Belleville Planning Commission meets first time since March 10

All the members – but one — of the Belleville Planning Commission met Dec. 8 for the first meeting that has been held since March 10.
Commissioner Tom Fielder was absent and there also are two vacancies on the nine-member commission.
City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson said he wanted to explain what his plans are for the planning commission. He said an ordinance review committee was set up in March, but there were no meetings.
He said the deputy administrator was supposed to work on the ordinance with the attorney and Giffels & Webster planners, but he didn’t.
City Manager Robinson said he will be hiring a project manager the end of December, which should start work the first week of January. He is working on the contract now and doesn’t want to make any announcements until everything is settled.
He said the building clerk, Michelle Bellingham, will keep track of the agenda, the minutes, and other information and will keep the commission on track and schedule the meetings.
He said once he was made city manager he had to learn everything about the city and he started with getting the council information. He worked his way through that and now is ready to work with the planning commission.
Robinson said the planning commission needs to go through the ordinances and find out which ones need to be changed. He checked with Clear Zone and another firm and found Clear Zone would be the less-expensive choice for changing the ordinances digitally.
Commission chairman Michael Hawkins explained they couldn’t meet as a committee and talked about sections they had removed and couldn’t find them. He said they didn’t meet because of unforeseen circumstances.
“I overestimated his abilities and that’s why he’s not here,” Robinson said of the former deputy administrator.
Robinson said he would like to see quarterly planning commission meetings, or more if developers need to get approvals. He wants to grow the city with beneficial finances and make common-sense changes to the ordinance.
He said he wants to know why the ordinance was that way in the first place and he wants the commissioners to help him learn.
He said he was sorry the commission didn’t meet, but if they didn’t have a plan to review he asked why inconvenience people for a meeting. But, he said, they have to keep engaged and have at least quarterly meetings. He said any of them can reach out to him or Building Official Rick Rutherford with their concerns.
He said there’s a fine line. The planning commission makes the plans and the building official makes sure it gets into effect. He said Rutherford quotes code numbers out of his head and, “He impresses me.”
“I apologize for not having frequent meetings and bringing updates to you,” Robinson said.
He talked to them about the $176,000 coming from the county to upgrade Victory Station with a smaller building for park bathrooms. He said interior bathrooms will have porcelain fixtures.
He said if a wedding shower is held in Victory Station, he doesn’t want grandma to go into a rustic bathroom with stainless steel commodes.
“I’m trying to figure out how to build a new city hall,” he said, noting the city property is outstanding and will bring a lot of money. He said the city will figure out what it wants to see there. He said the north end of the city is developing and now they need work on the south end.
“Other projects are in the wings and your job is very, very important,” he told the commission. “As we grow, we have to make sure we are doing the right things for the community. The way it’s been going is not the way it will continue.”
Under citizen comments on non-agenda items, the Independent asked about the rules about sidewalks downtown, since several businesses have items well into the sidewalk areas, with one blocking the sidewalk completely. Business people along Main Street had brought it to the Independent’s attention.
Rutherford said four feet of sidewalk at a minimum must not be impeded.
Commissioner Becky Hasen said there are curb cuts still in place in the curb in front of that business and it’s never been removed. She said this is not her first time asking about it.
Commissioner Mike Renaud said there has been no parking there because of the curb cut.
Robinson said they would look into that. He said if the igloo were part of the special events for Winterfest it should have been on the special event application. He said he will talk with that business.
The commission then discussed possible changes needed to the zoning ordinance and then agreed to take the 155 pages of the current ordinance in either digital or printed format and go over it to see what needs to be changed.
Each member of the commission is asked to go over all 155 pages and bring their comments back to the next meeting on Jan. 12. The comments then will be given to the Ordinance Review Subcommittee, made up of Building Official Rutherford, Chairman Hawkins, Commissioner Hasen, and Commissioner Randy Priest, who will make the final recommendations to the commission.
Then, the ordinance will be updated.
Robinson said it is important that people who go online to see the city ordinance see the most updated and accurate version.
Hawkins said in July 2013 the commission fixed a lot of things when they adopted the ordinance, but then a lot of other things became problems.
“We can change the ordinances to make them more accommodating to builders,” he said.
Rutherford said at the March meeting when they discussed 500 E. Huron River Dr. they found the ordinance had no definition for veterinarian. He said Giffels and Webster planners can work on that.
“We can dive into the problems that can be changed page by page,” since Giffels and Webster would charge by the page. “We want to change what needs changing in the most efficient manner possible.”
He said when Giffels and Webster is here, they’ll want them to tweak the part for the marijuana ordinance. He said the city manager is working with an attorney on the medical marijuana ordinance that was approved by voters in November. He said the words “facility” vs. “dispensary” need to be worked out.
Rutherford said they need to get everyone brainstorming.
“The last thing we want is for someone to go online and pull up an out-of-date ordinance. It has to be as complete and current as possible,” he said.
During the comments, Commissioner John Juriga said the museum belongs to Van Buren Township and they joined two buildings together without showing the city a plan. He said the building is in the city.
Rutherford said he did inspections for the city of Belleville on that construction.
Juriga said the unit on the roof is not covered. Juriga is a member of the district library board and the city made the library cover its units on the roof.
Rutherford said he would look into that.