Ensley Township in Newaygo County MI

Planning Commission

September Minutes

Ensley Township Planning Commission

September 27, 2010 

Members Present: Matt Bonzo, Janet Dravk, Ross Harwood, Cynthia Dubay, Ralph Palmer and Keith Bouwkamp.

Absent:  John VanderMeulen.

Guests: ZA, Steve Boluyt, Main Street Planner:  Jan Johnson.

Public: 6 residents present

Meeting:

            A         Pledge of Allegiance

                        Matt Bonzo called meeting to order at 7:30.  Pledge of Allegiance was cited. 

B.                 Roll Call

All Present but John VanderMeulen

C.                 Approval of Agenda

Switch order of Old Business and New Business.

Motion made (Bouwkamp) and supported (Ross Harwood) to approve agenda with above changes; all affirmed.

D.                 Approval of Minutes

August 30, 2010 Minutes:   Motion made (Bouwkamp), seconded (R. Harwood) to approve the PC minutes; all affirmed.

Reports:

A.                 Correspondence Received

Newaygo County is offering a Planning commission basic training on September 30.  There is also Zoning Board of Appeals training on October 28.

B.                 Township Representative

John Vander Meulen was absent.

C.                 Information and Inquiry Including Public Comment

There was none.

D.                 Zoning Administrator

Steve Boluyt gave the PC a cursory update of ZA activities to the PC; Issues mentioned include but not limited to;

·         New home going up on Tamarack that the ZBA will decide on if the garage and boathouse can be closer that the 10 feet allowed.

·         Issues with house that burned down on 120^th

·         The clean-up of property on 104^th Street near Hemlock.

New Business:

A.      Public Hearing regarding an amendment to the current zoning ordinance regarding section 3.32 (Entitles “Categories or businesses or uses not designated”), to add a definition of Medical Marijuana Dispensary to section 2.13 (definitions – M) of the zoning ordinance and to add a new and additional section 3.42 regarding Medical Marijuana Dispensaries to the general provisions of the zoning ordinance.  There was a motion to close the regular meeting and open the public hearing by Bouwkamp, seconded by Dubay.  All affirmed.  Don Lehnert asked for copies of the ordinance and he asked for a definition of dispensaries.  Matt Bonzo read the definition from the ordinance and he was given copies.  Don Lehnert asked the Planning Commission if they understood what medical marijuana is all about.  He noted that Gaines Township tabled this same ordinance.  Lehnert stated that he had no problem with not having dispensaries.  Allen Gould asked if people with a card could buy medical marijuana.  Jan Johnson of Main Street Planners stated that the care giver has to deliver the marijuana to the patients

There was a motion (Bouwkamp), seconded (Dravk) to close the public hearing and open the regular meeting, all ayes.

Bouwkamp moved to table this for one month to study it more.  This was seconded by Dubay.  All ayes, motion carried.

B.                 ZBA Representative: 

Janet Dravk was appointed to serve as the Planning Commission’s representative for the ZBA.  It was also noted that Ross Harwood and Matt Bonzo are up for re-appointment in December.  They should submit a letter to the Board if they want to be re-appointed.

Old Business:

A.                 Neighborhood Commercial Rezoning

Jan Johnson of Main Street Planning was present to give an update on the September 15 Business Owners Committee meeting.  She reviewed the results of the SWOT and this confirmed what the Planning Commission knew.  She noted that the Master Plan survey had the public against commercial expansion.  She stated that there is no one solution to the problem, and that there were three separate issues evident with Birds, Gould’s and B&T.

Jan expressed that Ensley Center could use a possible “village” overlay.  We should try to keep the hub of business here.  The overlay would fit here, but not necessarily at the other two places.  Re-zoning would still need to be done, including a public hearing and Board adoption.

Slight modifications would be needed for Birds and Gould’s.  A commercial PUD might work.  This was not an option preferred by the business owners.

The consensus of the Planning commission is that this is the right path to go down – modification and overlay for the Center.  This would take them from non-conforming to conforming – if the business chooses to be included.

If Woodard chose to go further north on Cypress for an ice cream & coffee shop, the property would need to be re-zoned.  We do not want spot zoning.  This needs to be in compliance with the Master Plan or at least near it.  We should try to keep business in the hub area.  Brenda Bird asked if commercial property can be zoned back to agriculture.  This can be done.  If a legally existing, non-conforming business is more than 50% destroyed by fire – it can not be rebuilt.  They would have to go before the ZBA for permission.

Task 5 is an “optional” public informational meeting.  This gives the public a summary of the existing conditions along Cypress, along with the goals.  The public can comment on the options that have been identified.  The Board needs to give permission to spend the extra $500.00 for the public meeting.  There was a motion (Palmer), seconded (Bouwkamp) to ask the Board to spend the extra $500.00 for the special meeting and schedule it for the next planning commission meeting on October 25, 2010. 

Adjourn:          There was a motion made (Bouwkamp), seconded (R. Harwood) to adjourn at 9:18 PM.  All affirmed.

Copyright 2012 - Ensley Township - All Rights Reserved