Minutes of the regular meeting of the Georgetown Township Planning Commission, held Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Meeting
called to order by Chairman Honderd at
Present: Jansma, DeGood, Stasiak, Honderd, Huizinga,
Poskey
Absent: South
#040317-01 - Agenda for
March 17, 2004
Moved by Jansma, seconded by DeGood, to approve the agenda for March 17, 2004, as presented.
MOTION CARRIED.
#040317-02 - Minutes of the February
18, 2004 regular meeting and the March 3,
2004 work session
meeting
Moved by Jansma, seconded by DeGood, to approve the
minutes of the February 18, 2004 regular meeting, as submitted.
MOTION CARRIED.
Moved by Huizinga, seconded by Stasiak, to approve
the minutes of the March 3, 2004 work session meeting, as submitted.
MOTION CARRIED.
#040317-03 – Site Plan
(ST0405) Georgetown Bible Church-4114 Baldwin St.
Roger Lamer, WL Perry, represented the applicant and
presented the request. He stated that
the plan was similar to the one approved by the Planning Commission last
summer. He said that the seating in the
sanctuary was increase from about 600 to 730 seats. He said that the layout was the same and that
the existing structure would be used for the youth and educational wing. He said that the front part would be the new
sanctuary. He said that the setbacks and
handicapped spaces were shown as requested, and that the handicapped spaces had
been located in a logical area because they were by an entrance with a
lift. He said that a screened dumpster
was shown. He said that the requests of
the Fire Department had been met and that the third fire hydrant had been
shown.
The planner presented a review and noted that the
concerns raised at the works session had been addressed.
The chairman opened the floor to public
comments. No one was present to speak on
this topic. The chairman closed the
floor to public comments.
Moved by Jansma, seconded by Stasiak, to approve the
site plan dated March 10, 2004, as submitted, with the following condition:
1.
That the church-owned parcels be combined into one single lot in order
to meet setback and greenbelt requirements and to insure that no parking or
drive encroachments exist;
2.
That the following information be supplied at the time of building
permit application submittal:
a.
Locate bike rack and other public amenities near main building
entrances.
b.
Revise the landscape plan with a note that the trees of similar type
and size will be planted for trees that are removed, or relocate existing trees
elsewhere on site.
c.
Revise the landscape plan to extend the row of deciduous trees located
along the east property line (south portion of property) north along the
perimeter to screen the dumpster area, and continue the Mission Arborvitae
hedgerow south to provide screening along the east access drive.
d.
Provide building elevation plans for the existing building and proposed
addition to confirm that materials for the new building are complementary in
appearance to the existing and meet the standards and intent listed in Sec.
20.3(A)(1).
e.
Provide sign details on building permit plans, showing size and
material of any new signage, to conform to the requirements of Sec. 25.6(A)(4).
MOTION CARRIED.
#040317-04 - Preliminary Plat of Cory Estates
Doug
Stalsonburg, Exxel Engineering, represented the applicant and presented the
request. He explained that the tentative
preliminary plat approval had expired because the time period of one year had
elapsed. He said that it took longer
than expected to complete the excavation of the lake. He said that note number 9, 10 and 11 on the
plan had been changed to address planner’s comments, and the building envelopes
had been reduced to comply with the 30% maximum lot coverage.
The
planner presented a review.
The
chairman opened the public hearing.
Arlen
Schut, 2431 VanBuren, said that he lives next door and that the developer had
been instructed at the time of the last approval to keep the area neat and the
grass cut. He said that the area had not
been seeded. He asked about the easement
and was told that the drainage would go toward the lake. He asked what the use of the development
would be and was told single family homes.
The
chairman closed the public hearing.
Moved
by Jansma, seconded by DeGood, to recommend to the Township Board to grant
tentative preliminary plat approval of Cory Estates, as shown on the drawing
dated March 5, 2004 on the basis that the concerns have been addressed.
MOTION
CARRIED.
#040317-05 - Other Business-(PUD0303) Arena Development
LLC, 2551
VanOmmen Dr.,
Holland, is requesting a Planned Unit Development
for a mixed use development with various types of residential housing and
various commercial uses, under Chapter 22, on a parcel of land described as PP#
70-14-07-100-012, located at 8658 48th Ave.
The
PUD was tabled by the Board and referred back to the Planning Commission.
Rick
Polaski, Nederveld Associates, represented the applicant and presented the
request. He said that development phases
had been shown and that three residential buildings would be constructed in the
first phase. He said that the commercial
parking areas had been cleaned up and setbacks detailed. He said that the entrances were changed to
accommodate 18 wheel trucks and the radius had been changed at the entry ways.
The
planner presented a review and noted that the site plan does not fully address
concerns raised by the Planning Commissioners in regards to the amount of
commercial shown. He said that the
applicant had made efforts to reduce the amount, but the plan still showed more
than the Planning Commission had directed.
He said that the development phases showed all the commercial and 18
townhouses in the first phase. He said
that parking is still deficient by 40 spaces, but the total calculations were
hard to determine since each commercial use is not known at this time. He still noted a concern with loading and
unloading.
The
zoning administrator stated that an option that could be considered by the
Planning Commission would be to require phasing that would include part of the
commercial and require that a specific amount of residential building be
complete prior to finishing the commercial.
She also noted that it possibly might be more beneficial for the
Planning Commission to recommend approval of the project with a list of
conditions for the Board to consider, rather than just recommending denial
where no conditions could be included.
Members
of the Planning Commission noted that the development had too much commercial
area and that the proposal was inconsistent with the Master Plan.
The
chairman asked what direction the Board had given when the request had been
tabled at the Board.
Jim
Holtvluwer, Township Supervisor who was present in the audience, stated that a
motion had immediately been made and supported to table at the meeting, which
calls for no discussion. He stated that
the commercial should be phased with possibly the three buildings along 48th
Ave. to be completed in the first phase, along with some residential. He said that the fourth building could be
completed in a later phase when more residential structures were constructed.
Jansma
proposed that for each one building of commercial that was constructed, three
residential structures should be constructed in the same phase. Phasing options were discussed. It was noted that the applicants could come
back to the Township in three to five years to ask for approval for additional
commercial development with the understanding that there would be no
guarantees.
The
chairman opened the floor to public comments.
A letter from Sam Hansen was read.
The chairman closed the floor to public comments.
Joel
Bowens, attorney for the applicants, stated that the applicants were committed
to meeting the suggestions listed by the planner in the final development
plan. He said that the fundamental concern
was the amount of the commercial development.
He said that the language in the Master Plan stated that a “typical”
commercial development in the NC designation would not be greater than 20,000
square feet. He suggested that this is
not a typical development due to the following: the site was extremely isolated,
it was bounded by 48th Ave. which is a major traffic barrier, and
the site was isolated due to the major utility right-of-way. He said that this was not a typical
development and it should be more flexible because of the ice arena to the
south. He said that the ice arena was
not a typical use and had more of a regional draw than a neighborhood
draw. He said that the development would
have a good design with good traffic flow.
He said that only a small amount of parking would be located in the
front and the rest would be circled by buildings.
Moved
by Jansma, seconded by DeGood, to recommend to the Township Board approval of (PUD0303) Arena Development LLC, 2551
VanOmmen Dr., Holland, to have a Planned Unit Development for a mixed use
development with various types of residential housing and various commercial
uses, under Chapter 22, on a parcel of land described as PP# 70-14-07-100-012,
located at 8658 48th Ave., as shown on the preliminary development
plan dated March 10, 2004 on the basis that the applicant has addressed
comments from the March 2004 work session, and with the following conditions:
1. Reduce the amount of
commercial development to 37,000 square feet, which would be the three
buildings along 48th Ave.,
2. Provide the amount of
displaced commercial square footage in order to show the area impacts of the
proposed commercial square footage,
3. Specify anticipated phasing
start and completion dates in accordance with Section 22.5(A)(3)(c),
4. Provide a site plan showing
compliance with parking requirements (minimum 268 parking spaces, subject to
specific commercial use requirements),
5. List details of all proposed
landscape materials, including size and species to meet the intent of PUD district
requirements,
6. Provide locations of all
proposed amenities (bike racks, bench locations, signs, etc.) to show how the
development meets the intent of PUD design requirements (Section 22.1 and
22.2),
7. Relocate (separate) loading
/unloading areas from the primary entry/exit drives used by patron of the
commercial development and by emergency vehicles, or widen the northerly access
drive into the commercial area to 32 feet,
8. Provide a second dumpster
location for use by the northern most commercial pads,
9. Show the location of
additional fire hydrants throughout the development as requested by the Fire
Department,
10. Provide sign details,
showing size and material of any new signage, to conform to the requirements of
Section 25.6(A)(4).
There was discussion that this was still too much
commercial development and the fear was that other commercial development in
the Township would close resulting in empty buildings.
Yeas: Huizinga,
Stasiak
Nays: Jansma,
DeGood, Honderd, Poskey
Absent: South
MOTION DENIED.
There was discussion regarding the amount of
commercial and that the Planning Commission has consistently been opposed to
more than 20,000 square feet because it was inconsistent with the Master Plan
and that it could harm businesses already in existence in the Township.
Moved by Poskey, seconded by Jansma, to recommend
denial to the Township Board because of too much commercial development, and
with the site plan issues as noted in the first motion.
Yeas: Honderd, DeGood, Jansma, Huizinga, Poskey
Nays: Stasiak
Absent:
South
MOTION
CARRIED.
#040317-06 – Other Business
There was discussion regarding amending the Zoning
Ordinance in regards to state licensed care facilities. Proposed language was presented and the
decision was made to review the language for discussion at the work session.
#040317-07 – Adjournment
The chairman adjourned the meeting at 8:50 p.m.