VBT planners put off decision on senior assisted-living proposal

After more than an hour and 20 minutes of hearing mostly negative comments during a Jan. 8 public hearing on a proposed assisted living project, the Van Buren Township Planning Commission voted to postpone additional discussion until more information could be gathered.
Because the township board meeting room was still under renovations, those coming to the public hearing were packed into the Otisville-Sheldon room. The meeting was not recorded for cable or You Tube viewing and there were no microphones provided to the board or audience, so there was difficulty in hearing the comments.
At issue is special land use for the 64,000-square-foot Hampton Manor development, in two sections, proposed for the southeast corner of Tyler and Morton Taylor roads. It is planned to have 80 units: 24 in memory care and 36 in assisted living.
The six parcels totaling 7.11 acres are presently owned by Walter and Evelyn Joyce Rochowiak, who live across Tyler Road from the site. The Rochowiaks had the property rezoned C (Local Business) District in 1999 when they said they were going to have to move their Garden Fantasy greenhouses and florist shop to the site because their landlord would be moving them out.
The Tyler/Morton Taylor site had been previously owned by Bentley Nurseries who had one acre of it already zoned C. The Bentleys also rezoned the rest of the property from Agriculture to residential, with plans to break it into lots to build houses in the future.
But, in 1993 the Rochowiaks purchased the property and in 1998 asked to have all the property rezoned C. The Rochowiaks didn’t leave the Haggerty Road site until a few years ago and at that time they moved their business to their farm and the site under discussion remained vacant.
Walden Woods at the northwest corner of Tyler and Morton Taylor was built with a strip of commercial zoning along Tyler Road, but that zoning would expire when the PUD agreement ran out. The Rochowiak site zoned C now is completely surrounded by residential properties.
Charter Club Estates subdivision residents, across Morton Taylor road from the site, fought the rezoning in 1998 and 1999 and many of the same Charter Club residents are opposing this development now.
The proposed developer is listed in township documents as Van Buren Investors Land Holdings LLC, which opponents have pointed out is not registered with the state.
In his information to the township, developer Zohaib Syed listed his address as 1451 S. Gratiot, Clinton Township, which is the site of an auto repair shop.
But Sam Martin, vice president of development of Hampton Manor, said their Hampton Manors are in operation and ready for inspections in Shelby Township, Brighton, Dundee, and one under construction on Ridge Road in Canton Township.
He said they would like the local seniors to be able to stay in VBT.
“My partner and I got into this years ago,” Martin said. “We want to make sure they’re happy. We have free valet services to go get the car for seniors when weather is bad.”
He said traffic will be minimal since usually only 1% of the seniors are driving. The shifts for the 15 employees will be 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., 3 to 11 p.m., and 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Martin said the development will offer beauty salons, spas, movie theatres, courtyards, grilles, sunrooms, libraries, and outside doors for each assisted living unit.
Thirteen people stood up to speak in the audience, with most against the project and a few just asking questions.
Attorney Tom DiPietro, who has lived on Morton Taylor Road for many years, said years ago he was concerned about the apartments when they were planned and they were built and he got used to it. Then he was concerned about the new subdivisions, and he got a whole lot of new neighbors.
“It’s hard to place our parents,” DiPietro said. “This is a nice one … a low-level use with minimal impact.”
Attorney Lisa Martin, who lives across Morton Taylor Road in Charter Club subdivision, spoke against the siting of the assisted living project.
She said the ordinance reads that projects must be compatible with the surrounding neighbors and this isn’t, because it’s in a residential neighborhood.
Also, Martin said Tyler Road is a main school bus route and the shift change at 3 p.m. is the time buses are running on Tyler.
“I hear tire screeches all the time,” Martin said of the Morton Taylor/Tyler intersection that is a four-way stop.
She noted that six other subdivisions are close and the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) reports daily traffic of 4,300 to 4,400 cars within a quarter mile of that intersection.
Martin said the zoning ordinance limits construction at that site to 30,000 square feet and this 62,000-64,000-square-foot development is too big.
She also questioned whether they will be able to smoke on campus and whether they will be throwing their cigarette butts into her neighborhood.
The threat has been that something worse will come if we don’t build this, she said. She urged the planners to reject this plan. She said more traffic is not what they need, not at that corner.
As she completed her remarks, the room erupted in applause.
Karianne Butler of Charter Club asked about the monthly rent of the units and why Van Buren Investors Land Holdings LLC is not registered with the state.
She asked about sidewalks and was told they would be along Tyler and Morton Taylor roads. She also asked about how they could only claim one vendor truck would deliver each week, if they had arrangements for ambulances, if they provide a smoking area, if there would be tax abatements, and how far this will be from Tyler Elementary School.
A resident at 10890 Morton Taylor said her yard is like a lake when it rains. She said after Camping World spread out the gravel, it pushed more water into her yard. She wanted to know if the assisted living development would make it worse.
Another Morton Taylor Road resident said drivers treat the four-way stop at Morton Taylor and Tyler more like a suggestion and there would be problems for drivers from out of town going to Hampton Manor.
Dan Power, the township’s new director of planning, stood to say there is a nationwide movement to make a place for seniors to age in place. He said communities have to zone appropriately and the sites should be considered more as special land use.
Planning consultant Vidya Krishnan of McKenna said the buildings total 62,516 square feet, are 17 feet tall, single story. The property has been zoned C at least for a decade, she said. The applicant is seeking special land use.
When a woman asked about the 30,000-square-foot limit in the ordinance, Krishnan said they didn’t want big box stores but senior housing is residential use in C zoning and that’s different.
She said the special land use approval is there to give the township control over the development and the applicant is not seeking exceptions.
Krishnan said the questions about flooding will be turned over to the engineers. She said Tyler and Morton Taylor are designated by the county as major thoroughfares. The group daycare homes along Tyler are run by the state. The questions about the safety of children crossing at Tyler School, the township will take up with the county.
She said the ordinance requires 36 parking spaces for this development and 50 are being provided.
Paul Kammer, an engineer with Fishbeck, said the developer has to contain the water on the site and the applicant has begun talking with the county on storm water management.
Planning Commission chairwoman Carol Thompson asked Director Matthew Best what items he had on his list to check on.
Director Best said: tax abatement is one item and he doesn’t think there will be a request for a tax abatement. Also, on his list is ambulance data from VBT and HVA. And, addresses of current locations of other Hampton Manors. He said they have no affiliations with any other homes in the community. Also, the lighting at the site will be downward facing and will not spread into adjoining lots.
Best also said a serious construction bond is required for completion, so the township can complete the project if they walk away. Also, the planning commission would have to vote to allow the extra parking. And, the township has a priority on trash and cigarette butts.
Developer Martin said, “We try at making everything very homelike. Employees will take cigarette breaks in their cars and dispose of the cigarettes there. On the way back to the building they’ll pick up pieces of trash and pull a weed.”
He said the air conditioners will make minimal sound and the generator is tested once a week. He said the cost is private pay and they are looking at Medicaid. They take long-term insurance and veterans’ insurance. He also said the emergency vehicles do not turn on the sirens on the way to the facility so there will be no noise from that.
A retired fireman in the back of the room called out to say that was not true. He said the sirens are turned on and Martin said they are not. The retired fireman said he had 15 more years of experience than Martin and he knows what happens.
Belleville Fire Chief Brian Loranger, who lives in VBT, said a fire truck has to have a siren and light on the way to the location. Later Chief Loranger said the fire department would get in trouble if it didn’t have lights and sirens on on the way to heart attacks and strokes.
Martin invited people to tour their locations and said he would get the addresses for them. As to why the LLC isn’t registered with the state, Martin said they have different LLCs for each location for tax purposes.
At this point chairwoman Thompson ended the public hearing and said the commission will not proceed with the rest of the agenda — approval of the special land use (which would then be sent on to the township board) and approval of the preliminary site plan.
Motions were made and passed to close the public hearing, to postpone additional discussion, and to adjourn the meeting.
Director Best said the applicant, Power, Krishnan, and himself will be stationed around the room to answer questions for a time following the meeting.
Power said there were 17 emails received on this issue and they have been distributed to the commission members and also were being passed around the meeting room so, “People know they’re being heard.”
In a memo to the commission from Power and Krishnan on Jan. 7, the day before the meeting, the size of the proposed building was questioned, but this was not mentioned at the public hearing. The memo reads:
“The Township adopted a zoning ordinance amendment to allow for Senior Housing within the Township a few months ago. Senior housing has been a recent use that many communities are making provisions for. In some, senior housing is allowable in single family residential districts; however, in Van Buren, the Township decided that senior housing would be held to a higher standard than a single-family residential use, therefore, the use was permitted in the C, C-1, C-2, MU, RM and RMH Districts.
“Senior Housing is permitted only as a special land use in all of the districts noted above, to allow the Township to have greater say in mitigating any potential adverse impacts from such use. The size of the development is determined by the specific design standards for the landscaping, buffering, screening, tree replacement, storm-water detention, etc. The C district however has a limitation on the maximum building size for a single use. The intent behind this limitation was to restrict the traffic generated from any single commercial use. This standard was not intended for residential type uses in the commercial district. The C district currently allows for sit down restaurants, strip commercial buildings, professional medical and dental offices by right. These uses typically occupy a smaller footprint building but generate a significant amount of traffic and road trips. Senior housing is considered to be a lower intensity use than those allowable in the C district, since the traffic generated by such use is significantly less.
“When the Senior Housing ordinance was adopted, the intent was to have stringent site design standards that would ensure a development that would alleviate any negative impacts. The conflict with an existing ordinance provision was unexpected. We believe the existing C district restriction serves the community well with regard to commercial uses and the intensity they bring; however, it is not an appropriate application for a use that is residential in nature.
“Section 3 of the original amendment presented before the PC and Board of Trustees states ‘All other provisions of the Zoning Ordinance, or Ordinances or parts of Ordinances, in conflict with this Ordinance are hereby repealed only to the extent necessary to give this Ordinance full force and effect.’ While this section can be used, we believe the correct approach would be to amend the Senior Housing ordinance to provide clarification regarding the building size being governed by site designs standards and not the underlying district.”