A new entrance to Willow Run Airport off the North I-94 Service Drive is being planned in Van Buren Township as a part of the Aerotropolis project.
At the April 14 regular meeting of the Van Buren Township Planning Commission David Tyler, who identified himself as deputy director of Wayne County EDGE, and engineer John Hennessey outlined the preliminary plans.
EDGE stands for Economic Development Growth Engine, an agency within the Wayne County government aimed at economic growth.
Tyler said corporations are showing an interest in the airport, but for the county to proceed with the new entrance, it needs a corporation.
He said the airport needs a new front door and that’s what the plans show.
Hennessey said the county made an agreement with the two landfills to vacate the former Denton Road on their site and to provide some land to the airport to the west of old Denton.
Tyler and Hennessey presented to commissioners a drawing of the proposed new airport entry and a drawing of an aerial view of the airport with the new entrance in place.
Commissioners also received a map showing the proposed location of the new entrance, not far from the Rawsonville entry/exit ramps to I-94.
Hennessey said it will take 60 to 70 days to complete the drawings, as soon as EDGE can find a user. He said the plan is to have a boulevard for the first 300 feet off the service drive and then conventional roads into the airport.
Commissioner Carl Johnson asked if there was an upgrade planned to the North Service Drive, which he said was in “rough shape” and “pretty narrow.”
Hennessey said any upgrades to the road “depends on the end user” and such upgrades are not a part of this plan.
“We’re describing onsite improvements, not the road,” Tyler said, adding that the FAA has allocated dollars for upgrading of part of the airport.
“We are in discussions with MDOT (Michigan Department of Transportation) and we will be meeting with them tomorrow morning to continue our sales pitch,” Tyler said.
He said the bridge at I-275 and Ecorse is in bad shape and MDOT will fund that reconstruction. He said the ramps need work also, and he believes they will have money for that, too.
Tyler also said EDGE is trying to get intersection dollars for the Haggerty/Ecorse intersection.
Commissioner Bob McKenna asked about the airport’s east entrance at the end of Tyler Road and David Tyler said he didn’t know.
He said there have been some infrastructure improvements on the east side of the airport and that is being done in a sequential process.
McKenna said the plan was to funnel traffic from I-275 to Ecorse and then to Beck Road to enter the airport. He pointed out this former plan does not go along with the airport entrance plan being presented.
Tyler did not answer McKenna’s concern, but said EDGE is trying to get the rest of the dollars for the Belleville/Ecorse intersection and, “We’re almost there.”
“That’s going to have to be a part of what we have to look into,” Tyler then said of McKenna’s concerns.
Commissioner Tom Koscielny asked if there were any businesses at Willow Run now, and he was told Kalitta Air, Yankee Air Museum, and others were still there.
Koscielny said he had been told the runway is not long enough for a 747 to take off, but Tyler said under the right conditions a loaded 747 can take off.
Dan Swallow, VBT Director of Planning and Economic Development, said several runway extensions had been studied and the extension of the east/west runway to Beck Road is the preferred.
Resident Ed Seyfried said a new drive off the North Service Drive is a terrible mistake.
“We have enough truck traffic on the Service Drive,” Seyfried said, adding school buses are there twice a day, it’s in a residential area, and regular car and truck traffic is already heavy.
“Why not improve the Tyler Road entrance?’ Seyfried said. “If someone [company] comes in, then look at another entrance.”
Swallow said the goal was to get traffic closer to the Rawsonville ramp.
Hennessey said Willow Run will increase on a priority list if these improvements are made to give the airport direct access to I-94.
Commission chairman Carol Thompson asked if the end user will be in Ypsilanti Township or Van Buren Township and Tyler said it could be either one, since the airport is in both townships.
“We have competition,” Thompson acknowledged.
Commissioner Don Boynton asked if they had done an official traffic study and if, within their plan, is a proposal to come in from Michigan Avenue, the back way, past the old plant area?
Tyler said the goal is to create a new front door to be attractive to 21st century businesses. To set the right image and have as direct a connection to the freeway as you can have.
Thompson said in the drawing, you can see the entrance from I-94, which you can’t really see now.
Hennessey said MDOT would probably help with that.
In other business at the April 14 meeting, the commission discussed at length the proposed changes to the Accessory Structures and Uses Zoning Ordinance Section 4.14.
Then, they postponed any action on the amendments until they could get some drawings, to give them visual representations on how the different heights proposed would look.
The amendments have been discussed at the last three or four meetings. In March, the wording was sent to the township attorney.
Swallow reported the township attorney said when dealing with the proposed modifications, not to get into the purview of a variance, which is the Board of Zoning Appeals’ jurisdiction.
Swallow said they were advised to stick to what the planning commission can do.
“The attorney has seen the latest draft and he would prefer to define what the planning commission can grant and approves relocation of the wording ‘as otherwise permitted,’” Swallow said.
Commissioner McKenna said that resident Dave Frankling made a good point at the last meeting. McKenna said after looking into Frankling’s statement, “My recommendation is to keep the present words” and not change them, as far as height is concerned.
At a previous meeting, Swallow said the amendment to the zoning ordinance was necessary because of the recent lawsuit, referring to Frankling’s law suit against the township, which Frankling won.
The Frankling law suit proved the township had approved an oversize garage that didn’t follow the township’s own ordinances, although Frankling had tried to tell officials, over and over again, that the building was too tall, that it didn’t meet required setbacks, and was even off its property.
Hodges had defended the township’s actions as Frankling’s case wended its way to the Michigan Supreme Court, with Frankling winning at every turn.
Sally Hodges, representative of McKenna Associates planning consultants, said to the commissioners, “If you are considering taking it back and you think the old way was sufficient and those wanting higher buildings would require more scrutiny…”
[McKenna Associates is no relation to planning commissioner Bob McKenna.]
Swallow said the changes were so people didn’t have to come before the planning commission if they wanted larger/taller buildings and a request on the agenda that evening is the third height request.
“Three is nothing of all the buildings we have,” McKenna said. He referred to a new footnote on page 3 of the ordinance that gave maximum heights of 16 to 19 feet, depending on the roof pitch.
“It seems like we’re going to have some pretty high buildings,” McKenna said.
Township Treasurer Sharry Budd, who sits on the planning commission, spoke in favor of taller buildings.
“I don’t see that you should say it can’t be higher than the principle residence … some in a ranch house want mobile homes in their (out) buildings,” she said.
She said that old wording was pretty restrictive, especially since she comes from a farming background and they have to get trucks in their buildings – both her family and her son’s.
“It’s expensive if you have to come to the planning commission,” Budd said. “Is it fair to restrict that?”
“I wonder if we are in need of visual aids,” asked Thompson. “It helped us before. We need visual representations of this before changing the words.”
Swallow asked if they were comfortable with all the changes except the height, noting the amendment gives a 20% increase in square footage.
“We want to look at it again to make sure we’re all in our comfort zone,” Thompson said.
In other business, the commission:
* Approved the request of Michael Carr to build a larger and taller than allowed detached accessory building at his property at 49700 Martz Road. Budd said that everyone in his neighborhood has a big barn in back;
* Heard a man who lives in the Bemis / Sumpter Road area point out that, in the proposed accessory building amendments, the higher you go, the steeper the roof pitch. “Eventually, you’re building a steeple,” he said;
* Heard Frankling thank Commissioner McKenna for bringing up and questioning details of the amendments and thanked the commission for discussing it. “That’s the way this commission is supposed to work,” he said. He pointed out other details, such as wording that would nullify a chart, that concerned him and Swallow said, “We can take another look at it.” Frankling passed out copies of the current ordinance to the commissioners, saying, “I don’t know how you can make a new ordinance without looking at the old ordinance.” The changes before the commission were marked as changes of changes, since the amendment language has been under ongoing scrutiny for several months. Hodges said her firm has a track record of going back to the original; and
* Heard Seyfried give an update on activities in Walmart’s back yard. Swallow said the county wants drawings of a proposal that utilizes the county road right of way for a foot path and the township’s engineers, Wade Trim, have been asked to do the drawings.