VBT board approves Winterfest fireworks from west of bridge

Since the Denton Road bridge is closed for repairs, the Winterfest fireworks that usually are shot off from the bridge had to be moved.
At the regular meeting of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees on Nov. 15, the board approved a permit for fireworks to be shot off from the roadway west of the Denton Road Bridge, next to Hillside Cemetery.
The board unanimously granted approval to Michigan Fireworks Club to discharge commercial fireworks at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, with a rain date of Sunday, Dec. 4, from the area near the bridge or if that doesn’t work out, from a barge on Belleville Lake in the area between the Denton and Belleville Road bridges.
Van Buren Township Fire Marshal Andrew Lenaghan reviewed the application by Joshua Edwards of Michigan Fireworks Club and approved the application.
In other business at the 55-minute meeting, the board:
• Congratulated Trustee Reggie Miller for winning a seat as State Representative in the Nov. 8 election. The Representative-Elect thanked everyone for their support. “I’m just a phone call away … just let my blisters heal… you know where I live”;
• Congratulated Trustee Kevin Martin for retiring from General Motors;
• Heard Clerk Leon Wright thank Bob and Marie Krouse for putting up flags on veterans’ graves in the township cemeteries. Clerk Wright also announced the township offices will be closed on Thanksgiving and the day after. He said the Nov. 8 election had 13,671 total voters, a total of about 55% of the 25,000 registered voters. He said there were 6,620 absentee voters and 7,068 voted in person. He said voting tabulators went down at the Edgemont Elementary School polling site. He said tabs were jamming all over the county. He said his office sent out a technician from Dominion to see if it could be fixed. The voters were given the option of waiting in line or putting their ballots in a locked bin for later counting. Clerk Wright said the plan is to troubleshoot issues after the election. He said they will look at going for a higher type of tabulator, but that is more expensive;
• Approved the Police Officer Labor Council’s Command Contract for 2022-25. The final negotiations were at the work/study session before the regular meeting;
• Accepted a property donation of 1.515 acres at the northeast corner of the Clover Development on Belleville Road. Supervisor Kevin McNamara said when the senior housing development was being planned, the township thought its original entryway was too close to Robson Road across the street and would confuse drivers, so Clover moved its entryway south, leaving this property unusable. Supervisor McNamara said in the future, when Robson Road is built west of Belleville Road they will be able to use the land. Clover has begun clearing the land and construction will be in the coming year;
• Approved the agreement with Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative for the Iron Belle Trail Section J railroad work for a reimbursable cost of $50,000. The agreement commits HWPI to reimburse VBT for the full force account estimate of $50,423 for work performed by Norfolk Southern. The railroad construction work needs to be completed before Section J is constructed, which is currently slated for the 2023 construction season. HWPI will use funds already secured via a grant from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation for this reimbursement;
• Approved rezoning of 42060 Ecorse Rd. from M-T, Industrial Transportation, to M-2 General Industrial with conditions. The board also approved the Conditional Rezoning Agreement with Crossroads Distribution Center North 6 LLC in association with the rezoning. This is for the EV battery manufacturing facility;
• Approved the Preliminary Plan and Special Land Use for the revision to the Cobblestone Creek Planned Residential Development by Infinity Acquisitions as recommended by the planning commission;
• Approved a resolution for the Annual Exemption of the Township from 2011 PA 152. The exemption allows employees to pay just 10% of health care, instead of 20%;
• Approved the 2023 Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) contract. This is the annual approval of the FY-2023 SMART contract. Funds received by SMART help cover drivers’ wages, gasoline, vehicle maintenance, and vehicle repairs for the elderly population to get to and from the Senior Center, doctors’ appointments, and various shopping trips. The estimated level for VBT for 2023 is $28,433;
• Approved the reappointments of Penny Young, Harry Roesch and Elaine Gutierrez and the appointment of Gina Dorazio (Alternate) to the Board of Review with terms to expire Dec. 31, 2024; and
• Approved the reappointments of Charles Larocque and John Herman to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) with terms to expire Dec. 1, 2025.
During the work/study meeting, the board also discussed amending the contribution language for the Post Employment Medical Expense Reimbursement Plan.