Planning consultant Vidya Krishnan retires after 27 years at VBT

“I gave it my everything,” said Vidya Krishnan in her final farewells to the Van Buren Township Planning Commission on March 25 after 27 years of service.
“After 27 years, I want to do other things in my life,” she said, as she accepted a bouquet of flowers from the commission at the end of the meeting.
She has been employed by McKenna Associates and assigned as senior planner for Van Buren Township. She said she has attended more than 2,000 night meetings in the time with Van Buren Township.
“It’s been a pleasure working with you and I’m sorry to see you go,” said Van Buren Township treasurer Sharry Budd, who sits on the commission. Other commission members echoed her comments.
“You can tell she knows what she’s doing and she does,” said commissioner Bernie Grant, a professional architect.
Krishnan said “I’ve always taken the responsibility of being a planning consultant seriously. I know the decision and the recommendations we make impact the people who live here, people who drive past what they see every day, people who have to live near it. I’ve never taken that responsibility lightly. I’ve also always had it in my mind that I have to balance that responsibility with what happens if you do not follow the law.
“What happens? What are the consequences to the same people? I have seen that also happen in one of my communities where based upon emotion the decision was made and the penalty was paid by all of the taxpayers because it was distributed in their tax bill.
“That’s what happens. So it is a very tight rope to walk. You want to do right by the community but you have to follow the rules and the laws. So I’ve taken that responsibility really seriously and in my heart I’m confident I did my best.
“So, I’m happy about what we have accomplished and I will miss all of you so much. But, I’m excited to focus on my kids. Like I said, I’m probably reaching about 2,000 night meetings at this point. So it’ll be nice to be home in the evenings,” she said.
The commission was introduced to its new senior planner from McKenna, Lauren Sayre, who has been with McKenna for 3.5 years and previously was working at CDM Smith in Macomb County. She said she has a GIS background, among other specialties.
Sayre holds a Master of Urban Planning from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Science in Geography and Sustainable Planning from Grand Valley State University.
She said she is glad to be working locally, since her family is from Van Buren Township.
“I’ve got big shoes to fill,” she said of Krishnan.
She said she personally grew up in Pittsfield Township, her family is from Van Buren Township and many still live in the Belleville area. Her grandparents, Jim and Joan, had a farm on the corner of Ecorse and Morton Taylor, where my dad and uncles grew up. My dad is Ron Sayre, who is the fourth son out of five.
In other business at the 47-minute meeting on March 25, the commission:
• Heard Ron Akers, director of municipal services, introduce a Pond and Soil Mining/Removal zoning ordinance he is working on. He said that hasn’t been updated since the 1980s and he will have a draft for them to discuss in about a month. Currently the township board approves mining projects and the planning commission approves ponds, but often they are both part of the same project. He is working it into a zoning ordinance, as well as creating a process for filling property. Commission vice-chairman Jeff Jahr referred to a property fill in Sumpter Township that now is an EPA issue. He said Van Buren didn’t want anything like that;
• Heard director Akers explain the township’s Public Participation Plan which was adopted in 2018. Commissioners went over the pages which guide the township to be open to the community members with information. The plan is up to date, he said, and is the current policy, unless it gets changed. “Not too many communities do this,” said Krishnan. “Van Buren Township actively seeks out public comment.” In the plan, the state law is in bold type and the rest of the steps the township takes is not bold, Jahr pointed out. He told commissioners if they hadn’t read the document, it’s a good document to read;
• Heard resident Steven Dart say he would like to see a sign put up on a site that is up for special approval or rezoning. “I’d like to see more of that,” he said, noting some residents don’t pay attention to what is happening in their local government and are shocked when something changes right next door. He said he agrees with commissioner Grant who has said he would like to have earlier notice of prospective developments;
• Discussed a “Guide to Development” that wasn’t on the agenda but was presented by Brittney Williams, planning and zoning specialist. She said it is a guide directed to developers that gives them all the information they need to work their way through the requirements of the township, from A to Z. She said it was updated about a year ago. Jahr said this is another good document to read and commissioners can mark off each step the developers make to make sure they do everthing right. He said the staff does this, but as commissioners they should be checking too. Williams said it is on the township website under “miscellaneous” and commissioner Medina Atchinson said it shouldn’t be under miscellaneous and it should stand alone. Commissioners questioned whether “Guide to Development” was a good name and Akers said they can name it anything they want;
• During the public comment portion of the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, heard Steven Dart say he has noticed debris in front yards in the township and the township should mirror what the city of Belleville does that limits that. He also complained about the Metro Park Party Store at the corner of Haggerty and East Huron River Drive. He said it put up its new gas station part first, but has not completed work on the building after several years. Another resident questioned the “preliminary site plan approval” for the new data center and whether it was approved or not. She also said information is hard to find on the township website; and
• Heard Williams list the items expected to be on the agenda of the April 8 meeting: potential for U.S. Signal’s final site plan for expanding its data center, public hearing on fireworks temporary land use zoning ordinance, the data center Industrial definition discussion, Al car wash public hearing for special land use and preliminary site plan, a possible discussion on the hotel development, and temporary land use for the 734 Hibachi food truck, if they decide to go through with it.