VBT planners OK preliminary site plan for Community Center

The Van Buren Township Community Center project took another step forward as the township planning commission unanimously approved its preliminary site plan at the March 9 regular meeting.
Dan Power, director of planning and economic development, explained the proposal that the township has been working on for months and had been before the planning commission and township board.
Director Power said there are 13,446 square feet of renovations and a 16,411 square-foot gymnasium to be added in the eastern side of the existing municipal building.
Power said there are still some things to be worked out before the final site plan approval. The east edge of the parking lot, which adjoins a residential area, needs to have a 4.9’ setback instead of the 20’ setback required in the ordinance and he asked the commissioners to grant that change.
He said the construction of the gymnasium cuts off the around-the-building access to the employee and police department parking lot. There will be a 5’ high decorative fence and gated access to the lot for security. Power said the staff recommended restricted access to this parking lot.
He talked of the dry detention basins to the south and how he wants a designated snow storage area in the parking lot.
Architect Stephen Gedert, the applicant, spoke of the performance plaza with a large lawn at the south end of the gymnasium and the outdoor fitness patio to the west of the building. A new sidewalk will go to Quirk Park.
The Black Box Theater, across from the new entrance, will have back space for the props and changing rooms for the theater. It will hold 150 people in seating that comes out like bleachers from the wall. He said there is no stage and it is suitable for theater in the round or small plays.
Gedert described the teen area with three, four-seat booths for teens to do homework or other activities, and other furniture to be determined. He told of the party rooms, senior room, child-watch playroom, and dance studio.
He said the gym contained a high school basketball court and two middle school courts, and layouts for pickleball and volleyball courts. Upstairs at the gym, reachable by elevator and stairs, is a three-lane jog and walk track. There is an emergency stairwell to the south, which on the outside is the background for the performance plaza. The locker room is near the entrance.
Commissioner Jeff Jahr said this is a very nice, flat-roof addition to the building that already has a flat roof. “It’s an acceptable roof,” he said.
“We at the township board have been looking at this for a long time,” said Treasurer Sharry Budd who sits on the commission. “We want this to be so perfect and so good.”
In other business at the 2-hour meeting on March 9, the board:
• Following a public hearing on Applebee’s special land use and site plan requests for a “To-Go” booth, sent a recommendation for approval of the special land use to the township board and then approved the preliminary and final site plans together. Applebee’s wishes to construct a 11’x14’ “To-Go” booth for online and pickup orders for the restaurant at 10526 Belleville Rd. Orders will come by phone or mobile app and no orders will be taken at the window. Because of the pandemic, to-go orders increased and crew members now have to run out to the cars in all times of the day and weather to deliver the orders. Applebee’s developed the to-go booth and this restaurant will be the first in Michigan to have the booth. Applebee’s has been in Van Buren Township since 2000;
• After a long discussion, granted final site plan approval, with a performance bond attached to the landscaping, to Sam Patel of JSB Builders, LLC, to construct a 16,280-square-foot, multi-tenant light industrial building with truck well and related site improvements at 6032 Schooner Dr. Before construction can begin, the mystery of the details of a storm water detention has to be unraveled and documents found. Engineer Potter from Fishbeck Engineering, the township’s consultant, said he is willing to work with the developer to track down the details of the community detention pond. Potter said before construction can begin there will have to be plans for water detention. Scott Wright, project architect, said Patel (who was not present because his wife was in the hospital) is relocating his business from Ann Arbor and will put his business in the west part of the new building and have the rest filled by multiple tenants. He needed the truck well for the semis that come to his business, Wright said; and
• Heard Power suggest a meeting format change, since the commission holds the latest meeting at the township, starting at 7:30 p.m. He asked the commission to consider changing the time the meeting starts and they can discuss it at the next meeting. Treasurer Budd suggested 6 p.m. might be a more-convenient meeting time.