VBT planners hear two comments at Sumpter Corridor public hearing

A neighbor on Cheney Street and a longtime farmer with 40 acres on Sumpter Road were the only two property owners to speak at the May 25 public hearing on the Sumpter Road Corridor Plan before the Van Buren Township Planning Commission.
The Cheney Street resident said she had lived next to a shallow-lot, commercial property “forever” and the C zoning (local business) limits its use. If the township changes it to mixed use zoning, as proposed, “My protection is gone,” she said.
“Noise travels and light invades, like from the Citgo gas station since they upgraded,” she said.
She said the plan was supposed to keep the south end of Van Buren Township rural but the way they have it the southwest and southeast corners at Hull and Sumpter would be commercial.
“Sumpter Road will look like Belleville Road,” she said. “I urge you to keep C zoning on shallow parcels,” she said.
Edward Berger said he owns 40 acres on the west side of Sumpter Road and he had a problem with reviewing the 75 pages of the Sumpter Road Corridor Plan and would like to request a paper copy.
Later Commissioner Jeff Jahr asked Dan Power, director of planning and economic development, to provide Berger with a paper copy and Power said he would after the meeting and he did.
Berger said he had two hours of heart surgery two days earlier, but he felt it was important to come to the hearing to keep track of what they are doing.
He had concerns about roadside drainage along Sumpter Road which has been bad since he was a kid and he tracked muskrats on the west side. He said the drain on the east side is virtually gone.
Berger said it has been referred to as prime farmland, but, “not in Van Buren Township on the south end of Belleville.”
“Things have changed,” he said. This “prime farmland” being protected from development with their plan, “goes against the grain with me.” He said corn and beans is what is grown along there.
“Truck farming is gone,” he said, noting people are not taking produce to markets in Detroit any more. He said there are minimal public services in that area, including sewer, water, and police.
He said baled hay is stolen out of barns at night and tools are stolen while farmers are out working in the field. Insurance doesn’t pay the value of what is taken and then the insurance company raises the rates.
He said as far as the “low density” claim, farmers can no longer run a tractor on the road because it’s not safe. He said from Bemis to Hull vehicles go very, very fast.
He said the crosshatching on the plan is on the east side of Sumpter Road and not the west side and he’d like to know why. He said his land could be put to more residential use.
There were no other comments at the 16-minute public hearing.
Director Power explained that the Sumpter Road Corridor Plan had gone through the 42-day review period and the public hearing was called for after that.
“There’s still work to be done,” Power said. “We’re still plugging away.” He said they will consider the comments that night and he would like the commission to hold off on its final recommendation until they are done. There is minor formatting of the plan to be done, such as calling them “frontage” lots rather than “shallow.”
Power explained the hatch lines on the plan are recommended, not required. He said the plan will be revisited at a future meeting.
Commissioner Jahr said he has read all the written comments by the two speaking that evening, along with more than 30 printed pages of public comment that came in from the beginning.
“I read them all again today and as they came in,” Jahr said. “Your messages were received.”
Commissioner Brian Cullin said he is the third generation of his family in Belleville.
“Sumpter Road will develop and if we don’t have a plan, it could go any way,” Cullin said. “We have to be careful … We have to be concerned with the traffic and take care of the residents who are living there.”
Commission chairman Bryon Kelley said there will be no action tonight.
“Our main goal is that we don’t create something miserable,” Kelley said.
Power said they are working on the Sumpter Road Mixed Use Zoning District and the Sumpter Road Overlay District that would implement the Corridor Plan. He said these districts are a big document and were discussed March 23 and April 13 by the commission and will be again in the future.
Jahr said this project started in late April 2021, so they have been working on it for over a year.
They talked about the restrictions being put together and Vidya Krishnan, planning consultant from McKenna Associates, said they have built in flexibility for the planning commission to make some decisions.
In other business at the one-hour-and-four-minute meeting, the commission:
• Held a public hearing at which no public spoke and then approved a recommendation to rezone to the township board of 6690 Haggerty Rd. as requested by Ashley Capital’s Crossroads Distribution Center North to consolidate all its property in that area to M-1 (light industrial). This property acquisition came too late to be included in the group of Ashley Capital properties slated for rezoning from the previous commission meeting;
• Heard Power say a public hearing on changes to the design of Cobblestone Creek Villas is scheduled for June 8. He also noted the Meijer store had a large number of shipping containers in its north parking area to assist it during its two phases of work. Meijer plans interior renovations to the store, including moving the food and electronic areas and adding a drive-through for the pharmacy. It also plans a minor addition to the gas station. Power said the special land use and planning revisions will come before the commission. He said the previous south end project request that was approved by the commission has been withdrawn;
• Heard a comment from Steven Dark via zoom that the township should focus on a Rawsonville Road Plan and especially at the Lakewood Shopping Center where the township should set what they can and cannot build there; and
• Was advised Commissioner Tamika Garrett has resigned because she is moving and there now is a vacancy on the planning commission.