VBT Planners ask for options on senior housing

After a discussion on senior housing at the Feb. 13 meeting of the Van Buren Township Planning Commission, chairperson Carol Thompson directed planning staff to come up with options.
“I’m glad we’re focusing on senior housing. We have none,” said Commissioner Medina Atchinson.
She said her friends are moving out of the township when they sell their houses because there is no senior housing here. She pointed out one of the items on that evening’s agenda was for a developer to add another ranch design to his offerings because ranch houses were favorites of buyers. She suggested seniors were choosing ranches because they were on one level.
The senior housing discussion came at the end of the meeting when Patrick Sloan of McKenna Associates planning consultants gave a report on multi-family residential standards, as requested by Ron Akers, VBT director of planning and economic development.
Currently, multi-family developments are only allowed in RM (Multiple-Family Residential) and M-U (Mixed-Use) zoning districts.
Akers told the planners that recently he has had two developers talk to him about senior housing, but the township’s zoning ordinances made their proposals not possible.
Akers said he asked Sloan for the report because of the lack of senior housing in the VBT community. He sees there could be places for active living and then for assisted living, but not big places like American House.
He said he wanted to find out if the planning commission wanted to continue with Sloan’s idea to update the RM ordinance or if it thinks the township has sufficient multiple housing.
Akers said the recent Master Plan survey results indicated people didn’t want to see expansion of multiple-family dwellings, but did have an interest in senior housing.
Currently the minimum lot size for RM zoning is 10 acres and minimum lot width 400 feet. The maximum density is 10 units per acre for attached single-family, 15 units per acre for apartment houses, and up to 40 units per acre for multiple-family high rise.
This makes it difficult to develop smaller multi-family developments because a multi-family residential developer will likely maximize the density if the minimum lot area is 10 acres and the minimum lot width is 400 feet, Sloan said.
Thompson asked Akers what RM zoning is on the VBT map right now. She pointed out that they were meeting in the Otisville-Sheldon Room at township hall and couldn’t look at the map on the wall of the township board meeting room because of renovations taking place there.
Akers said there were 40 acres off Tyler Road by Hickory Woods, a small parcel by Parkridge, and several on the I-94 South Service Drive, one near Harbour Club.
Sloan said the township could do bi-plexes and tri-plexes, allowing less than large multi-family developments. He said he recommends the township consider a sliding scale that allows for smaller lot areas and lot widths.
Sloan also is a planning consultant for Garden City and Lyon Township who have had a recent demand for multi-family housing and he presented a chart showing the details of the multiple-family residential zoning rules for the two communities.
Commissioner Jeff Jahr said VBT doesn’t want to align itself with other communities, but wants to have something individual.
Commission vice chairman Donald Boynton agreed and suggested a tiered system be set up, looking at density, green space, and amenities. He said Romulus used a one-and-a-half city block for seniors.
Rather than looking at changing the multiple zoning rules, chairperson Thompson suggested just focusing on senior housing.
Sloan said there are two in Lyon Township, which is one of the fastest-growing townships in Southeast Michigan. One is for active living and the other for assisted living.
The Independent said at a recent work/study session the township board had discussed how SEMCOG has estimated large growth of the senior population in the coming years and how the birth rate is down, but the township is building a splash pad for children.
Commissioner Atchinson said maybe they can make it so the seniors can stay in the community and be able to take their grandchildren to the splash pad.
“You are hearing our comments,” Thompson said to Sloan and Akers. “We’ll need your direction.”
“We’ll come up with options and discuss this again,” Akers said.
In other business at the Feb. 13 meeting, the commission:
• After holding a public hearing, approved zoning text amendments regarding the placement of fences in the front yards of non-single-family residential districts and sent it on to the township board for consideration;
• Approved Phantom Fireworks request for an eighth season of selling fireworks from a tent at Lakewood shopping center, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., June 21-July 5;
• Approved a single new elevation to add to the Cobblestone Creek development with a stipulation that it would meet the 50% brick or stone requirement. Applicant was BK Development Group;
• Removed from the agenda, at the applicant’s request, an amendment to the approved site plan for the Cobblestone Ridge Estates development to allow for additional elevations to be constructed in the subdivision by Trowbridge Homes Construction; and
• Heard Thompson say in December the legislature passed legislation that municipalities can limit the days fireworks can be set off. She asked Akers to look into what the new law lets townships do. Akers said the township can reduce the number of days from the current 30 days to 10. He said he will discuss this with the Public Safety Department.