Sumpter planners recommend OK of special land use for Nassar’s used car lot

After more than two hours of comments in and after a public hearing on Nov. 13, the Sumpter Township Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval to the township board of special land use for outdoor sale and display of used automobiles at 17450 Savage Rd. for the property’s new owner Hassan Nassar.
Commissioner Daniel Watson was absent and excused from the meeting.
The commission also unanimously approved special land use for Sumpter Properties, LLC, a used-car lot at 25891 Sumpter Rd., which had been requested by Nassar, who now is pulling out of that business to go to his new business on Savage Road. The new owner of the Sumpter Road property is pursuing the legal approval of that lot.
The commission also unanimously approved the site plan for 25891 Sumpter Rd., which had been requested a year ago. Neighbors say he has been operating without the legal approval for all that time, bringing in cars and, at one point, stacking them up in the back of the property.
In other business at the two-hour-and-20-minute meeting, the commission:
• Discussed draft ordinance language for the Wetland Mitigation Bank. The language is not complete. Township trustee Matthew Oddy explained that EGLE (the state’s department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) had approved a wetland mitigation project behind a mobile home park on Willis and put it in without notice to the park. He said the township has lots of wetlands and Crosswinds Marsh is the largest wetlands park in the state. He said the township doesn’t want good farmlands to be put into wetlands. Wetland banks are where wetlands are legally transferred from areas that don’t want wetlands;
• Discussed and then approved revisions to the Solar Ordinance;
• Approved the meeting dates scheduled for 2026;
• Tabled until the Jan. 8 meeting a request for special land use for a veterinary surgery suite at 40030 Willis Rd. because the applicant was not present. This had been discussed at length at a previous meeting. Commissioner Nicole VanAssche said she has been thinking about it and the township should encourage businesses in homes. She said maybe it could be open one day a week;
• Removed from the agenda without comment a request for rezoning of five parcels from MHP to RF or R1; and
• Discussed an Augusta Township man’s plan for his newly purchased property on the southwest corner of Willis and Sumpter roads. He said he has upgraded the inside of the former Art’s Appliance for a business and wanted guidance on how to use the former car repair shop on the corner. He said he is considering a custom welding shop or auto detailing by appointment. Trustee Oddy suggested he come in and talk with Joe Pezzotti, the township’s planner, to get an idea of what would work with the zoning. The man said he did that a couple of times and said Pezzotti said to come to the commission. He was told to work with the planner to come up with options.
Public Hearing
The lengthy public hearing on the former Hughes repair shop at 17450 Savage Rd. at the beginning of the meeting started with engineer Justin Novak of Wyandotte, Nassar’s consultant, explain that Nassar wants to do outdoor auto repair, add a greenbelt, and put in a privacy fence.
Township planning consultant Pezzotti in his report on the request said this business has been an auto repair shop for some time. It has commercial zoning to the north with outdoor storage, no major site changes, and two entrances on Savage Road. The required trash containers are not shown on his site plan and must be added, he said.
He said 30 parking spaces are required and they are shown on the plan as places for cars for sale. The township also needs to see the required 10% landscaping on the plans.
He recommended that the commission send the special land use approval to the township board for final approval, with stipulations that there would be no outdoor storage of discarded parts and Wayne County would approve the plan.
Judy Graves of 17600 Savage Rd., just south of the site in question, said her home was built in 1861 and is one of the original buildings in Sumpter. It was the original stagecoach stop in Sumpter Township. After she and her husband bought the property, they carefully maintained it.
She said the used cars parked right along their property line makes the aesthetic value of the property go way down. She said before the new use, it was a repair shop that was family owned and that family cared about this community. They didn’t leave cars overnight in front of their building and put them behind the fence for the night.
“It breaks my heart,” she said, noting their property value will go “down the toilet.”
The business’ hours will be 9 to 5, but it’s a residential area and people get off work at 5 p.m. and go looking for cars, she said. She said Nassar said there will be no additional lighting and that is good. But having the cars in front isn’t good. The way the late Jim Hughes did it with putting them behind the gate “was lovely.”
She said, “I don’t want that next to my house.” She said Hughes told her he would put in a privacy fence, but he died before he could do that. “I love the Hughes family.”
Next speaker was Cheryl Norden, from The Bake Shoppe, just to the north of Nassar’s new property. She had many questions. She said when she wanted to have storage on the two acres attached behind the property for her bakery, the township had turned her down. She said she had been asked how many vehicles she would have, but they have not asked that of Nassar’s property.
She asked if they will be fixing cars to be sold? Are they selling parts on the open market? What about the scrap? What about a traffic-flow analysis? What if a car battery explodes? The way the cars are being delivered is not acceptable, she said. The hauler pulls up to the garage door and lays on the horn, she said. Traffic is stopped by a person on the road to get the hauler on to the property.
She said it lowers the property values and is intrusive to the area. She said Hughes put the cars away at night. She said she doesn’t want this to turn into a chop shop, like the ones at Willis and Sumpter, Rawsonville Road, and now here.
Commission chairperson Jane Stalmack asked her to stop talking and Norden refused, saying she got a letter from the township asking her to come in and give her views at the public hearing and she’s giving her views. She brought along a poster with pictures of the cars at Nassar’s location at his Sumpter Road location.
Next speaker was Joseph Meadows who said he lives at 17770 Savage and he is next door to what has turned into a $2.5 million federal remediation project. The yellow tapes keep people from going on that property since it contains lead contamination from many years ago from the Huron Valley Steel plant.
He said he is a veteran and he came to Sumpter in 2012 and now there is contamination on one side and used cars on the other. He said Nassar is a nice man. Meadows said he now has turkey, deer, and raccoon in his back yard and they will be gone. The smell of burning oil is in his backyard. It’s the aesthetics, he said.
Damon Schultz of Willis Road said Nassar will bring a nice, legal business to the community. He told those who complain about living next to commercial zoning that they knew that property was commercial.
Ron Watson of Riggs Road said he has known Nassar for ten years and he is part of the community. “He’s going to make that business great,” Watson said, adding he hopes Nassar will work on car repairs.
Steve Memering of Bemis and Willis roads said, “I back him 100%.”
Christina Meadows, 17700 Savage Rd., said Nassar’s business will be open from 9 to 5, but people look for cars after work and on weekends. She said there will be a lot of signage and lighting.
“I’m breathing a lot of smoke,” Meadows said. “I’m hearing a lot of gunshots late at night, all days… My dogs are going crazy, my neighbor’s dogs are going crazy … It should remain residential by the park… The business is not there yet and we’re seeing fights already … People we don’t know are coming in.”
Andrew VanAssche of Bemis Road asked if the repairs are outside of the 9-5 hours inside the building. He said sound travels especially through the trees. He asked if the woodlands will be undisturbed. Also, he said it’s a burden on the neighbors to seek enforcement of ordinances. He asked about the maximum number of cars allowed. He noted the firearm activity. He said he knows the sound of sighting a shotgun and that’s not what he’s hearing.
He said bullets are going over his property and his kids play in his backyard. He said his wife is paranoid about their kids walking on the trails they have in their woods. “Sounds like a war zone,” he said.
He said of Nassar, “I don’t know this gentleman from the man in the moon,” and Nassar called out, “I never shot.” A member of the planning commission said Nassar should get his people under control.
Kay Harris said she lives next to Nassar’s property on Sumpter Road. She said he bought that in September 2024 and she got access to the site plan and the things on it are not done. She said he has moved a lot in and out over that time. He got a 12-month extension to Oct. 25, 2025 on the site plan. She said he has pulled no permits and she questioned whether the spectic system has been put in as required.
“It is a junk yard,” she said. “I begged for a firewall. I can’t sleep at night because nobody’s there and I have to check for fire erupting from the lithium batteries. He’s moving cars back and forth” between his Sumpter and Savage lots.
The resident across Savage Road from Nassar’s new property said that is a very busy corner with a curve. She said a semi pulled into her private drive to back into his lot. She said she owned property on Michigan Ave. and people roamed at night at the used car lot there. She said the park is an amenity, but the used car is not. She said she has safety concerns with the semi stopping traffic.
A resident of Karr Road said the community needs a used-car lot. He needed his car fixed and had to go into Belleville and could find no one there to fix it. He said Nassar fixed it for him.
Nassar spoke at the end of the hearing, noting he knew the late owner of the Hughes property for 35 years and Hughes would come to Nassar’s lot across from Ace Hardware to get away from his wife who wouldn’t let him smoke at home. “On Aug. 8 we signed a purchase agreement and on Aug. 11 he passed away,” Nassar said.
Nassar said he has not been to the Sumpter Road property in a month and a half and Harris interrupted him to say he came to her door.
“I got kids to raise, tuition to pay … I don’t bother nobody … I love this community,” he said, asking the township to give him a chance to prove what he can do. He said he was at the Sunoco station in Sumpter since 1991 and then opened the car lot across from Ace in 2016 and was there for six years. “I love the township,” he said. “I want to do business here. Please give me the chance.”
After his remarks, chairperson Stalmack read a letter from Brian Walsh opposing the special land use.
The commission discussed what conditions to impose on the site.
Nassar said he will put up a concrete barrier to keep the bakery customers from his property. He said 15-20 cars will be on display in front of his building.
There was discussion on the used parts he would sell and a neighbor asked where those parts will come from. Stalmack shut down the question.
Oddy said he should not be able to have inoperable junk cars on the property. He said after the parts are secured the inoperable vehicles can’t be kept in the garage facility.
When the neighbor again asked where he would get the used parts, Nassar said the vehicles will be moved out of the property when the parts are taken off.
Another letter was found in opposition to the special land use, from Mike and Laura Graf, noting there is not enough parking space for employees and customers inside.
Oddy said the used cars should be parked behind the fence at night and Nassar said he would do that. A stipulation to the commission motion was that he could only have 12 cars displayed in front.
The township board will make the final decision on the special land use at an upcoming meeting.