VBT Planners hold hearing, pass Jones’ request to board

A public hearing on Scott Jones’ request to amend the township’s future land use map was held by the Van Buren Township
Planning Commission at its regular meeting Oct. 23.
Then, the commission voted unanimously to recommend approval to the VBT board at its next meeting. It also is scheduled to be discussed at a board work/study session.
These are three of the 15 steps set out last June to make way for Jones’ rezoning of lakeside property at 41620 E. Huron River Dr., adjacent to Edison Lake Road, so he and his sister and brother-in-law, Tammy and Bill Osier, can build 70 detached condos.
This public hearing on the map change is the eighth step proposed to end with the final rezoning on Jan. 21.
At the public hearing, the first speaker was Michele Montour, 43200 E. Huron River Dr., who said she had concerns about the increase in traffic by 140 cars on the two-lane roadway.
She also said there was no indication of docks being added here, but she was also concerned about increased traffic on the lake.
Vidya Krishna, a planning consultant from McKenna who is filling in as director of planning and economic development until a new director can be hired, said Jones still has to apply for rezoning.
Commission chairwoman Carol Thompson said traffic is part of the site-plan review and it will take several months to get to that.
A letter from Ken Durbal of 41196 Lakeview Court, across the lake from the proposed development, was read into the record of the public hearing by VBT Director of Public Services Director Matthew Best.
Durbal, who had served on the citizens’ committee to put together a lakeside ordinance, said he was against the rezoning that would crowd the lake. He said there were no exceptions for docks and the first developer that came along could avoid rules against docks, if a modification is approved. He said the lakeside zoning was not developed for mass construction of homes.
Jones said there are 27 lots on the water in his plan and he had no plan to apply for docks. He said his idea was to have homes much like the new ones on North Liberty Street in the City of Belleville, but with more room between the homes.
“We will have 10 feet,” he said.
Diedre Rivera-Creal of 47251 North Shore Dr., said people are asking to be informed when this development is ready, so they can live there.
“Traffic will be addressed,” Creal said, referring to 500 units in Cherry Hill Village that are on a two-lane roadway. “They worked it out.
“It will build our community,” she said of the planned development.
Commission vice-chairman Donald Boynton made the motion to recommend the amendment of the future land use map to the township board, which was supported by Commissioner Medina Atchinson. Approval was unanimous. The action would amend the present zoning on the future land-use map from medium-density Single Family-A to Multiple Family Residential.
Commissioner Jeff Jahr noted that the revised map would specify that the 6 to 7 units an acre maximum will always be specified.
In other business at the one-hour-and-10-minute meeting, the commission:
• Heard an apology from consultant Krishnan who said a zoning item on the published legal notice for the public hearing for a request from Ashley Crossroads South was incorrect and the notice needs to be republished correctly. The public hearing will be reset. She said she double-checked it, but missed the error. This is the first time in her 20 years of experience that this has happened, she said, and commissioners told her it proves she is human. Ashley Capital wishes to rezone a narrow parcel — 805 feet by 250 feet — which is part of the ITC corridor from RM, Single Family Residential, to M-1, Light Industrial, so it can park 86 more trailers. No construction is proposed. The agenda item to recommend approval of the rezoning was removed from the agenda and tabled to the Nov. 27 meeting. “Next time we see you, we’re going to sail through this,” Thompson promised;
• Approved two requests by Infinity Homes to add new elevations to the offered layouts at the unfinished subdivisions at Townsend Park, located east of Morton Taylor and north of Ecorse, and at Country Walk, located east of Martinsville and north of Savage. They want to build three-car garages for customers in Country Walk and add The Townsend, Larch and Larch II layouts. Infinity was directed to contact the homeowners association in the two developments and try to get their approval of the new designs; and
• Approved the preliminary site plan for DTE Energy to build a 35,700 square foot building to function as a back-up facility at the DTE site at 8001 Haggerty Rd., just south of Ecorse, with a list of stipulations. It would be a backup to the Detroit facility and could be up in two hours if the Detroit site went down. It has to follow government regulations. It would have very low usage and only be active when the primary facility goes down. They do plan two to three classes a week for about eight to ten people each time to train them in the use. The facility will have a gated entrance and be tucked away in the trees with very little appearance from Haggerty and I-275. A non-climbable, eight-foot fence with spikes on the top was approved for security, like those approved for the Chase facility and US Data Center. The facility, which will be of precast concrete, has to be constructed to withstand an F-5 tornado and 250 mph winds.