Irrigation pond on Martz Rd. finally approved by VBT

After yet another 40 minutes of discussion, Todd Waller’s request for a five-acre agricultural irrigation pond on 33.5 acres on Martz Road was unanimously approved by the Van Buren Township Planning Commission.
Waller, who is supervisor of Augusta Township, first applied for his pond early last year. He said he did ponds once already in Van Buren Township on Hull Road for another farmer and there were no issues.
“This is crazy to me. I have to go through all this… Frustrating to me,” he said as the planning commission finally approved his pond.
He applied for the pond in June 2024 and it went to the township board on Nov. 18 and a motion was made and seconded to approve the pond. But after discussion the motion was changed to postpone action until there was more information.
At the board’s Dec. 3 meeting, action was postponed until Waller could come to a meeting.
Waller attended the Dec. 11 planning commission meeting and the commission said the township board should take first action. The request was under two ordinances, one for digging the pond and sending the soil offsite, which was the part for the township board. Then it was to set rules and regulations for the actual construction of the pond.
On Jan. 21, the board approved the digging of Waller’s pond and his removing 93,300 cubic yards of soil from the site and sent the project back to the planning commission.
The township board also put a moratorium on new ponds in the township until June, so the pond ordinances could be updated. Ron Akers, director of municipal services, said the pond ordinance hadn’t been updated since the 1980s.
On Feb. 12, the request for pond approval was on the the planning commission agenda, but the meeting was canceled because township hall was closed due to inclement weather.
At its next meeting on Feb. 26, planners questioned Waller at length about why the pond was the size it was and what he was going to grow, beans or sod? They required at least a four foot fence on the south, east, and west sides of the pond and an updated site plan before construction.
They asked him why he didn’t just dig a well to get water for irrigation and how much water was he going to use. They asked why he wanted to move the soil he dug up from the site.
Commissioners did agree that he had the right to farm under the Right to Farm Act and that he didn’t need a permit from the county, as first thought.
“If I had my way, I’d build a berm around the property and build a big nudist colony,” said an exasperated Waller as the questioning continued.
A man who identified himself as Pete and a friend of Waller, got up to speak, saying, “He has the right to farm under the Right to Farm Act. He’s an upstanding guy!”
Commissioner Bernie Grant made the motion to approve Waller’s five-acre pond and there were several amendments, including no township bond would be required and that Kenney Farmer, co-owner of the property, would also sign the application. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Medina Atchinson and passed unanimously. Jackson Pahle was the only commissioner absent.
In other business at the three-and-a-half-hour meeting on Feb. 26, the commission:
• Held a public hearing and then voted to send the application for rezoning on to the township board for consideration. The request is to rezone from RM (multiple family residential) to C-1 (general business) a 1.14-acre parcel on Belleville Road, just south of the traffic signal at the driveway into Westlake Apartments and across the street from Tim Horton’s. A house and outbuilding are currently on the site. Commission action was only on rezoning. Property owner M&S Karana Investment LLC wants to put up a carwash, El Car Wash, but commissioners questioned how many carwashes the township needs and that would have to come before them separately in the future as a special land use request. A letter from Brian Suliman of Water Works opposed the new carwash and said it would be a death knell for his business. Mitchell Harvey, who was representing the owner, said he would bring their comments back to the owner;
• Approved a series of amendments to the Pulte Homes development of Cedarchase next to Walden Woods, including special land use and site condominium approval, which the township board must approve next, and a preliminary PUD site plan approval, which the commission approves. Some changes came from discovery of a wetlands area that cut the number of single-family dwellings on individual site condominium lots from the original 88 to 75. The layout of one street is changed because of the wetlands. The project will clean up the county drain, put sideewalks along Tyler and Morton Taylor roads, pave Morton Taylor north from Tyler to the road into the subdivision. The county said a traffic study showed there is not enough traffic at the Tyler/Morton Taylor intersection to need a traffic light;
• Heard representatives of JSB Buildings explain how the non-compliant construction at 6060 Schooner Dr. got to be so different than the approved site plan. “Why didn’t you build it the way you said you would?” asked commissioner Jeff Jahr. Jason Haney, hired by the owner, and architect Scott Wright attributed the differences to oversights and clearing a larger area than they thought. Also, they wanted to save money where they could and the water main got changed after working with the county and the state. After discussion, the commission voted to allow the onsite soil to stay as a berm, to leave the misplaced fence where it is, and to place three bollards to close access to the new site. They were asked in the future to come to the township staff first if any other changes were needed;
• Approved setting a public hearing on March 26 to hear input on the Non-Residential Planned Unit Development Ordinance, which was presented to the commission in its fifth draft by planning consultant Vidya Krishnan of McKenna;
• Approved setting a public hearing on March 26 for input on a newly drafted ordinance to comply with new state law on Battery Energy Storage Systems. The township wants to limit them to M-1 and M-2 zoning (industrial areas) to keep them away from residential areas. They are basically shipping containers that move power in and out of the grid, like a huge room of boxes that hum. They are placed on concrete pads with gravel. Krishnan said she will find out if they can be stacked and the maximum height before the public hearing, so the ordinance can be updated at that time. The minimum area for Battery Energy Storage areas is 5 acres under the state law and there has been a request for information. The state law also contains solar and wind farm requirements, but the township doesn’t have sites big enough for those portions of the law;
• Heard director Akers say the next meeting, on March 12, will contain consideration of Costco plans and two temporary land use requests for fireworks tents. On March 26, besides the two public hearings that have been set, the final site plan for Tractor Supply will be on the agenda;
• Heard resident Danielle Sizemore ask for the commission to help her with her proposed childcare center that she wants to establish for 20 children in an empty building near the former Sukuki dealership on the South I-94 Service Drive that is now being turned into a laundromat. The problem is it is zoned C-1 and would need special land use. She said it would cost her $20,000 to seek special land use through the township because it needs a playground outside and the traffic the use has. “I’m trying to provide services for people,” she said, noting she gets calls every day from parents needing care of their children while they work. Commission chairman Brian Cullin said this problem will be turned over to staff to look over and see what they can do;
• Heard commissioner Medina Atchinson say she drove on the new part of Haggerty Road. She said the Lakeview Shopping Center is vacant and something needs to be done. Akers said the township is working on that site to develop other options to try to get something going. “It’s on the radar,” he said;
• Heard Akers say the township has given temporary approval to Camping World to stage trailers for a show coming up in Novi in two weeks. Brittney Williams, planning and zoning specialist, said Camping World is almost done and has passed all its inspections; and
• Heard Cullin ask about the activity on property on Van Born, east of Haggerty. Akers said he believes that is the wetland remediation for Ashley Capital, but he will check.