on May 4, 2011 at 5:58am.
Planning Commission Meeting on January 14, 2008
ELECTION OF OFFICERS:
CALL TO ORDER: At 6:32 p.m., the work session of the Genoa Township Planning Commission was called to order. Present constituting a quorum were
Vice Chairman, Dean Tengle, James Mortensen, Teri Olson, Chris Grajek, Diana Lowe and Doug Brown. Also present were Jeff Purdy of LSL, Tesha Humphriss of Tetra Tech and Kelly VanMarter,
Planning Director.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Upon motion of James Mortensen and support by Chris Grajek, the agenda was approved as submitted.
DISCUSSION: of Agenda items of the regular meeting of the Planning Commission
DISCUSSION: of general items
ADJOURNMENT: Upon motion by Chris Grajek and support by James Mortensen, the work session was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.
CALL TO ORDER: At 7:00 p.m., the meeting of the Genoa Township Planning Commission was called to order. Present constituting a quorum were Vice
Chairman, Dean Tengle, James Mortensen, Teri Olson, Chris Grajek, Diana Lowe, and Doug Brown. Also present were Jeff Purdy of LSL, Tesha Humphriss of Tetra Tech and Kelly VanMarter, Planning
Director.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and a moment of silence was observed.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Upon motion by James Mortensen and support by Chris Grajek, the agenda was approved. Motion carried
unanimously.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Kelly VanMarter addresses the Planning Commission and calls for a motion regarding the election of
officers.
Motion by James Mortensen to appoint Doug Brown as Chairman, Dean Tengle as Vice Chairman and Barbara Figurski as Secretary of the
Planning Commission. Support by Teri Olson. Motion carried unanimously.
CALL TO THE PUBLIC: (Note: The Board reserves the right to not begin new business after 10:00 p.m.)
OPEN PUBLIC HEARING # 1… Review of special use application, impact assessment, and site plan for a
proposed 38,081 sq. ft. office and warehouse building located at 5810 & 5900 Brighton Pines Howell, Sec. 15, petitioned by Brivar Construction.
Chris Sova of Battery Solutions and Steve Varilone of Brivar Construction address the Planning Commission. Petitioner's business involves receiving, sorting, warehousing and
shipping of batteries. Over 90% of these batteries are dry cells. The balance are wet cells, which contains approximately one pop can full of liquid. Therefore, petitioner believes no
containment is necessary. In order for any type of spill to occur, it would require a puncturing of a battery, which would be treated with a neutralizer to the spill area and containment of
the leaking battery.
Vice Chairman Tengle asks about leaking car batteries if a skid of them is dropped. Petitioner indicates you shouldn't get that much leakage unless they were smashed into
little pieces, but most of the skids of batteries are the types of batteries that do not leak.
Petitioner indicates that skids have been dropped before. Each car battery has 6 cells of liquid that total one gallon. Absorption materials would be applied to any spill and
then the materials would be disposed of with the recycling company that purchases the batteries.
Any spill would be cleaned up within a few moments and this would not be sufficient time to leech through concrete.
Jeff Purdy indicates that the concrete floor should be sealed and that there should be no floor drains that discharge outside of the building and that the floor isn't sloped
to the outside of the building. Petitioner indicates these are all items fundamental to their new building.
Petitioner is requesting a large amount of parking due to his belief that his building would be expanded in the future.
Petitioner currently has 40 employees and he expects business will expand rapidly with growth.
Jeff Purdy indicates that the calculations that were run were run without taking into account how many employees there were, but rather on square footage of a usual
warehouse. He is now comfortable with the requested parking after discussion it with petitioner. He believes it is up to the Planning Commission to determine if it's
appropriate.
Petitioner addresses the landscaping plans. They are deficient in their planting along I-96, but they are providing 53 additional trees and 93 additional shrubs in the plans
elsewhere. He believes the 7 pine trees shown in the tree line should be moved to the back side of the building, which would add to the softening of that corner. He would be willing to move
some of the extra trees to the back, as well but respectfully requests that he not be required to move any of the trees.
Jeff Purdy suggests 1 canopy and 1 evergreen (8-10') in lieu of shrubs, but the canopy trees would be 3" caliber deciduous for every thirty feet of building line. Petitioner
agrees to that concept. He believes the eastern half of the site should be left untouched as it relates to trees and shrubbery. The landscaping plan may be approved
administratively.
A rendering was presented to the Planning Commission. It would be split faced block with accenting in earth tones. The façade from I-96 would be 8' of split faced block, then
metal panels and windows. The landscaping is in addition to this.
The Planning Commission expresses concern over how much metal is proposed. Petitioner indicates there are economic considerations, as well as architectural. Stan Brisch
addresses the Planning Commission. Adding masonry would cause problems for maintenance for the petitioner. Chris Grajek indicates that he believes the windows will draw the eye, rather than
the metal siding.
Petitioner will adhere to all suggestions on the Fire Department letter.
Tesha Humphriss discusses the Tetra Tech letter of January 9th. The shut off valve must be located within the public utility easement, in addition to the gate
valve at the road. David LeClair, engineer for petitioner, is present and addresses the Planning Commission regarding the valve issue.
Petitioner did not bring material samples. We will need a copy of the color renderings at a minimum. Petitioner will provide that within two weeks or building materials.
Planning Commission disposition of petition
A. Recommendation regarding special use application.
B. Recommendation regarding impact assessment.
C. Recommendation regarding site plan.
Motion by James Mortensen to recommend to the Township Board approval of a special use permit to allow Battery Solutions, Inc. to
handle used batteries on its site, subject to the following:
1. Government permits, licenses, and a PIP plan for handling hazardous materials will remain in
force;
2. No odors nor on sight breaking, shredding, draining or reducing of batteries will be conducted on the
site;
3. The Township Board approval the environmental impact assessment and site plan;
4. This recommendation is made because the proposed use and procedures that will be followed are consistent
with section 19.03 of the Township Ordinance.
Support by Vice Chairman Tengle. Motion carried unanimously.
Motion by James Mortensen to recommend to the Township Board approval of the impact assessment for Battery Solutions dated 11/26/07,
subject to:
1. Approval by the Township Board of the special use permit this evening;
2. Approval of the site plan.
Support by Chris Grajek. Motion carried unanimously.
Motion by James Mortensen to recommend to the Township Board approval of the site plan subject to:
1. Approval by the Township Board of the special use permit and environmental impact
assessment;
2. The building rendering reviewed this evening and/or samples of the materials will become Township
property;
3. The petitioner will agree to install a sidewalk on Dorr Road at his/her expense if and when the Township
develops a sidewalk strategy for Dorr Road. This agreement will be in recordable form subject to review and approval by the Township attorney;
4. The building will have no floor drains and the concrete floor will be sealed. The specifics of the concrete
floor will be placed upon the site plan;
5. The floor will be self contained so as to avoid external spillage;
6. Landscaping along the expressway will consist of one evergreen and one canopy tree every thirty feet of the
building length and will wrap around the southeast corner of the building. The deciduous trees will be of no less than 3" caliber and the evergreen will be no less than 8' high. The trees
inserted by the landscaper on the plan at the southeast corner of the site will be removed and existing vegetation will be relied upon. This additional landscaping along the building length
may be substituted for some of the above ordinance landscaping elsewhere on the site, which can be approved administratively;
7. Eighty-one parking spaces as proposed are recommended for approval. Although this is considerably above the
ordinance requirements, the Planning Commission recommends approval based on the number of employees working on the site;
8. The requirements of the Township Engineer set forth in a letter dated January 9th, 2008 will be
complied with and in particular, it should be noted that a shut off valve shall be added to the water service line within the public easement;
9. The requirements of the Brighton Fire Department in their letter of January 10th, 2008 will be
complied with.
Support by Vice President Tengle. Motion carried unanimously.
OPEN PUBLIC HEARING # 2…Review of special use application, impact assessment and site plan for a proposed 4,500 sq. ft.
addition to Servpro of Brighton/Howell, located at 2094 Pless Drive Brighton, Sec. 13, petitioned by Servpro of Brighton/Howell.
David LeClair of Livingston Engineering and Shawn Kiesler of ServPro make a presentation to the Planning Commission. Petitioner is requesting to expand their facility. The
petitioner's main work is in water and fire damage clean up. The process of this requires that they store items from a clean up site from time to time. They also would like to secure their
vehicles in the fenced area.
Petitioner is requesting leniency in landscaping requirements. Petitioner passes photographs to Planning Commission of the existing vegetation.
The architecture is set up to match the existing building. It is a split phase block building with efis on the front. The addition would also have efis to carry on that
façade. Petitioner asks that the wine colored stripe that exists with a stripe of ServPro green. Petitioner shows samples of the color.
Petitioner addresses parking spaces and loading space. It is not a long term parking area.
The petitioner proposes to put down gravel made of limestone, which is a dust free surface, in the storage area. Chris Grajek confirms that this is a dust free material. Jeff
Purdy indicates that this material is acceptable. The Township Engineer also indicates it is acceptable.
Chairman Brown asks if there are any track vehicles or if there would be loose materials such as dirt. Petitioner indicates there are no loose materials and any track
vehicles would be something like a Bobcat which is being stored at the facility and belonged to a home or business he was performing work for.
Jeff Purdy discusses the height of any vehicles that are stored in the fenced area. This falls under 8.02.02(A).
A letter from Randy Kuchenmeister was discussed. He indicates he has no objection to the petition.
Tesha Humphriss discusses the sanitary sewer system. There is a concern regarding sodium chloride being used in water softeners on site. Petitioner has agreed to use
potassium chloride in the water softeners.
Landscaping along the north side of the building is discussed. If the petitioner's relief is granted and there is building on the adjacent property in the future, there would
be no vegetation between the properties. Chris Grajek asks if it would be reasonable to require petitioner to agree to add landscaping once a building is built on the adjoining property.
Kelly VanMarter suggests that the adjoining site must be treated as though it's developed. The ordinance would require four canopy trees, four evergreen trees and sixteen shrubs along the
property line. Petitioner indicates that the utility easement is there. Jeff Purdy suggests placing a single canopy tree between existing and new building and then place the remaining trees
and shrubs along the outside of the storage area.
Planning Commission disposition of petition
A. Recommendation regarding special use application.
B. Recommendation regarding impact assessment.
C. Recommendation regarding site plan.
Motion by James Mortensen to recommend to the Township Board approval of a special use permit for outside storage for the ServPro
Company subject to:
1. Approval by the Township Board of the site plan and environmental impact assessment;
2. The outside storage will comply with section 8.02.02(A) in all respects including height
restrictions;
3. Hazardous materials will not be stored on the site, in the building nor in the outside storage
area;
4. This recommendation to the Board is made because in the Planning Commission's view, it is consistent with
the requirements of special use set forth in section 19.03 of the Township Ordinance;
5. For the outside storage area, gravel will be permitted provided it is a high quality value such as 21AA
limestone.
Second by Vice Chairman Dean Tengle. Motion carried unanimously.
Motion by James Mortensen to recommend to the Township Board approval of the impact assessment for ServPro subject to the following:
1. Approval by the Township Board of the special use application and site plan;
2. Deletion of the words "it is not anticipated that" from section VIII of the impact
assessment.
Support by Diana Lowe. Motion carried unanimously.
Motion by James Mortensen to recommend to the Township Board approval of the site plan reviewed this evening, subject
to:
1. Requirements set forth by the Brighton Fire Department in their letter of 1/9/08 will be complied
with;
2. The striping on the front and south elevations of the building will be repainted to the ServPro corporate
standard;
3. The architecture for the building expansion will match the existing building, including materials and
colors;
4. The renderings reviewed this evening will become Township property;
5. Forty parking spaces will be permitted, based on the planned staffing and activities of
ServPro;
6. The parking spaces blocked by the loading space will be used to park ServPro trucks;
7. Landscaping will be added to the plan as follows:
A. A deciduous tree will be planted between the existing and new building on the north side;
B. Landscaping consisting of three canopy, four evergreen and sixteen shrubs will be added along the outside
storage area on the north side of the building;
8. The requirements spelled out in the Township Engineer's letter of 1/9/08 will be complied with.
9. Notes will be added to the site plan requiring potassium regenerate for any water
softeners.
Support by Chris Grajek. Motion carried unanimously.
Administrative Business:
· Planners report presented by LSL Planners
· Approval of December 10th, 2007 Planning Commission meeting minutes. Motion to approve the
minutes by James Mortensen. Support by Vice Chairman Tengle.
· Member Discussions
Adjourned at: 9:39 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kristi Cox
Recording Secretary