VBT planners discuss 280-acre PUD site at I-94/Haggerty/Hannan

The Van Buren Township Planning Commission spent about a half hour of its Oct. 9 regular meeting discussing a proposed 280-acre development east of Haggerty Road, north of I-94 N. Service Drive and west of Hannan Road.
Municipal Services Director Ron Akers said the developers had met twice with residents of Haggerty subdivision, to the west of the proposed industrial area and they discussed how to buffer the project from the residential area.
Representatives of Panattoni Development Co. explained the plans said there would be a 125’ wide berm along Haggerty Road.
They talked to more than 100 residents during the first meeting and fewer at the second and discussed traffic, appearance, and natural resources, Director Akers said.
Developers said of the 280 acres, 60 acres is wetlands, which will not be relocated. The meeting with EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) went well, they said.
The development would impact 10 acres of wetlands, which would be mitigated along Haggerty Road. The truck traffic would enter and leave the site from the N. Service Drive and there would be no truck traffic from Haggerty. There would be auto-only traffic from the northernmost site of the project on Haggerty, developers said.
The drawing of the proposed project showed seven buildings of various sizes, but they have no tenants at this time. There is a lot of interest in the project, however, developers said.
Commissioner Bernie Grant, an architect, said with this being so close to Haggerty Sub., developers would need to build the special buildings and warehouses to keep truck noise from the residents. A 32-foot building is in the middle of the site.
Commissioner Jeff Jahr asked if he had missed a meeting. He hadn’t.
“This is the first time we’ve seen this,” he said. “What is it?” he asked.
The developers said it was for industrial and warehousing.
Township Principal Planner Vidya Krishnan of McKenna Associates said the property is zoned M-1 and C-1 along Haggerty, with some C-2.
Director Akers said it was non-residential zoning.
“We don’t have non-residential zoning,” Commissioner Jahr responded.
Akers said such zoning would give the commission flexibility and planning consultants are drafting a sample ordinance.
Jahr said he has concerns with trucking and warehousing for the subdivision and for trucking on Haggerty. The project goes all the way to Hannan, but there is a block of property on Hannan that they have not obtained.
Treaurer Sharry Budd said a fairly decent crowd of neighbors, about 100, attended the first meeting and the second bunch was not as big a crowd, but they had their concerns.
Treasurer Budd said in the subdivision, houses face inner roads, so the back yards face Haggerty Road.
Krishnan said a PUD (planned unit development) doesn’t exist in the township. Van Buren Township had a PUD in the past and then eliminated it. Once reinstated, it would have to be put on the master plan map as PUD.
She said this would be for all big acreage, which are challenged by wetlands and other things.
“PUD is a effective development tool and the planning commission can make modifications,” Krishnan said.
Jahr said he went to a planning conference and this would give more flexibility and allow the commission to make trade-offs in details of the development.
Krishnan said it’s a legal document and is recorded.
Developers said they told the residents that the developers would contribute to have the sidewalk continued on the residential side of Haggerty.
Founded in California in 1986 by Carl Panattoni, Panattoni Development Co. is one of the largest privately held, full-service real estate development companies in the world. It specializes in industrial, office and build-to-suit development.
In other business at the two-hour-10-minute meeting, the commission:
• Unanimously recommended to the township board of special land use for Frank Jarbou of Symmetry Management to construct a gas station/convenience store/drive-thru restaurant on 2.25 acres of land on the northwest corner of Haggerty and Ecorse roads;
• Unanimously approved the preliminary site plan for the Symmetry gas station at the northwest corner of Haggerty and Ecorse. Jarbou said his family has owned the property for 30 years. When asked what restaurant would be in the project, he said that isn’t known yet but no seating inside is planned as yet. Krishnan said it is not a truck stop although there is an island for trucks. Jarbou said their intention is to service box trucks that need diesel and it might get Amazon and Fed Ex trucks. The approval included direction for traffic studies and consideration of the island hardscape on Haggerty that is to prevent left turns onto Haggerty;
• Unanimously approved a site plan amendment to the unfinished Wildbrook Condominiums to contruct single-family homes on up to three lots. The development is on the south side of Savage Road between Martinsville and Haggerty roads;
• Removed from the agenda a zoning ordinance amendment for hotels and motels because the attorney needs to make changes;
• Heard Akers announce that a draft PUD ordinance should be ready for them to review and commissioners should let him know about sections of ordinances that need updating, such as how many vehicle spaces should be required for stacking at drive-thru windows. He also said Pulte Homes will be at the first commission meeting in November to discuss its project. Also, Camping World has begun work and Belleville Retail/Sherwin Williams will be back before commission on Oct. 25; and
• Heard chairman Brian Cullin and commissioner Jahr say they went to a state planning conference. They said they went to a session on legal matters together and learned what an excellent recording secretary they have in Tina Harman. They praised her detailed minutes that are approved in a timely manner that could prove valuable in case of a lawsuit. The commission thanked her for her work.