VBT Planners clear the way for Industrial zoning of farmland

The 75 acres of the Smith farm in Denton that has been farmed for more than 100 years will be changed to Light Industrial zoning in a plan worked out by the Van Buren Township Planning Commission.
Among the farm buildings on the property is a big old barn and a farmhouse built in 1888.
At its Oct. 25 meeting, applicant Ben Griffin said there are nine parcels in a triangular area bounded on the north by Michigan Avenue, on the south side by Norfolk Suffolk railroad, and on the east by the Denton Cemetery and a single-family residential area.
He said these parcels are not conducive to residential development and would be better as a Light Industrial site.
Ron Akers, director of planning and economic development said this rezoning is a little different. He said you can’t rezone single family residential to M-1 because of the Master Plan. The Master Plan would have to be changed.
He said the township has to justify rezonings with its Master Plan and the area is now R-1C (single family residential).
He said this site is close to the American Center for Mobility and the township needs to look at making more industrial zoning available.
He said the first step is to change the Master Plan, but the township already is embarking on a Master Plan update project that will take about a year. While Griffin said he would go along with what the township wants to do, he already has lost one tenant for the property because it was needed now. That customer will build in Ohio, he said.
Akers said the planners have three options: moving forward with intent to rezone, decline to move forward and include this in the year-long Master Plan update, or leave the property as residential.
Akers said they would have to make sure the industrial plans don’t negatively impact the village of Denton, which is just to the east.
Planning consultant Patrick Sloan of McKenna Associates said the township’s industrial land sites are getting fewer and they have to look at what land, if any, does the township want to zone industrial. He said this property is near the airport and railroad.
Commission Chairwoman Carol Thompson, who lives in Denton, said it already is very hectic in Denton with the industrial nearby to the east and as the American Center for Mobility builds from the west, she doesn’t know the best way to handle this.
After discussion, the planning commission voted unanimously to amend the Future Land Use Plan for the Smith farm, which means moving ahead with changing that part of the Master Plan while getting started on the yearlong work on the total Master Plan.
The timeline for the Smith farm rezoning project begins at once, with the necessary legal steps laid out bringing the final vote before the township board on May 15.
Harold Smith was present to support the rezoning of his farm.