Van Buren Twp. DDA approves Speedway land purchase agreement

A land purchase agreement between the Van Buren Township Downtown Development Authority and Speedway, LLC, was approved at the DDA’s regular meeting Sept. 28.
Speedway is proposing a gas station/store at the northeast corner of Belleville and Tyler roads.
At the March 28 DDA meeting, Speedway asked that the DDA allow construction of a driveway over part of the 27 feet of property that the DDA had purchased from the property owner to construct a sidewalk. There was dialog on the plans, Wayne County requirements, and options available.
The DDA approved a motion to sell the 27-foot-wide parcel along the frontage of the proposed Speedway project subject to a mutually acceptable agreement between the parties to be negotiated by the attorneys.
The attorneys for Speedway and the DDA worked out a land purchase agreement and DDA Director Susan Ireland said she believed it to be equitable.
The sale adds $46,485 to the DDA budget.
Ireland said she had concerns about the three years mentioned in the agreement, that if nothing is constructed in three years the DDA could buy the property back. She had preferred two years.
But DDA attorney David Greco said under the new ordinance a site plan approval is good for one year and the applicant can apply for two extensions. That’s why the three year limit was included, “Keeping you in sync with the zoning ordinance,” Greco said.
“There’s a lot of stuff they have to do before closing [on the property],” Greco said. “Three years goes pretty quickly when so much needs to be done … even hurdles from the township…”
Ireland said she appreciates that Speedway will tie in their drainage to the French drain in the adjoining sidewalk area that had been a drainage problem.
The Speedway engineer said that the VBT engineer asked them to connect that with their storm drain temporarily until someone wants to develop there.
Greco said the Speedway attorney prepared the agreement and Greco reviewed it and changed at least half of the document.
In other business at the 22-minute meeting, the DDA:
• Learned Robert Bechtel was resigning from the DDA after 15 years or more because of his work as a director at Mott Community College in Flint. Ireland said he had been a very valuable member of the DDA and she will miss him;
• Heard Ireland report that the buildings to be demolished in the Belleville Road Placemaking project are boarded up to mitigate any liability risk and are expected to be demolished in early November with construction in the spring. A planning staff review was held Sept. 6 and revisions to the site plan are being made and will be resubmitted. The site plan is expected be submitted to the planning commission;
• Learned the Belleville Road streetlights are owned and maintained by DTE and discussion on converting them to LEDs is under way with DTE and Holophane. The new lights for the path and pedestrian overpass over I-94 also will be LEDs;
• Heard Ireland say she and Matthew Best, deputy director of planning and economic development, have provided information to the Detroit Region Aerotropolis on three prospective sites in VBT for Amazon’s second headquarters; and
• Heard DDA assistant director Lisa Lothringer report on marketing projects.