#060816-04 - Proposed New Planning Commission Meeting
Procedures
Moved
by Pearson, seconded by South, to adopt PC Policy 2006-01, with the proposed
revisions to the Planning Commission process, as presented, with option 2 for
multiple deadlines per month, and to recommend to the Township Board to adopt
the policy
MOTION
CARRIED.
#060828-15 - PC Policy 2006-01 - New Planning
Commission Meeting Procedures
Moved
by Daniel Carlton, seconded by Dale Mohr, to approve PC Policy 2006-01 for the
Planning Commission Procedures and SOPs as follows:
PC Policy 2006-01
Planning Commission Procedures Revised
In order to formulate the
application, review and action process for the Planning Commission, the
Township has adopted the following policy.
This process will save valuable assets relating to time and financial
investments both for the applicants and the Township in regard to meetings and
reviews.
The Planning Commission
normally meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month and both are regular
meetings when review, discussion and action could take place. The Planning Commission may table or postpone
discussion and/or action on any item they determine requires revisions or
additional information, or for any other reason determined necessary.
Information, Forms, and Fees.
Information, application
forms, submittal material requirements and fee schedules are available in the
Building and Zoning Department at the Township Office or at the Township
website at gtwp.com, Building and Zoning.
Please note that the Township highly encourages
submission of electronic files (in pdf format) along
with the other required submission materials for projection use at
meetings. The electronic files can be
sent by email to mmin@gtwp.com.
Deadline for application submission.
The submittal deadline for
applications to be placed on a Planning Commission agenda is normally noon four weeks prior to a Planning Commission
meeting (could be for either of the two meetings which are normally
scheduled for the first and third Wednesdays of each month).
If application materials are
submitted with substantial,
necessary or required information missing, incorrect or not in compliance with
the Zoning Ordinance, the Planning Commission normally would postpone review and
action on the application until such time as the missing or incorrect material
is addressed and submitted to the Township.
The Pre-Application Meeting helps to eliminate such a possibility with a
review by the Township zoning administrator prior to the application
submission.
Pre-Application Meeting.
A pre-application meeting
with the zoning administrator and the applicant is required prior to application submission according to the
requirement of the Zoning Ordinance.
The pre-application meeting must
be scheduled with Township staff by calling the Building and Zoning
Department at 616-457-2690. This meeting
must be scheduled and held at least five
business days prior to the submission deadline for a particular meeting agenda (or
as scheduled by Township staff). Failure
to attend a pre-application meeting could result in the application being
withheld from a Planning Commission agenda.
The cost for a
pre-application meeting is established by the Township Board and can be applied
toward the application fee of the particular application being reviewed if the
particular application is submitted to the Township within two months of the
Pre-Application Meeting. Alternately,
the complete application fee could be submitted at the time of the
pre-application meeting.
The purpose of the
Pre-Application Meeting is for a complete
or nearly complete proposal and/or plan to be reviewed by the zoning
administrator with the applicant present to determine if all the necessary and
required elements are provided on a plan and that all submittal requirements
are fulfilled. The proposed plan would
also be initially reviewed for compliance with Township Zoning Ordinance
requirements. If necessary, the Township
zoning administrator could schedule the attendance of other Township
representatives at the Pre-Application Meeting such at the planner, Fire Chief
or Director of the Department of Public Works.
Attendance at a
Pre-Application Meeting does not guarantee approval for a proposal; rather it
helps to ensure that the application has all of the necessary elements and
submission materials for review by the Planning Commission.
Since the Open Meetings Act
(Public Act No. 267 of 1976, as amended) requires that all deliberations
towards decisions, as well as decisions, are to be made at meetings that are
open to the public rather than private meetings between applicants and members
of a public body (Boards and Commissions), no decisions nor deliberations
towards decisions would be made at any time other than at a public meeting.
Direct contact by applicants
with the Township planning consultant would be at the applicant’s expense.
SOPS
Township Procedures for Planning
Commission Applications
The following are procedures
for applications for site plan approval, special use permits, plats, PUDs, rezonings, or any other
applications that come before the Planning Commission.
1.
When a potential
applicant contacts the Township Office, information is supplied regarding
meeting deadlines, meeting dates, submittal materials, pre-application meeting
requirements, and fees and forms. This
information can be obtained at the Township website or at the Township Office.
2.
When a petitioner
plans to submit an application, a pre-application meeting is scheduled and held
at least five business days prior to the submission deadline with the zoning
administrator and petitioner present.
The complete or nearly complete plan or proposal is reviewed for
completeness of submittal materials and preliminarily for compliance with Zoning
Ordinance requirements and any applicable general ordinances. A fee as established by the Township Board is
charged and can be applied towards an application fee amount if the application
is submitted within a two month period of the date of the pre-application
meeting. Alternately, the complete
application fee amount could be paid at this time without the payment of the
separate pre-application meeting fee.
The petitioner should use the information provided at the
pre-application meeting to revise the plan and/or submittal material prior to
the formal application submission.
Planned Unit Development applications have additional requirements
listed in Sec. 22.4 of the Zoning Ordinance that must be met in addition to the
above standards for a pre-application meeting.
3.
At the time a
formal application is submitted (including a signed application, fee, ten
copies of a site plan and any other relevant information), the materials are
reviewed by the zoning administrator for completeness and the application is
placed on the Planning Commission agenda for the next regular meeting (which
could be either meeting of the month, normally the first or third Wednesdays of
the month). If substantial or required
elements are missing or incorrect, the zoning administrator would recommend to
the Planning Commission to postpone review and action on the application until
such time as the missing or incorrect elements are addressed. An application would not be added to the
Planning Commission agenda until the pre-application meeting has been
held.
4.
Notices for any
required public hearings would be according to the requirements of State Law.
5.
The zoning
administrator conducts a formal review of each application that has been
submitted by the deadline, has been determined to be sufficiently complete and
correct, and for which a pre-application meeting was held. The application materials are reviewed for
compliance with all requirements of the Zoning Ordinance and applicable general
ordinances. The zoning administrator may
contact the planning consultant with questions regarding any application, site
plan or complicated detailed proposal in order to incorporate additional
information into the review. Only those
applications with questions or detailed complicated plans would be forwarded to
the planner for a review. The planner
would present a review to the zoning administrator of those specifically
requested plans and the information would be incorporated into the formal
review provided to the Planning Commission.
6.
The formal review
compiled by the zoning administrator would provide information as to whether
Zoning Ordinance and applicable general ordinance requirements have been
met. For rezoning applications,
capability, consistency and compatibility would be evaluated. In addition, information regarding past
history, current circumstances and any other relevant material would be
incorporated into the review.
7.
The agenda and
the formal review compiled by the zoning administrator (along with submission
materials) would be forwarded to the Planning Commissioners prior to the
meeting (agendas and minutes by email and paper copies of site plan via US
mail). Members who have questions or
would like additional information prior to the meeting could contact the zoning
administrator.
8.
At the Planning
Commission meeting, the zoning administrator would present the formal review
with any additional information that had been requested by Planning Commission
members. If requested, the zoning
administrator would provide recommendations with options for motions, including
possible conditions. However, the intent
is for the Planning Commission to have the responsibility to deliberate the
actions and to take the action they deem appropriate, after being provided with
all pertinent information (specifically if ordinance requirements are met) and
considering the request.
9.
If an applicant
requests withdrawal of an application, the procedure would be the same as for
any application such that if the Planning Commission has the responsibility to
take action, they would act upon the request, but if the Board takes action,
the Planning Commission would make a recommendation to the Board.
Note: The Planning Commission approved
the Policy and recommended the Board
approve
the policy. The changes make each
Planning Commission meeting regular for review and action, allows for two
deadlines per month, plus requires a pre-application meeting held at least 5
business days before a deadline.
MOTION CARRIED.