VBT Board rezones property owned by LDFA on Ecorse Rd.

At its Aug. 16 regular meeting, the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees approved the second, and final, reading of the rezoning of a parcel on Ecorse Road owned by the VBT Local Development Finance Authority.
The small parcel, just west of Hannan Road on the south side of Ecorse, has been rezoned from AG (Agricultural) to C (Local Business) at the request of the LDFA. The planning commission recommended approval after a public hearing during which no public spoke for or against it.
The LDFA wants to sell the property and felt it would get a better price if it was zoned for commercial activity.
In other business at the Aug. 16 meeting, the board:
• Approved the appointment of Aaron Sellers to the Board of Zoning Appeals as an alternate with a term beginning Sept. 1 and expiring Sept. 1, 2019. Sellers is business services manager for Southeastern Michigan for Comcast Business. He has lived in VBT for six years on Lake Point Pass. He graduated from Belleville High School and serves on the Belleville Lake Shore Committee and belongs to the Jackson and Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti chambers of commerce. He was not present to meet the board at either the Aug. 15 or Aug. 16 meetings, but he had been interviewed by Lianne Clair of the supervisor’s office;
• Approved adoption of the 2016 Tax Rate Request, which is .9144 allocated millage plus 4 mills extra voted millage for public safety for a total of 4.9144 mills. The 2016 Taxable Value of real and personal taxable property in the township is $969,499,077, so the tax amounts to $4,764,506;
• Approved the 2017 board meeting days, which generally are the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 7 p.m., with work/study meetings at 4 p.m. the preceding Monday;
• Approved the 2017 holiday schedule, which includes 15 days: New Year’s Day observed, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President’s Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day observed, Thanksgiving Day, day after Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve observed, Christmas Day observed, and Christmas holiday, Dec. 27 through Dec. 29;
• Approved the SMART Municipal FY 2017 Municipal Credit Contract, with an estimated $20,000 for recreation transportation and $8,348 for senior transportation, for a total of $28,348. The local match of $32,597 is met by the township’s general fund and in-kind services;
• Heard resident Reg Ion ask when the budget sessions were scheduled and he was told they will be Oct. 25, 26, 27. Ion also discussed larger-size American flags for the polls and going out for bids for towing companies for the police to call.