VBT planners spend entire meeting on Sumpter

Steve Davenport of Davenport Brothers Construction told the Van Buren Township Planning Commission why the Sumpter Road Corridor Plan was important to his company. This was at the April 28 zoom meeting via zoom completely devoted entirely to the Sumpter Road Corridor.
The plan calls for overlay zoning of commercial over a strip of property along Sumpter Road from the city of Belleville to Bemis Road, where Sumpter Township begins. The township sent out more than 66 invitations to attend this presentation on the plan, seeking input.
Davenport said he has property in the city of Belleville, north of Hull Road. In Belleville there are a lot of marijuana industries. He said they haven’t made any decisions, but if they decide to sell property, “We want to keep every one of our tenants local.”
He said his company purchased 455 and 515 Sumpter Road and they’re talking to the farmer who owns property east of Sumpter Road on Hull.
“Everyone likes to fast-track and you can’t do it without zoning,” Davenport said. He said the IP zoning in Belleville is flexible.
“I’m certainly for it,” he said of the Sumpter Road Corridor Plan. “If I was certain to have the zoning, I could bring more people in.”
“We hear what you’re saying about businesses nearby and limits to where they are,” said Dan Power, VBT director of planning and economic development, who led the discussion period. This followed a 20-minute presentation on the plan by McKenna consultant Adam Cook.
Bill Ellis spoke of the blighted property he bought at 1166 Sumpter Rd. at the corner of Cheney. He said he cleaned it up and is taking the parking lot out of the front for residential use, but the township won’t approve residential. Power said it was built as a home and then zoned commercial. Ellis said the house was empty for eight years and the lumber yard nearby empty three years.
Ryan Ellis of Cheney Street said their neighbors were embarrassed by the house before his father fixed it and would give their guests roundabout directions to get to their homes.
Roger King said that house was a house when it was built. “Why isn’t it a house? Put some people in there.”
Edward Burger said he was happy the township is showing leadership in this corridor. He said he was born on the road in a house that burned down long ago. His family farmed it for 100 years and now there are tenant farmers from Milan who do a great job.
He said north of Hull Road, it was developed over time and then it’s a clean slate down to Bemis. He said the Sumpter Road Corridor Plan calls for 400 feet in front in a strip along both sides of Sumpter Road with farms and residences behind that.
“The opportunity is there,” Burger said. “They are looking for business places to go where the zoning/master plan allows.”
He said the traffic on Sumpter Road is very heavy and noisy and is not a good place for a home.
“You’ll be proud of what develops,” Burger said, noting he spent 16 years in the commercial real estate business.
Carrie Fry asked if there are any proposed businesses who want to come in to Sumpter Road.
“I’m brand new to the township and I travel into Belleville a decent amount…” she said.
Power said businesses wanting to come in aren’t driving the planning process. He said they have to lay the process first.
“Drive into Belleville,” said Matt Best, director of public services. “We want to keep people driving into Belleville. We don’t want to take away from them… No specific businesses. … What do you want?”
“I moved here for rural nature,” she said, adding she would like sidewalks. She said she would stop at stores along the way, such as a new bakery or an ice cream shop.
Joy Stevenson said she moved to the township two years ago from Detroit and is living on Sumpter Road at Belle Villa Boulevard. She said when they ride bikes to Belleville it is very dangerous. She said the speed limit is 40, and they are going 50.
“If you extend the sidewalks down and create bike lanes, that would be really cool,” she said. “It’s not safe riding down Sumpter Road. The more businesses are coming, the more we need a way to get there.”
She said when heading to Belleville they have to get to the Plaza sidewalk. They have also tried to get to the Metroparks.
Power read some written commentaries, with the first one from a Bemis Road resident, William Alati. He said there is a bottleneck at Five Points and businesses won’t want to give up street parking to widen it. He said on Sumpter Road there will most likely be small businesses with a record of failure. He said there are existing abandoned businesses north from Hull Road and it would be better to renovate. He said the traffic on Sumpter and Bemis already is heavy.
Another written comment was from Sean DeGennaro who has lived on Martinsville near Fret for four years. He wanted more elbow room and less hubbub but misses the amenities of other cities. He said amenities are limited south of Belleville and improved north of I-94. He said COVID has people rethinking urban living. There is an opportunity for rezoning, he said.
Sean Bellingham of Sumpter Township asked VBT to keep the zonings the same. He moved to Sumpter for the rural atmosphere.
Linda Hogan said there are many empty buildings, 14 or more, including Kmart, the dog groomers. Traffic gets stuck by trains, she said. Traffic has to be addressed.
Six neighbors on Cheney Street wrote and signed a statement saying they are so glad to see the eyesore fixed at the corner and it should be residential.
Facebook and chat postings were synopsized by Power: leave it the way it is; traffic; and Steven Dark wrote this is an exciting concept and has so much untapped potential; bike paths; lumber yard an eyesore, home should be rezoned; and Reg Ion said most of the businesses along there fail and the township is wasting a lot of money there on consultants.
VBT Planning Commissioner Medina Atchinson said the plan would help drive businesses to the city of Belleville. She said whatever affects the city of Belleville, Van Buren Township or Sumpter Township affects them all.
Belleville City Councilwoman Kelly Bates agreed with Atchinson, saying the three communities are one.
Power said, “We’ve been trying to keep the three communities as one.”
After the planning commission members commented, Power said they will take the feedback and consider what to do next. Based on the feedback, he said, it looks like they will go forward.
Power said they may have an actual event with social distancing, maybe at the fire station at the corner of Hull and Sumpter. He said there will be other opportunities for the public to reach out and they will continue to develop this with the planning commission.
Reg Ion offered another comment that Power relayed as the township failed to create a downtown in the past and this is their last chance to create a downtown. Ion asked Power to read his comment in full and Power read it again leaving out the part about the planning commission failing in the past in building a downtown.