Van Buren Township announces Tractor Supply store coming

Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara and Director of Planning and Economic Development Dan Power announced that Tractor Supply has submitted an application to build at the corner of Sumpter and Hull roads.
The announcement was made at the Dec. 6 joint meeting of the planning commissions from Van Buren Township, city of Belleville, and Sumpter Township that brought about 30 people together at Belleville High School to discuss local planning issues.
Those attending also included elected officials and employees from Belleville and VBT. This is the first such joint meeting in six years.
Supervisor McNamara said the application from Tractor Supply first goes to staff review and then to the planning commission.
“This is the first company we ever went after,” McNamara said of his administration. “Sharry wanted it,” he said, referring to Township Treasurer Sharry Budd who is the board liaison to the planning commission.
Tractor Supply is known to local residents who visit the stores in Monroe, Trenton, and the newest one on Michigan Avenue in Canton. Tractor Supply has placed two advertising circulars in the Independent over the past year.
According to its website, one of Tractor Supply’s main competitors is Ace Hardware and Ace Hardware has been located for many years just down Sumpter Road in Sumpter Township.
Other competitors are Home Depot, Harbour Freight, and Lowe’s.
Founded in 1938, Tractor Supply is an American retail chain of stores that sells products for home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, livestock, equine and pet care for recreational farmers and ranchers, pet owners, and landowners.
The announcement that Tractor Supply is coming to Van Buren Township was made during discussion on going after businesses for each community.
McNamara said that he keeps hearing about redevelopment. He said when Ron Akers left the township (he has since returned), Elizabeth Renaud, an intern, became a star.
VBT Commissioner Medina Atchinson said Renaud became a super star, especially in community engagement. She said when surveys on what the community wanted came up short, Renaud went door to door knocking and people told her what they want.
McNamara said Van Buren Township doesn’t have an economic development department, so “Ron [Akers] does it. I do it. Dan [Power] does it,” referring to talking to businesses.
The tri-community meeting of planners was set up by Van Buren Township who invited the other two communities to come together to discuss local planning issues.
Those at the meeting indicated they wanted to continue to have these joint meetings in the future, so the next meeting was set for 5 p.m., May 1, at the Belleville Area District Library. VBT Trustee Donald Boynton suggested the format allow everyone to sit in a circle, so they all could see each other, and to have a microphone and speakers, so they could all hear each other.
The group voted unanimously to appoint VBT Planning Commission Chairman Jerry Cullin as chairman of the Dec. 6 meeting.
Over the two-hour meeting, the group discussed:
• The vacant Kmart store in VBT. McNamara said a developer will build luxury apartments in that area, which is lakeside, if the growing greenery that blocks travel in the lake can be cleaned up;
• The jigsaw puzzle on the east side of Sumpter Road, where Belleville and Van Buren Township parcels are located side by side;
• How the city of Belleville is considered the downtown area for both townships. John Juriga, who said he has spent 25 years on the Belleville Planning Commission and five years on the VBT commission before that, noted that all three want downtown Belleville as their downtowns. It has a great school, library, and shopping. Chairman Cullin said, “We all live in Belleville and the city of Belleville lives on the lake”;
• The three master plans, with Belleville and Sumpter looking at updates. Belleville Mayor Ken Voigt said in the last four years the administration in the city changed almost 100%. He said the master plan will be on the front burner of his administration. He, too, said the three communities are connected and the political jurisdictions are apart from that;
• The rebuilt gas station at the corner of Bemis and Sumpter in Sumpter Township. Cullin complimented the building and he asked what is being built in Belleville. City project administrator Steve Jones said the city is pretty built out. Atchinson said business creates more business. She asked about a movie theater and parking structure downtown;
• Parking in Belleville. Jones said Belleville has limited square footage in the city and shuttle service from the north side of the bridge could be arranged, such as from Menards or Planet Fitness. He said in Florida one community encourages business employees to park in general parking lots and then they are transported by golf carts to their jobs, saving valuable parking spots for customers. Also the golf carts can take people for a tour around town and back to the parking area;
• Property owned by the city on Main Street behind the car wash and Frosty Boy. Juriga said that area is landlocked and could be a parking lot. Voigt said it has alley access to Second Street. He said the restaurants already opened in the city are causing stress on parking;
• The huge parking lot on Sumpter Road near Belle Villa. Atchinson said people could pay $5 to park there and be taken to Belleville and shown around. “Everyone wants to go on a golfcart ride,” she said;
• A round-about at Five Points. McNamara said, when he was county commissioner, city officials told him they would have to take out the gas station owned by Ed Memering for a round-about because the county didn’t want to acquire property. “Actually, I don’t know if you’d want one there,” McNamara said;
• A grocery store in Belleville. Atchinson said a grocery store might be a good way to fill vacancies on Main Street. Cullin said it was too bad the city lost the hardware store and the CVS next door. Jones said people have said they want a grocery store and a coffee shop. He said they have a coffee shop and the Butcher Shop that opened recently doubles as a grocery store. Voigt said Scott Jones, who developed the shopping center at the bridge, tried mightily to recruit a grocery store;
• Shoppers on the south end. Sumpter Planning Commissioner John Honey said he goes to Trenton and Monroe to shop. Belleville Commissioner Becky Hasen said a lot in her neighborhood, in the condos at Belle Villa, go to the dollar store nearby or the gas station/market at Willis Road, rather than go through Belleville and drive over the bridge and freeway;
• How to get a grocery store. VBT Commissioner Jeff Jahr said as planners they can’t make grocery stores appear, but they can make it clear to developers that grocery stores would be welcomed. He said the VBT commission tried to put incentives in its Sumpter Road Overlay Plan;
• State grants for redevelopment. Akers said the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has a redevelopment process on its website with tons of resources available. He said VBT got a $15,000 grant. Voigt said Belleville had that in its plans and was going to ask VBT for help. He said it had been discussed for about three years and it didn’t happen. “I’ve only been mayor for two days,” Voigt said;
• VBT’s plan that changed Belleville developer’s project. Belleville Planning Commission Chairman Michael Hawkins said the “slip stream” on the east side of Sumpter Road that is in the VBT Sumpter Road Overlay District, caused one property owner to change his plans and cut his development in half. He referred to the apartments Davenport Brothers will build just north of the Senior Co-Op apartments on Belleville parcels that was first planned to wrap around the veterinarian clinic, where the parcels are in VBT. McNamara said he didn’t know about any problem and Power said it was more a conceptual idea and they could work with the city;
• Rural feel south of the city. Cullin said people south of town wanted to retain a rural feel. Voigt said he liked the mixed uses in the Sumpter Road Overlay plan. “People don’t want it sanitary. They like it all jumbled together,” Voigt said, who has noted earlier that his college minor was in municipal planning;
• Denton Road Bridge. McNamara invited the communities to participate in the survey on how they want the rebuilt bridge to look. Hasan asked if a link could be put on the Belleville website to make it easier for city residents to participate in the survey. Atchinson said she learned in planning commission training that development from the top down is cumbersome and when it’s done everyone hates it. She said development from the bottom up with everyone’s ideas, works well. McNamara said the county has agreed to make the bridge one inch higher than the Belleville Road bridge and to have two-way passage. He said the county said work can’t be done on the bridge until July, after the fish are done breeding. Plans were discussed for boardwalks from, possibly, the former DNR property north of the bridge to Doane’s Landing and then on to the far end of Horizon Park;
• Country living. Sumpter Planning Commission Chairwoman Jane Stalmack said in Sumpter Township they want country living. Jahr said in southern VBT, they want country living, too;
• Belleville Lake. Cullin said the lake has been a draw for all of the communities. Since the early days people would come from other communities to enjoy Susterka Lake and Belleville Lake. Jones said the city finished lakeside Horizon Park amenities 13 years ago and it started with a grant from Wayne County through Commissioner McNamara. He said now they have added day slips and a kayak launch and the park is very well used. Jones said Doane’s Landing is being looked at for better access to the lake with the possibility of docks there;
• Park for handicapped children. Stalmack said she would like to see a park for handicapped children and Sumpter Commissioner Richard Pokerwinski reminded her they put up handicapped swings in Sumpter. McNamara said when he was commissioner he helped do such a park in the city of Wayne and they could look at it. Jones said Village Park in the city is where they have the most room;
• Development portal. Power said VBT has a place on its website where people can track developments, with different colors indicating the status of where it is in its development. McNamara said the new community center will be done at the end of January and then it will have stuff put in it and not be ready for occupancy until the end of next year; and
• Empty CVS store downtown. Voigt said the city has talked to CVS and they have a five-year lease on the property and will only lease it for a dollar store. Voigt said the city may be able to talk them into sub-leasing it to the city for use as a place where small businesses can grow before moving into their own brick and mortar locations. He said all CVS wants is no pharmacy in there. “We’re not going to do things half-baked,” Voigt said of the city. “We’re small, but …” He noted that all three communities are connected and, “We all love each other and we’re one community.”