Minutes of the work session of the Georgetown Township Planning Commission held Wednesday, March 30, 2005

 

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Honderd at 7:30 p.m.

 

Present:            Huizinga, DeGood, Honderd, Pearson, Poskey, Stasiak, South

Absent: none

 

The work session, which formulated the agenda for April 20, 2005, included the following items to be placed on the agenda, discussion, and action:

 

I.                    Approval of agenda

 

II.                 Approval of minutes of the March 16, 2005 regular meeting and the March 30, 2005 work session meeting

 

III.               Unfinished Business

 

A.     Preliminary Plat of Cedar Lake Estates No. 11

 

No new information was available and no one was present to represent the applicant.  The request was left tabled.

 

IV.       New Business

A.                 Site Plans

1.         (ST0505) Reformed Free Publishing Association (Tasmanian

Construction LLC)-1894 Georgetown Center Dr.

 

Michael Bosveld, Tasmanian Construction LLC, represented the applicant and presented the request.  The plans are for a non-profit entity associated with a church that was looking to building offices for office work and retail sales to plan for future growth.  The uses would include over-the-phone and internet sales along with some retail sales.

 

Paul LeBlanc, the planner, presented a review and noted that the plan was complete other than parking calculations.  The application was directed to provide in writing the square footage devoted to each use of retail and office along with total required parking and provided parking spaces.

 

2.         (ST0506) Nobel Concrete Inc.- 1777 DeWent

 

Todd Stuive, Exxel Engineering, represented the applicant and presented the request.  The proposal is for a 12,940 square foot building with the office located on the south side.  An effort will be made to save the existing vegetation, trees and brush on the north side to provide a buffer.  Utilities will be provided and the storm water management is off-site.  The plan will be revised to include a decel lane and discussions have been held with the Road Commission in this regard.

 

The planner presented a review and noted the following: building dimensions should be shown correctly for both the site and architectural plans; full sign details should be provided; exterior lighting details should be provided; parking, loading and circulation details should be provided; dumpster screening information should be provided; and buffering information such as photographs or a narrative should be provided for the residential area to the north to determine if the ordinance requirement is met.  Wheel chocks were suggested and the applicant was directed to determine if they were desirable.  There was discussion regarding the location of the sidewalk but the current location was acceptable because the road right-of-way jogs.

 

The applicant said that the same signage information had been provided on the previous three site plans that were approved last month and exterior lighting would be wall packs.  It was noted that information had been provided that the dumpster would be screened with a six foot high wooden fence. The applicant indicated that buffer information would be provided but there was no need for wheel chocks.  The applicant noted that there was enough room for the concrete trucks to maneuver. 

 

B.         Public Hearings

1.                  Special Use Permits

a. (SUP0503) Michelle Bowne, 916 Fairwood Ct., is requesting to have a group day care home under Sec. 8.3(E), on a parcel of land described as P.P.# 70-14-11-436-010, located at 916 Fairwood Ct., in a (LDR) Low Density Residential district

 

Michelle Bowne, 916 Fairwood Ct., presented the request and said that she had been conducting a daycare business for over ten years with no idea that a special use permit was required by the Township.  She noted that she was getting estimates this week to fence 1,800 square feet of her property.  She said that she had copies of information that her daycare business was not within 1,500 feet of another group daycare home.  She provided letters from clients and a schedule.  In regards to traffic flow, she said that she was located on a cul-de-sac and not more than two cars were dropped off at one time.  She noted that most of her clients were part time.

 

The planner presented a review and said that it was the Planning Commission’s responsibility to be sure that the ordinance standards were met and that since the new information was just submitted it was not part of the review.

 

The applicant said that she had two college and two high school employees for a total of four.  She said that there was a maximum of two employees working at a time.

 

The planner noted a concern for parking and drop-off/pick-up areas since the Township had received complaints in regards to traffic.  It was also noted that the required fenced area should be shown and the applicant was required to submit information stipulating that no other group daycare home was located within 1,500 feet.  Also, the ordinance requires that the pickup and drop off areas as well as parking areas be located off the street and such that vehicles do not stop or back into the traffic lane.

 

The applicant indicated that people were coming to give her estimates for the fencing.  She also said that mostly one person comes at a time to drop off and they just back into the street.  She said that she is the second house from the corner.  She said that she would provide a copy of her license.  She asked about providing the turn around area and was told that other site plans could provide ideas as to how to meet the ordinance. 

 

The Planning Commissioners directed that the application be advertised for a public hearing at the next Planning Commission meeting.

 

                              2.         Rezonings

a. (REZ0501) To change from (HDR) High Density Residential to (MDR) Medium Density Residential and from (MDR) Medium Density Residential to (HDR) High Density Residential parts of a parcel of land described as P.P.# 70-10-31-200-017, located at 10081 42nd Ave., Georgetown Township, Ottawa County, Michigan.

 

Todd Stuive, Exxel Engineering, represented the applicant and presented the request.  The rezoning is requested for the expansion of Campus View Townhouses and the reason is to square off the unusual angle of the zoning boundary for the layout of the site.  Even amounts of acreage are proposed to be swapped resulting in the same amount of land zoned as it currently exists.  He said that this would provide with a logical efficient development layout as opposed to the inefficient way the site is currently zoned with triangles and angles.

 

The planner said that there did not appear to be any objections to the request other than it might be better to rezone the whole parcel to HDR because uses are similar to those in the MDR district.  The suggestion was made that the request be submitted as a PUD.

 

The applicant said that the only reason that the MDR was propose was to make a swap for the land to square it off and they felt any negative aspects would be alleviated by replacing the land with an equal amount of MDR.  He said that this was phase six and most of the project for student housing was currently built.  He said that it would not be a good idea to switch in main-stream to a PUD.

 

The question was asked as to why the zoning district was split diagonally across the parcel.  The planner answered that it has been like that for over 30 years and the only reason that he could give was that the zoning line followed the power lines.

 

It was the consensus of the Planning Commission that equal amounts of the land be swapped in each zoning district.

 

5.                  Plats

a.         Preliminary Plat of Hunters Meadows No. 2

 

Ron VanSingel, Nederveld and Associates, represented the applicant and presented the request.

 

The plat received preliminary approval and final preliminary plat approval for Hunters Meadows for a layout that included all of the lots in both phases one and two.  However, when the plat returned for final plat approval, only half of the lots initially shown were included because the applicant wanted to build it in phases.  Now  the applicant has come in to the Township for final plat approval for phase 2 and there have been no approvals for phase 2 preliminary and final preliminary because there had been no phase 2.  Township officials would not allow a plat to split into two phases during the approval sequence.  Consequently, the applicant has returned with an application to the Planning Commission for phase 2. 

 

There are 31 lots on 14.83 acres.  All streets are public and there will be full utilities.

 

The planner presented a review and said that the length of the cul-de-sac is close to 600 feet and that the existing mature trees should be saved as much as possible.

 

6.                  PUD’s-none

 

5.         Ordinance Amendments-none

 

V.                 Other Business

VI.       Commissioner Comments

VII.      Staff Comments

VIII.         Adjourn

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.