PLANNING COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING
MINUTES
I. Call to Order - Pledge of Allegiance - Roll Call
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll Call Francis McNamara – present
Donald Hartwick – present
Craig Landes – absent w/notice
John Maahs – present
Ronald Overton – present
Richard Turcotte – present
Ulrika Zay – present
Charles Openlander – present
Beth Ball - present
Also present – Andrea Polverento, Planning Director, Deb Adams, Township Supervisor and George Weitzel, Township Trustee
Polverento outlined the correspondence given to the Planning Commission members.
MOTION by MAAHS and seconded by OVERTON to approve the agenda as presented.
Passed unanimously
A. Discuss Master Plan Update - Summary of Existing Conditions
Rebecca Bessey from Birchler Arroyo Associates explained that the webpage regarding the updating of the Master Plan is up and running. There is a link from the Township’s home page that takes you to the page. She explained the webpage and the information that can be found on it. Bessey explained that the webpage will be updated through out the process.
Bessey outlined the kick off meeting that was held in August for those who were not in attendance.
Bessey reviewed the materials that were sent to the Planning Commissioners. Bessey also outlined the research she and Dave Birchler have done on the existing conditions in the Township.
McNamara asked how concerns in terminology, text etc should be addressed. Bessey explained that the Commissioners can feel free to email her at anytime with any concerns they may have. Overton suggested that any changes the Commissioner’s have along the way be sent to Polverento so just one person is contacting the consultants.
Zay asked Bessey about the map on page 16 that has a circle for a gateway far to the west on Bauer and Grand River, Zay asked why they considered that location a gateway. Bessey responded that because that is entering the community from a major road. Bessey explained that they were trying to identify the gateways that they felt were major entrance points. Discussion took place about areas the Commissioners felt were primary gateways into the community.
Turcotte feels that the introduction should have a little more about the agricultural preservation and some of the general plans that the Township is working on. He feels that it’s important to talk about even if it’s only a paragraph.
Turcotte discussed looking at an Access Management Plan for the Township.
Discussion took place about the Future Land Use Map and what the plan should show.
Turcotte explained that there have been developers who have come into the Township wishing to build retirement centers and multi level apartment complexes. There is nothing in the Ordinance regarding these type of developments but the general consensus of the Commissioners were that those type of developments are needed. Turcotte asked if the consultants had any ideas on how to make that type of development compatible with other uses that does not make an unpleasant footprint.
Zay agrees with Turcotte regarding the Access Management Plan and feels it should be looked at to see if there are ways the Township could integrate that into the current system.
Discussion took place about the visioning session to be held on October 14, 2008.
Bessey explained that to encourage participation, she recommends publishing something in the local newspapers. She also recommended that the session be announced at as many township wide meetings as possible. Bessey will put together a small poster to be posted at local business and will be available for people to hand out. Bessey asked Polverento to compile a list of community business, organizations and individuals that she can send an invitation to asking them to have a representative at the visioning session.
Zay asked if anyone was opposed to involving older children in the process. She feels it would possibly bring some creative ideas to the table. Adams suggested sending a notification to the Scouts; they come to the community meetings frequently as a way of earning their community badges.
Birchler explained that they have found that a lot of people have community participate through various community organizations. He has found that if you send an invitation to the community organizations that you would like to participating asking them to provide at least one member of their organization that is a township resident, they usually take that pretty seriously. If they have a good experience and feel like their ideas were heard and that their comments were noted, they find that when it gets to the point of the public hearing on the completed document, there is a lot of support in the community already for what you have been doing because they feel like their input really did make it into the process.
Discussion took place about asking if the local newspapers might be willing to do a news article about the Master Plan. Overton suggested putting it in the local events section of the Lansing State Journal. Polverento explained that the Township newsletter should go out about the week before the visioning session so there will be an article in that as well.
Bessey discussed their ideas on how to focus participants on different topic areas and one of the ideas they had would be to have maybe 4 main topic areas and develop some ice breaker questions to get the discussion going leading into the deeper issues under each of those topic areas. The general topic areas they discussed would be Residential Growth and Development, Commercial and Industrial Development, Wacousta Village Area, and Community Identity.
Overton explained that some ongoing concerns in the Township have been Rural Character/AG Preservation and the River and Natural Resources. Another area to explore would be asking the participants what their ideal community would be, what makes for a good, healthy community verses what they don’t want to see.
Polverento asked what the Planning Commission and Board of Trustee’s roll in the visioning session will be. Birchler would like the Planning Commission to call the meeting to order then join the group. He feels that the fact that they serve on the commission or the board is not a reason to separate you from being a participant in this sort of event.
Zay like the thought of opening the visioning session with a short Power Point presentation showing all the local photos that everyone recognizes to help stimulate the thought process about the community. Overton feels it would also be very important to bring the participants up to speed on what the Master Plan is and how it ties in with zoning in the community. Overton also feels its important to help the participants understand that this is not zoning but rather the vision of the future as we see it.
Birchler explained that in the event that there was very little participation in the visioning session and the Planning Commission wanted to do an outreach session, he explained that there is another technique called a meeting in a box. There are aids that allow these groups to conduct their own meeting about the subject matter and there are materials in the box that they work with and return to you that essentially give a survey type response. This method can be done at Homeowners Associations, Churches, PTIA meetings, Boy Scouts, etc.
X. Comments and Questions from Audience, Staff and Commissioners-
Polverento explained that she met with a couple of residents that live in Klein Farm Estates; they have an interest in establishing a group home facility in their home, which is a permitted use in their zoning district. Adjacent to their property is a parcel that is owned by Mr. Klein and he has discussed the possibility of selling that parcel to those residents for the purposes of establishing a 36 to 40 individual state licensed residential aging center. The only district in which that is allowed as a special land use is R2 and R3. They seemed serious about working with the Township in figuring out a way to make that happen. There is the issue that there is no water or sewer there which is key, however they have been working with an Architect and a consulting firm that has developed on site systems for facilities such as this in other rural communities and in the past they have been approved by the State. She asked if that is something the Commission would be willing to consider or talk about.
Discussion took place about this type of project. General consensus is that Polverento direct them to a more appropriate zoning district that allows that type of use by special land use. Polverento suggested that she will ask them to come in after the first of the year and discussing their plans with the Commission.
MOTION by OVERTON and seconded by OPENLANDER to adjourn the meeting.
Passed unanimously
Meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.
Date approved:
_____________________________ _____________________________
Ron Overton, Chair Bath Ball, Secretary