Ashley Capital angers commission by filling in pond for parking

“Ashley Capital never said they took it upon themselves to break the law,” said an irritated Carol Thompson at the Aug. 22 meeting of the Van Buren Township Planning Commission.
Commission chairwoman Thompson, was referring to Ashley Capital’s filling in of a pond and construction of a parking lot for trucks at Crosswinds South without coming to the township for approval. This Ashley site is south of Ecorse Road reaching almost to Tyler Road.
“You hurt your standing with me and possibly the commission,” Thompson said. “This does not allow you to move forward.”
Ashley’s design engineer, Joseph Webb, stood alone for the corporation, saying the Ashley officials were caught in traffic and probably wouldn’t get to the meeting in time to attend.
He had explained, briefly, before Thompson’s comments, that Ashley was requesting site plan approval for additional car parking to service the existing Building 1. He said the additional 59 spaces of car parking was for Fed Ex employees and it would alleviate the problems they are having.
The commission then heard reviews on the 59-space parking lot from its planning consultant, McKenna Associates; its engineering consultants, Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber, Inc.; and the township’s fire marshal. All the reviews recommended approval of the site plan, with stipulations.
Then, commission vice chairman Donald Boynton mentioned the elephant in the room.
“What about the violation of the filled-in pond?” Boynton asked.
Ron Akers, VBT Director of Planning and Economic Development, pointed out one of the comments by Patrick Sloan of McKenna was that a note be put on the plans that the filling and truck parking in the southern part of the property was not approved by the township and that the proposed changes to the site now are only for the three-acre area for the 59 new parking spaces.
Akers said they needed to come into compliance with an approval by Wayne County in 2017.
“Our issues are that they constructed truck parking without a site plan,” Akers said.
Pathways to compliance, he said, include removing the parking and returning the site to its original state. Also, compliance would include rezoning and a change of the master plan. He said if the planning commission does change the map to allow that, there are still a series of steps to take.
Treasurer Sharry Budd, who sits on the planning commission, said Ashley applied for a permit for lights and was denied.
“Did they install lights?” she asked and was told no.
Commissioner Jeff Jahr asked if the site has adequate storm water detention.
Dave Potter, engineering consultant of FTC&H, said on June 29 a letter from Wayne County asked them if they complied with all Wayne County restrictions.
“He’s aware we’re going to be looking for that,” Potter said. “They have to show the engineering at that stage. There is no green light to construct anything.”
Vic Franzoi, who was sitting in the audience, got up to address the commission. He identified himself as the spouse of Commissioner Joan Franzoi.
“I live in Van Buren Township,” he began, saying he fails to see how Ashley can be coming asking for anything.
“These people did something totally wrong,” Franzoi said, adding he thinks the township should tell them to get a shovel and start digging.
“Shame on them. Now they want approval for something else,” he said.
Thompson said she agreed this was a serious incident from the applicant.
Design engineer Webb said, “I can answer that” several times during the discussion, but he was ignored and not given the floor to speak.
“This does not allow you to move forward,” Thompson said.
Treasurer Budd said, “I certainly agree with you. They should have corrected this before they came to us.”
“I agree,” said Commissioner Atchinson.
“Appropriate action? What action is appropriate for us to take?” Boynton asked.
Akers said because of the parking lot offense, there are a lot of items on the report that need to be addressed.
Boynton made the motion to postpone preliminary approvals on the 59-space parking lot until conditions have been met — everything that was spelled out in all of the letters from consultants.
There were nine issues cited in the McKenna review letter and ten in the FTC&H review letter.
In another item at the 42-minute meeting, the commission heard a presentation by Grace Moore, the Planning Department intern, on a Public Participation Plan, which is needed for the township’s Redevelopment certificate it is seeking from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Moore is drafting the plan.
She said while researching the project some plans stood out in the state and when asked which ones, she replied Traverse City and Kalamazoo.
“We want to be higher than Traverse City,” Treasurer Budd said.