Officers reelected at Sumpter Township Planning Commission

At its regular meeting Feb. 8, the Sumpter Township Planning Commission reelected its officers for another year of leadership.
The commission unanimously reelected Jane Stalmack as chairman, James Clark as co-chairman, and Virginia Belinski as secretary.
During its 34-minute meeting, the commission discussed details of the proposed master plan being put together by Zoning Administrator Christopher Atkin, of Carlisle/Wortman in Ann Arbor.
Although commissioners studied a draft, Atkin said he was not comfortable handing out the future land use part yet, about what the township would like in the future. He said Sumpter had Hamlet and Hamlet Transitionary designations and he took out those commercial nodes, based on input from the commission and public comment.
He said he pretty much left what was there now. He left Residential in the northwest area and took out the Commercial nodes in Industrial. He also condensed the Mobile Home Parks area based on fewer residents, so if someone wants to purchase land there and rezone, they can.
Atkin said this is a rough draft and he will add the implementation plan, surveys, and more maps for the next meeting.
He said the Agricultural zoning minimum now is one acre and he asked commission members if they wanted to increase that to five, ten, or more acres, to preserve the Agricultural identity of the community.
Commissioner Jay Bardell said he thought it should be at least 2.5 acres, since that’s what you need to have for chickens. Atkin said you get 250 chickens on three acres and you need another quarter acre if you want one more chicken, 251.
“You’ll see the informational part by the next meeting, with additional maps,” Atkin said of the draft plan.
Atkin said, based on the state act, there must be a public hearing and the master plan disseminated to surrounding communities and utilities for 63 days for input. Then it goes back to the planning commission for consideration of the input and a recommendation to the township board which makes the final decision on adoption.
Atkin said the road commission wants to get its information in the plan, but it is the commission’s discretion on that.