VBT Planners grant amendments to Bethany Bible Church site plan

It wasn’t easy, but on Dec. 9, Bethany Bible Church got approval from the Van Buren Township Planning Commission for amendments to its site plan for its expanded church building at 810 East Huron River Drive, that opened last spring.
The problem was that, in the beginning after a tiff over jurisdictions, VBT Supervisor Linda Combs sent an email on July 7, 2014 giving Wayne County jurisdiction over storm water drainage as well as all the landscaping the storm water management system impacted.
Architect Wade Hoppe said the county approved the revised site plan and construction began. During construction township engineers Wade Trim visited the site on numerous occasions acknowledging that the storm water management system was not under their jurisdiction, Hoppe said.
Upon completion of construction, VBT planning consultant, Patrick Sloan of McKenna Associates, visited the site and indicated that the township retained jurisdiction over all landscaping. His review comments were dated Aug. 14, 2015.
“Even though we produced the email from the supervisor stating that the township would not assert jurisdiction over the landscaping and storm water management system, Mr. Sloan insisted that the changes to the site plan would need to be approved by the Planning Commission,” Hoppe said.
Bethany couldn’t plant the trees and shrubs VBT wanted because the county had changed Bethany’s proposed underwater storm water retention to a bioswale and trees can’t be planted there because the roots interfered with the system. Also, when the open pond was revised to a bio-retention pond the surrounding trees and shrubs were no longer required by ordinance and deleted, Hoppe said.
The trees and shrubs required for a buffer with the property owner to the north is no longer necessary because Bethany now owns that property.
After a long discussion the commission approved a motion having Bethany plant six more shade trees, with a caliper of 1.5”, with two in a corner of the parking lot and four on the property it just bought to the north of the church. Since so much of its space is taken up with paved parking areas, a bioswale area, and a drainage pond, these were the only places left to plant the trees the township insisted they plant.
The commission also approved requiring architect Hoppe to relocate the text in the site plan exactly over the bioswale, at the recommendation of Director of Planning and Economic Development Ron Akers. He also wants a new, updated version of the site plan which eliminates strikethrough text and removed items.
The commission also approved the use of Hose Bibs attached to the building as an acceptable means of irrigation.
Arborvitae trees that grow six feet wide and 30 feet tall are being put up for screening of two homes on Greylock Street, because two residents there have complained to the township that the lights in the parking lot bother them.
The zoning ordinance requires a minimum of 87 trees and Bethany only planted 81, Akers said.
Actually the number of trees planted, including the relocation of the Arborvitae, is 116, Hoppe said. The number of shrubs required by ordinance is 70 and the number planted is 70.
Bethany will put up 18 more Arborvitae, for this screening on their own volition, in addition to the nine already planted there because they want their neighbors to be happy. Their request to have their 28 total arbor vitae trees remove the need of the six extra shade trees was denied because Akers said the Arborvitae trees weren’t trees according to the township ordinance.
Hoppe said the species that was specified, Thuja Occidentalis, Nigra, is commonly referred to as Eastern White Cedar is in the Cypress family. These coniferous trees grow six feet wide and 30 feet tall, according to Hoppe’s landscape architect Brian Devlin, and qualify as a tree.
He said under the township ordinance’s 4.41,1.b, “Suggested Plant Materials” has a separate listing for Narrow Evergreens. Among these are varieties of the Cypress and the Arborvitae. He said the Arborvitae is not listed under item “c” as a “Tree like shrub” so they had counted the 35 Arborvitae on their project as trees.
Hoppe said to see the trees, people can go to the I-94 rest stop near Rawsonville Road where the trees are planted along the back as a dense shield to the area.
Akers did not agree. The Arborvitae weren’t trees in VBT.
Five neighbors indicated they were satisfied with how things were now.
An unhappy neighbor, Neighbor #6, Darwin Loyer at 763 Greylock Street, demanded that the sumac that had been approved by the township not be planted along his property, so Bethany didn’t plant the sumac. The honeysuckle approved already had been planted. The 20 feet of woodlands between the 25’ between Loyer’s property and the church had been provided as a goodwill gesture by the church, but said he still could see headlights.
Hoppe said this homeowner had not complained to the church but he heard he had complained to the township along with Neighbor #7, Patricia Veerkamp, at 791 Greylock.
Matthew Best, Deputy Director of Planning and Economic Development, said Neighbors #6 and #7 talked to him, with #7 only being there briefly and #6 speaking at length, complaining about the church and its “lack of response, not being kept in the loop, unhappy with his statement on the site plan, and unhappy with the lights through the trees.”
“I do not think the church hasn’t been more than amenable to the neighbors, Wayne County, and the township,” said Commission Vice Chairman Donald Boynton. “I think we can find a happy medium in here.”
“When we’re done, we want everybody happy,” Hoppe said.
“What we originally approved now stands,” said Commissioner Bob McKenna. “It doesn’t seem fair to me to put the applicant in that position … People could come after the fact and say we’re not happy.”
Treasurer Sharry Budd, who sits on the commission, said she agreed with that.
“I think we should have them put in six small trees and the Arborvitae where they want it,” Treasurer Budd said.
In other business at the Dec. 9 meeting, the board:
• Re-elected for the next year Carol Thompson as chairman, Donald Boynton as vice chairman, and Bryon Kelley as secretary;
• Noted that the bylaws revisions have been approved by the township board; and
• After a discussion, heard Akers say he would set dates for an informal meeting with the public on the new Lakeshore Ordinance. “This is huge,” Akers said.