and with the sprinklers planned, “I don’t see where it’s all going to go. Can the current Henry Drain handle it all?”
And, she said, lighting was a problem. Now the church has two lights beside the building, but they plan to have 16, 20-foot lights. They will be directed down, but they will be “overwhelming and obtrusive,” she said.
She also was concerned about the removal of existing, mature trees.
She said some of the church events are “speakered and loud.” And, the dumpster is being moved closer to the east property line.
She wanted to know if the planning commission members review the plans or just depend on consultants. Boynton assured her the commission reviews the plans.
“Please consider the impact it will have on the neighbors,” Walker concluded.
Earl Farr said he has lived at 1094 Savage Rd. for 32 years and moved to the township 60 years ago. He said under Supervisor Gollwitzer the township used a backhoe to dig a “nasty-looking ditch” which empties in the county drain. After that it rained and it flooded Savage Road. He said drainage has been a problem since then.
“Yesterday is the first day in 10 months I haven’t had water standing in the ditch in front of my house … We cannot have one more bucket of water in there,” he said of the drain.
Patricia Reavis of 1043 Savage, across the street, said the neighbors pay for Henry Drain and the church is going to cover an acre with pavement and with what’s coming off the roof it will all be going into Henry Drain. She said there is a water problem on Savage Road between the two drains. She said all the subdivisions built in the area were paved and this caused the problem.
She said, to her, a bioswale is simply a place to grow mosquitos. She said a recent story in the AARP magazine said street lights upset a person’s circadian rhythm.
Walker came back to the microphone to speak for Nicole Steele of 850 Savage Rd. who was too nervous to come up to speak. She runs a kennel there and has children and her house is close to the property line. She opposes the expansion.
Township Treasurer Sharry Budd, the board’s liaison to the commission, read a letter from a neighbor that also opposed the expansion, saying it is flooded around the drain and the expansion is not in the best interests of the neighborhood.
After 40 minutes, the public hearing closed. There was discussion and then the two approvals.
“We want to do whatever the township wants,” said Frank Fenbert, project manager and church member. He said they went to the neighbors in advance to tell their plans. “We want to be the very best neighbors,” he said.
He said there would be no issue to turn off the lights when the building is not being used. He said all the water has to be held on site, so it shouldn’t exacerbate the water problem. He said although the church is tax-exempt, “We’re still paying for Henry Drain.”
Krishnan said the drainage will be determined between the engineer and Wayne County. “This is still in preliminary site plan review,” she said.
One of the neighbors produced a 2012 Wayne County map of the area that shows the “ditch” on the church property as a county drain. She showed it to the commission.
Kammer said, “Wayne County said to the church that the ditch was not a county drain. The map indicates it’s the Henry Drain. If it is, the applicant will have a harder time moving the drain. If it’s a ditch, it won’t be as hard. This is governed by the county.”
Kammer said the main issue is based on drainage. “If the issue is further down stream, it’s not something the applicant can fix. More research is needed.”
“This has been a problem for a long time,” said Boynton of the drainage in that area, “as well as an issue downstream. The applicant is trying to do the best with what they have. It needs more study.”
In explaining the preliminary site plan approval, Planning and Economic Development Director Ron Akers (in the last hours of his employment with the township), said, “It still has to go through Wayne County and the township and prove they can do all these things … There will be another meeting for final site plan approval and there will have to be approval from Wayne County and EGLE [Environmental, Great Lakes, and Energy – the former MDEQ]. This shows they are conceptually able to move forward … If they can’t prove it’s going to work, we won’t approve. There’s still a lot of work to do.”
In other business at the two-hour meeting on July 10, the commission:
• Recommended to the township board the proposed plan amendments to the township’s Future Land Use Map to make possible the rezoning of property at 41620 Huron River Dr. for more than 70 unattached condo units to allow increased density of units. Scott Jones will be seeking rezoning from R-1C to RM for the project. Commissioner Jeff Jahr pointed out the RM zoning will have to be amended to allow what Jones has requested. Akers said the intent is to build the condos 10 feet apart, and RM refers to 20 feet, but they are attached condos and duplexes. “The future staff will bring this forward and work with the applicant on this,” Akers said, adding that the commission needs to see a conceptual plan to see what this looks like before the Sept. 25 meeting when the commission will vote on holding a public hearing. Jones assured them they would have the preliminary drawings much before Sept. 25;
• Approved one year of temporary land use for AD Transport at 5905 Belleville Rd. to temporarily park and store new cars and trucks in transit. The site is an existing gravel parking lot in a well-established industrial area that has access from both Belleville Road and Yost Road. There is a security fence around the site and a security guard; and
• Said fond farewells to Akers. Director of Public Services Matthew Best said, “I’ve never seen anyone as dedicated, who works this hard. He cares for the community.” Treasurer Budd thanked Akers on behalf of the township and said he and Best have been a good team and half of the team is leaving, which hurts and will leave a hole. Akers thanked everyone who worked with him and said this is one of the best planning commissions he has worked with in the last 10 years because the members have been so professional.