CITY OF HUDSONVILLE Planning Commission Minutes (Approved February 19, 2014) FORMAL: Approval of the September 18, 2013 Planning Commission minutes 3156 Highland Drive Todd Wenzel Chevrolet Site Plan Amendment #3 3005 Corporate Grove Drive Cosmo Best Value Inn, Inc. Special Use Permit 3301 Highland Drive - Cosmo Quality Inn, Inc. Special Use Permit Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment for accessory buildings INFORMAL: 3320 & 3340 Highland Drive 32 nd Ave Site Development Preliminary Planned Unit Development Present: Absent: Westrate, VanDenBerg (arrived at 7:15 p.m.), Van Doeselaar, Raterink, Leatherman, Sikkema, Staal, Waterman and Strikwerda None FORMAL SESSION: 1. Chairman Raterink called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. A motion was made by Sikkema, with support by Westrate, to approve the minutes of the September 18, 2013 meeting. Yeas 7, Nays 0 3. 3156 Highland Drive Todd Wenzel Chevrolet Site Plan Amendment #3 Don DeGroot of Exxel Engineering presented the request. They are adding a 3,900 s.f. building addition for doing oil change and lube service on the east side of their building. They will also add to the vehicle inventory lot in the property s northeast corner, and some inventory for vehicles needing service by the building addition. They are also adding some landscaping. Todd Halsey from Todd Wenzel, and Jim Ziegler, general contractor from Wolverine Building Group, were also present.
Page 2 of 5 Stormwater collection was questioned. There is an off-site regional detention basin to the northeast of this property. Will a grease trap be added? That is required inside the building. It is not necessary for a parking lot. In the parking lot they are adding a 2 sump in the 4 catchbasin to catch debris that washes off, which they will clean out periodically. The grading was discussed. The hill will be graded down for the parking lot addition. The landscaping stone wall was asked about. It is going in the northeast corner as part of the landscape plan. The staff report was presented. Chairman Raterink closed the public hearing. A motion was made by Waterman with support by Westrate to approve the amended site plan for 3156 Highland Drive. This approval is based on the finding that site plan review standards from the Hudsonville Zoning Ordinance have been affirmatively met with the following conditions: 1. Remove the strip of asphalt south of the striped parking spaces north of the water tower. 2. The applicant will provide the light pole specifications prior to installation to ensure zoning compliance. 3. Move the dumpsters and fences so there is no encroachment over any easements. Yeas 7, Nays 0 4. 3005 Corporate Grove Drive Cosmo Best Value Inn, Inc. Special Use Permit 5. 3301 Highland Drive - Cosmo Quality Inn, Inc. Special Use Permit Rajesh Bhardwaj was present. He purchased the hotels at 3005 Corporate Grove Drive and 3301 Highland Drive last year. The request is to allow one accessory residential dwelling unit in each hotel, which have been struggling. The costs of ongoing maintenance add up. It is helpful but costly to hire a maintenance man for 24 hours/day. This will enable them to offer free housing to save costs. (VanDenBerg arrived to the meeting) Will one or two rooms be rehabilitated for this? 2-3 rooms will be interconnected and include a kitchenette. If the rooms are big enough, only 2 rooms will be used. Chairman Raterink closed the public hearing. The staff report was presented
Page 3 of 5 The zoning amendment to enable a residential unit went to the City Commission in May. Why did it take so long to make this request? They were transitioning from Super 8 to Travelodge and their permission was required to add a residential unit. A motion was made by Leatherman with support by Van Doeselaar to approve the Special Use Permits for one accessory residential dwelling unit at 3301 Highland Drive and at 3005 Corporate Grove Drive. This approval is based on the finding that all of the General Standards for Approval listed in Section 13-7 K of the Hudsonville Zoning Ordinance are met with the following condition: 1. A building permit is required for the accessory dwelling unit in each hotel. Yeas 8, Nays 0 6. Accessory Building Text Amendment for accessory buildings The staff report was presented. The city submitted the request to amend Section 4-3 Accessory Uses Single Family Lots of the City of Hudsonville Zoning Ordinance. The two additions to the section deal with eliminating a loophole allowing for oversized overhangs and to add a regulation for architectural compatibility. The sentence on architectural compatibility matches what is listed in the Special Use standards for larger accessory structures. Keith Chapman, Planning and Zoning Department intern, was present. This allows someone to do a lean to with support posts and that counts towards their square footage. Do pre-fabricated buildings need a building permit if they exceed 200 s.f.? Yes. The purchaser will need to make sure the building meets building codes. Chairman Raterink closed the public hearing A motion was made by Waterman with support by VanDenBerg for the Planning Commission to recommend to the City Commission a text amendment for Section 4-3 Accessory Uses Single Family Lots of the City of Hudsonville Zoning Ordinance to limit the size of a roof overhang to 24 inches from the outside of the accessory building s wall, and for accessory buildings of 200 square feet or greater, the type and kind of construction, and the general architectural character of the building shall be compatible with the principle structure. Yeas 8, Nays 0
Page 4 of 5 INFORMAL SESSION 7. 3320 & 3320 Highland Drive 32 nd Ave Site Development Preliminary Planned Unit Development Steve Tietsma of Progressive AE presented the request on behalf of Ben Muller Realty who is working for property owner Harvey Duthler to market this property. The request is for 8.91 acres of vacant land southwest of Burger King and north of the Pinnacle Center. The original intent was to develop this property as a Site Condominium. They ran into issues for lot size and other requirements so they submitted a Preliminary PUD. The property north of the Pinnacle Center is not conducive to commercial use since its access is off Highland Drive. Worked with MDOT on changing the 32 nd Ave access. Quite a few traffic studies have been done on 32 nd Ave. A private drive system has been proposed. MDOT was adamant about a right out only due to projected traffic volumes on 32 nd Avenue. Traffic wanting to go north will need to go to the Pinnacle Center driveway to get to Highland Drive. Is a left in permitted from 32 nd Avenue? Yes. Is MDOT OK with a private drive? They are aware it is a private drive. Will MDOT share with road costs? Not sure what MDOT s part will be. Will the private drive be curbed? Yes. There will not be improvements on the Pinnacle Center driveway. Who owns the existing private driveway? Harvey Duthler. The Pinnacle Center has an access easement. Maintenance on private streets was discussed. Agreements would need to be spelled out in detail. Police coverage was discussed. Private streets are treated differently than public roads. The police should respond to a call. What uses are requested? Highway Commercial near 32 nd Avenue and I-1 north of the Pinnacle Center. They are far enough from 32 nd Avenue and are adjacent to I-2. Why private streets? Public right-of-way takes up a lot of marketable land and requires sidewalk. Why not 6 lots instead of 7? It was at 8 lots and it got reduced to 7 lots. Private street agreements are very hard to enforce. The city cannot fix the street and backcharge. It would need to be an extremely tight agreement to be able to enforce. There was discussion regarding rearranging the lots north of the Pinnacle Center to eliminate the cul-de-sac. MDOT has permitted the proposed configuration and it was stated that they would not want more parcels accessing the existing Pinnacle Center driveway due to the fear of dumping more traffic onto the private drive. Who worked on this at MDOT? Bart Franklin and Art Green. Is there a process where we could work with the applicant on having narrower public roads? Yes, through the PUD process with City Commission approval. How many spaces are added to the car pool lot? The new layout adds 20-25 spaces to the lot. The state is purchasing an additional 1/3 of an acre. Traffic studies have been done, including by Pete LaMourie who thoroughly analyzed this. There is interest in seeing the study, along with the traffic simulation.
Page 5 of 5 There was concern over adding Industrial uses. Especially uses that conflict with the Pinnacle Center. The goal is to add I-1 uses to the HC commercial uses. The applicant is not interested in I-2 uses. The criteria for deciding permitted uses in a PUD were discussed. Certain uses could be excluded such as a service station if it doesn t blend well with adjacent uses. There was concern for encouraging too much industrial on those lots. Concern was expressed with potential semi-truck traffic on the private roads. There is potential for lot combination. It is exciting to see proposed development for this area. There is interest in seeing this area develop as long as needs on both sides are taken care of. Have they considered office? Probably for the 3 lots by 32 nd Avenue. Not sure for the lots north of the Pinnacle Center. Are there interested purchasers? Not yet. Contact will be made with potential buyers when this is approved. A challenge for developing this property was getting approval through MDOT for a curb cut on 32 nd Avenue. There is concern for traffic safety along 32 nd Avenue between Highland Drive and the freeway from increased use on the driveway. The need to think long term was expressed. Private roads eliminate a city cost, but the city does not have control over maintenance. Preference for public roads was expressed by some of the board. Access from Highland Drive only was suggested. Moving the MDOT park-n-ride lot access thereby providing queuing space is an added benefit. The resulting Statement of Findings and Recommendations is: o Provide a traffic study and a traffic simulation due to the circulation concerns, primarily with 32 nd Avenue o Provide more information on private versus public roads. o Provide more detail on permitted uses by right and by special use permit, along with uses that will not be permitted. o This information will be provided informally to the Planning Commission on December 18, 2013. 8. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Daniel J. Strikwerda, AICP Planning & Zoning Director