Wellington Industries on the South I-94 Service Drive at Hannan Road got a huge, three-year contract with a Big Three auto company last November and needed to move quickly.
Wellington had to hire at least 50 more people and start making the auto parts by mid-summer 2012, but didn’t have a building large enough to house the giant 4,200-ton press that was required.
At the June 13 meeting of the Van Buren Township Planning Commission, all the frenetic activity over the past few months paid off when the commissioners approved the preliminary site plan requested.
Actually, the 19,412-square-foot addition to the present 100,000-square-foot building is already pretty much complete, constructed on a fast track that required Wellington to build at its own risk hoping that its work would ultimately be approved.
If it miscalculated, it knew the building might have to be torn down.
In December, company officials came to talk to Van Buren Township Director of Planning and Economic Development Terry Carroll to find out what they had to do to move forward. In January township engineers sat down with Wellington and on Jan. 17 Wellington was granted three variances by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
One additional variance request was dropped because Wellington purchased the neighboring AB Myr parcel and planned to redraw the lot line for the necessary setback.
Wayde Hoppe, an architect who lives in Van Buren Township and is associated with Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment, gave the presentation on behalf of Wellington to the BZA as well as the planning commission.
He said that Wellington purchased the huge press that was in Ontario and had it shipped by rail. Hoppe said he went to Ontario to see it and was very impressed.
He said the press stretched 34’ into the air and 26’ into a pit in the ground and was 55’ long, with bolsters on the side. A 30-ton bridge crane must be able to travel over the top of the equipment and will sit 40 feet above the ground and maintain the minimum clearance required to the underside of the steel frame.
He said they needed a 220’ long building with only perimeter columns. The building had to be very tall, very long and have a large basement/pit.
Hoppe said they had to have the building large enough to bring in trucks carrying coils of steel. The metal is fed through the middle of the press, which using hydraulics, squeezes the metal from the top and bottom. Dies go in and out in a complex maneuver and the inside of a door panel pops out.
“It’s a big piece of metal,” Hoppe said.
He said trucks will circulate through the site, back up, and leave through the Hannan Road truck entrance/exit.
“This is an important project for Wellington and for our community,” Hoppe said.
Hoppe said during the course of planning reviews, Wellington was asked to bring the site up to current standards.
“We tried to work with the township and the township worked with us,” Hoppe said.
He said they did an inventory of 245 trees on the site and some were bad and needed to be replaced. They agreed to put in a new fence, new plantings, trees along the fence, and parking lot islands. He said they are trying to comply with the present zoning ordinance and the building and fire codes.
The roof has a 1:12 slope with block wainscoting along the perimeter to match the existing building. There will be additional lighting in the parking lot.
It was found a sanitary sewer ran under the existing building and so Wellington rerouted the sewer around the building. It now will be able to service the adjacent property.
Detailed drawings have been sent to the state and are in the approval process.
Commissioner Bob McKenna wanted to make sure trucks wouldn’t be leaving through the South I-94 Service Drive and Wellington agreed to post an additional sign that the exit is to Hannan.
The preliminary site plan was granted with some stipulations, including Wellington having all required permits, the township engineer’s approval, and approval from the VBT Public Safety Department.
Wellington is expected to be back before the planning commission for final site plan approval on June 27.
“On July 1, in excess of 50 people will be showing up for work who wouldn’t be working without this project,” Carroll said.
Blaise Flack, CFO of Wellington, said they are excited with the project. He said his company just received its 25-year membership award from the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce. He said the company currently has 180 hourly and 30 salaried employees and this project will add 50 to 70 new employees.
Scott Kettle, Facilities Manager for Wellington, noted this is a huge project.
Harlan Davenport was in the audience in support of Wellington. Davenport Brothers Construction of Belleville is constructing the building.
John Delaney commented from the audience on the Wellington project, criticizing Carroll for allowing construction to begin before permits were paid for. He said it makes the township look bad to have buildings going up without the proper approvals.
In other business at its June 13 meeting, the commission:
• Gave final site plan approval to McDonald’s for its upgrade to the restaurant at 10760 Belleville Road. The commission also approved the last-minute request to include completing the single approach in the front and removing one of the curb cuts. This previously had been planned in two phases. Architect Ken Van Tine said they will be working with the Wayne County Road Commission to get the exact location for the approach. The back cross access to the Farmer Jack shopping center is expected to be granted fairly soon, as construction activity picks up in the shopping center location, Carroll said;
• Heard planning consultant Sally Hodges report the state has new regulations for co-locations on communications towers and she would like to discuss that with commissioners soon; and
• Heard Commission Don Boynton say he would like to have at least one ordinance project on each agenda. He said there are at least three ordinances waiting out there for decisions and, “We have to start getting them out to the township board.” Carroll agreed to move the ordinances forward to the agendas.