VBT DDA gets final site plan approval to construct Placemaking Project

The Van Buren Township Downtown Development Authority’s $2 million Placemaking Project, that has been in the works since 2014, received final site plan approval from the VBT Planning Commission at its Sept. 12 meeting.
Preliminary site plan approval from the planning commission came at its Oct. 25, 2017 meeting.
The DDA will construct a 2,314-square-foot building for governmental office use and an associated small park on the east side of Belleville Road, between Aldi’s and Westlake apartment complex.
The site is made up of multiple small parcels that were officially combined by the township on Sept. 12, making a total parcel of 1.6 acres at what were 10151, 10065, 10085, and 10101 Belleville Road.
In the year since its preliminary approval, there have been a few changes to the plans, some of which relate to the drainage requirements by Wayne County.
There also is an added parking area adjacent to the proposed building with four additional parking spots, including two additional barrier-free parking spots. The ordinance requires 23 parking spaces and 26 had been provided, plus the four new spots.
Ron Akers, director of planning and economic development, said the new spots solve the commission’s concern about handicap access to the building. This parking area will be accessed from the same Belleville Road entrance as the real estate office on the site and a gate is proposed to be installed at this entrance. The DDA’s plan for the gate is to keep it open during business hours and during public meetings and events, but to have it closed when the offices are closed.
Akers said keeping this gate open during business hours is important to handicap access to the building and keeping this gate open during events and business hours was a condition of final site plan approval.
Another change to the site plan is removal of the planned restroom building. Akers said due to financial considerations and concerns regarding the recent vandalism of some of the public restrooms in the community, the DDA has elected to remove the restroom building from the project.
DDA Executive Director Susan Ireland said the project was originally aimed at preserving the Harris Homestead on the site. She said the late Al Harris was one of the first members of the DDA board and served for many years. Grandpa Harris had a workshop on the site where he made wooden toys for children in the community.
Ireland said the Placemaking Project was to be a gathering spot within the DDA district. She said there are 13 residential areas that feed into that site, including five hotels and one more extended-stay hotel under construction.
She said in February, the DDA was able to add two adjacent sites to the project to make the parcel a little larger.
Ireland said the project will have a pavilion picnic area, walking path, and wi-fi and charging site.
Ireland said the Michigan Department of Transportation and Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments were interested in the project when talks were under way for the grants they provided to the DDA for the new pedestrian walkway over I-94.
Ireland said originally the DDA wanted to work with what was on the Harris Homestead site, but there were too many problems and they found, “Bulldozing and starting over fresh was the way to go.”
She said all the comments on the 2017 plans were addressed.
Ireland said there originally were two outbuildings planned for the project, but the restroom was eliminated. She said after seeing what happened to the Riggs Heritage Park restroom, they didn’t want that to happen here. She said people who want to use a restroom can come inside the main building.
A shared parking agreement with the real estate building is under review by an attorney. Also, three easements were needed with Edward Rose and Sons, owner of Westlake Apartments, and this is under review by their attorney. There is a total of seven easements on the project.
Commissioner Medina Atchinson asked exactly what kind of events will be held at the site.
DDA Assistant Director Lisa Lothringer said they will hold training for local businesses through SCORE, which is an organization made up of retired professionals. And, in the future the annual Public Safety Day will be held on the site.
Ireland added that the DDA meetings will be held there and private meetings when non-disclosure is important. She said there could be a continuation of the concerts that once were held at Van Buren Park. People could eat their lunches here and ride their bikes to the site. She said the township’s Human Resources person talked of bringing food trucks.
Ireland said, personally, it would be nice to see it decorated for Christmas. She said Millennials are always on their phones and tablets and they could plug them in to recharge. Or, people would be welcome to just come in and read a book.
Two DDA offices would also be in the main building.
The agenda of the Sept. 12 planning commission also had held the request for Phase II preliminary site plan approval for ACS Michigan, the Subaru research and development site on the former Smith Farm in Denton. The applicant requested this be moved to the Sept. 26 meeting.