VBT Planners approve tearing down old gas station to rebuild it

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
Work stopped on the upgrades to the long-vacant gas station at the northeast corner of Belleville Road and the I-94 North Service Drive when the contractor found rusting metal supports bolted together under the façade.
If they just put new brick up, as planned, the building would not be sturdy for the future, the owner said.
At the April 24 meeting of the Van Buren Township Planning Commission, station owner Jay Hammoud of Dearborn asked for permission to tear down the old gas station building and rebuild it on about the same footprint.
The amended plan had some slight changes, some of which the commission turned down.
After discussion, the commission voted unanimously to allow him to rebuild the station, but with many stipulations. He will work with the staff to move forward.
His official request was for an amendment to the final site plan approved on Dec. 12.
In other business at the April 24 meeting, the commission:
• Held a public hearing on Phantom of Michigan’s request to hold sales of fireworks for 10 days, June 27 to July 6, in a 40’x40’ tent at the Lakewood Shopping Center on Rawsonville Road and the I-94 South Service Drive. The fireworks are stored at night in a locked storage unit. A decision on the request will be made at an upcoming meeting;
• Held a public hearing on New Lawn Sod Farm’s request for special use approval for their yearly Corn Maze at 50240 Martz Road. Actually, it was a double public hearing for both a request for a permanent special use and a temporary special use. Owner Norm DeBuck said they wanted permanent permission for their business, which they plan to expand beyond the Halloween season, but the ordinance requirements for that are so involved that they are asking for a temporary approval until they can get through the permanent requirements.
Plans call for a parking lot five times its present size and additional attractions and use for corporate gatherings at other times of the year. Paved parking and permanent restrooms are two of the requirements if permanent special use is approved. A decision on the request will be made at an upcoming meeting; and
• Gave final site plan approval to Wingfoot Goodyear’s request for additions and renovations to their property at 8881 Samuel Barton Drive. The project was brought to the township 14 months earlier, said Davenport Brothers architect Wayde Hoppe, and they wanted to get going. “It’s taken 14 months to put a small addition to his building,” Hoppe said.
They are proposing two new inside storage wings, one at 3,000 square feet and one at 2,400 square feet. The project got a variance on setback from the VBT Zoning Board of Appeals Feb. 12 and owners agreed to slightly relocate Samuel Barton Drive and prepare a maintenance agreement for the drive for other properties, to correct a mistake made 21 years ago when the building was constructed.
McKenna Associates planning consultant Sally Hodges wanted them to put a decorative fence around the “drainage pond” or install some other protection of the basin, as required by the ordinance.
That’s when the usually soft-spoken Hoppe spoke much louder.
He explained that after it rained five days in a row the previous week, there was no standing water in the “basin,” which is actually a lawn with a depression of about a foot and a half.
Hoppe said they don’t believe this is a pond that you have to protect people from drowning in since there is no water in it.
David Nummer of Wade Trim engineers said if there’s no water in the pond it’s not doing its job.
“The water goes to that area and soaks down,” Hoppe explained, noting it is next to the I-275 berm.
“It’s not creating a drowning area because there’s NO WATER,” Hoppe said.
Hodges said the VBT ordinance allows waivers for an alternative to the decorative fencing.
Hoppe and Harlan Davenport agreed to put in shrubs to divide the parking lot from the swale.
“They cut it with a lawnmower,” Davenport said of the swale, which is actually just a shallow indentation in the lawn. “It’s been that way for 21 years. Nobody got hurt yet.”
Davenport and Hoppe walked up to the commission table and worked out the details of the shrubs, which is unusual in a formal Planning Commission meeting.
When the motion was made to approve the site plan for the storage buildings, wording was added to allow for more burning bush shrubs to be added to protect the public from the storm water, “as required by the ordinance.”
Hodges said it’s important to have something put in, rather than nothing, to show that they are following the ordinance.