MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE
COTTRELLVILLE TOWNSHIP
PLANNING COMMISSION
HELD ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2009 AT 7:30 P.M.
APPROVED
1). The regular meeting of the Planning Commission was called to order by
Chairperson Mary Agnes Simons at 7:31 p.m. in the Board Room.
2). Following the Pledge of Allegiance,
3). Roll Call Attendance was taken:
Present: Bill Jenuwine, Debbie Hayes, Bernie Pelc, George Kunnath, Isla Boskee, Bill Drake & Mary Agnes Simons, Georgia Phelan arrived at 8:08 p.m.
4). APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Minutes of the July 22nd, 2009 meeting were handed out for review.
ACTION: Moved by Commissioner Hayes, seconded by Commission Jenuwine to approve the minutes as presented and place them on file for the record. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
5). AGENDA APPROVAL:
It was discussed that we should put the auxiliary agricultural building on the agenda under Old Business, 7b) to hear what Debbie Hayes has to offer regarding this matter.
ACTION: Motion by Commissioner Hayes, supported by Commissioner Pelc to place the auxiliary agricultural building back on the agenda this evening, under Old Business, 7b, though this will be held as discussion only, and no action can be taken without proper notification that it was going to be on the agenda. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
6). COMMUNICATIONS:
The MSU Extension has a “Planning & Zoning for Small Wind Energy Conversion Systems” seminar in Clinton Twp, MI on September 14th or in Lapeer on September 16th in case anyone wishes to attend. If so, contact the Clerk’s Office for reservations.
7). OLD BUSINESS:
a). Third Revision of the Bicycle Path Ordinance was discussed
and revised for the fourth time. Georgia Phelan will make the
final corrections.
ACTION: It was moved by Commissioner Jenuwine, seconded by
Commissioner Kunnath to send the Final Revision to the
Township Board for adoption, after being reviewed by the
Township Attorney. All Ayes. Motion Carried.
b). Discussion of auxiliary agricultural building proposed by Bob Klingler
at 7084 River Road.
Commissioner Debbie Hayes started off by sharing with the Commission the trouble that she heard from Jeff Donnellson of the Metropolitan Planning Commission, of a similar request. She advised that this municipality is currently in court with a building that was built similarly and then the owner began using it for something other than their intent.
Building Official Bill Klaassen was present in the audience and advised that this was why he wanted it brought to the Planning Commission.
Mr. Klaassen explained he was reviewing the 100 ft by 240 ft
proposed building, 24,000 sq ft, advising that it was two-story, had
four bathrooms, offices, with fire-separation, etc. This appearing to
Bill that it would be a commercial building. He said he was
advised by Mr. Perrera of Shoensheck, Inc. that this was not a
commercial building but a farm building.
Mr. Klaassen again, produced definitions out of the 2006 Michigan
Residential Code, “Accessory Structure,” “A structure not greater
than 3,000 sq ft in floor area, and not over two stories in height, the
use of which is customarily accessory to and incidental to that of
the dwelling(s) and which is located on the same lot.”
Also, “Agricultural, Building. A structure designed and constructed
to house farm implements, hay grain, poultry, not to be a place of
human habitation or a place of employment where agricultural
products are processed, treated or packaged, nor shall it be a place
used by the public.”
Mr. Klaassen advised that offices and four bathrooms should show fire separation between offices and storage areas.
This “mixed usage” is something he felt we should look at, the only access he has from the upstairs mezzanine is down the stairway
and into the storage and you should not exit through that area.
The state has already looked at this and advised Klaassen that this plan will have to be reviewed under the building code, for a commercial structure, not the residential building code for agriculture.
Since we did not take any action in July except place it on file, we really don’t have anything that needs to be rescinded, was the opinion explained by Commissioner Kunnath.
Commissioner Pelc asked where we had industrial zoning in our township? The only place we have is on 26 Mile Road where the
airport and Manter Technologies is located is what was advised.
This strip is about one mile long on 26 Mile between Starville &
Mayer Road.
It was suggested that we run this by the Townshp Attorney to let him know what is going on and being requested to make sure we don’t have a problem down the road on this structure.
Debbie Hayes advised that she will seek more information concerning this court case and report back to us at the next meeting and she would like to run this by our commission, one more trip before it becomes a building.
Bernie Pelc asked if anyone else saw the article in the newspaper where during an interview, Mr. Klingler was quoted regarding the opening of his business in the old Vogel Building, where he is building guitars, that he is going to build a new building in the near future in the area as well. Evidently this appeared in the Times-Herald over the weekend.
Mr. Kunnath advised that if the State turns this down as not meeting the criteria for agricultural, then the next step would be to bring it back to this Commission for another step.
Building Official Klaassen felt he met that obligation bringing it before the Planning Commission based on parking spaces for employees, and since there is not supposed to be employees, why does he need parking spaces? He advised his difference of opinion with Dick Smith, Twp Planner who took the opposite opinion as Bill, left him with very little help from our commission.
Hopefully the next stage will be through the state of Michigan
in their plan review which usually takes three to four weeks.
8). NEW BUSINESS:
A). Special Land Use Application for Kennel by Jennfier Vercammen,
6227 Broadbridge Road, in addition to a Home Occupation Request.
Mrs. Vercammen advised that she had applied for dog licenses for
all of her dogs, which she breeds and was told that because she
has more than three dogs, she needs a kennel license. She does
breed dogs, however they are Shi Tzu dogs. The St. Clair County
Animal Control will be out on Monday to check out her place for a
kennel license.
She has a total of seven dogs, six Shi Tzu’s and one English Mastiff and she breeds only Shi Tzu’s. The exercise pen is portable and she uses these to move the puppies around outside on the grass. She doesn’t leave them very long in one area, to keep the grass alive.
Building Official Bill Klaassen explained all of the rules and regulations and that it appeared that it complied with all she would be allowed to do out there. The other section is on Home Occupation & is an allowable use for both of these these requests.
Dr. Bill Drake offered that these are show dogs, high end type of dog, and if it meets all of the township regulations, and the County will be the policing entity on this one, and their rules to keep her license in effect will be inspected by them, he believed that this should be approved.
Mr. Kunnath made the statement that you are planning on keeping around
seven dogs, six Shi Tzu’s, five of which are females breeding from one male, to
breed pups for sale to help your family’s income. Is that essentially it? To which
Mrs. Vercammen said yes.
Dr. Bill Drake offered that the ordinance that we are reading from also entails veterinary clinics, private clinics, and the type of thing she is doing there, in counting examination rooms like in a clinic, parking would enter into it, but it is
nothing that she wants to do here. She wants to breed show quality small dogs
and needs a license to do this. I’m sure there are many others in our township with three or more dogs who don’t have them licensed and because they aren’t
following the law, are getting away with it. She comes before us to get permission to do something she is able to do within the law. She will be regulated by the County and be subject to the licensing rules.
Georgia Phelan suggested that with this entire operation being mostly inside her home, this appears to be mostly a home occupation that would be allowed within our township.
It was moved by Commissioner Drake, supported by Commissioner Kunnath to approve the Special Land Use Request and Home Occupation
permission requested by Jennifer Vercammen at 6227 Broadbridge Road.
After a short discussion, explained by Dr. Drake, she has turned in her
paperwork, our zoning administrator has reviewed it, it has complied with our
ordinances and he felt no need to put her through hypothetical conditions all day,
and this is a simple process and feels that we should not deny one of our citizens
her right for this when she has met all the criteria, and to have her wait another
month for an answer. Commissioner Isla Boskee reiterated that the County is
going to performing the policing and monitoring of this anyway.
Commissioner Pelc, advised that if he were a neighbor across the road, or within 75 ft, that he would want to know that this was going on tonight. Dr. Drake asked
if there is a public notification that goes with this request, Bill Klaassen advising no, not for this request. So we could wait a month, and still no one would show
up in the audience any way, so why wait to give her an answer? Bernie Pelc
offered that we may change our mind in 24 hours, like we did with Klingler’s
request, two months later.
Mrs. Vercammen advised that if she doesn’t get her permission tonight and you
wait until next month, that the County Dog Control could make her dispose of
all but two of her dogs until she gets her permission and this would cause an
undue hardship on her kids to be separated from them.
Georgia Phelan advised from personal experience and some of her friends do this too, for extra money and to breed even one dog, that it is a very low impact project and easy for the licensing people to enforce the regulations, that this
is a very easy thing and well within our realm to approve for her.
Dr. Bill Drake offered that she is not going to be building structures, runs, or anything that will look any different on the outside of her home then she has right now. Jennifer advised that she too is a veterinary technician.
Roll Call Vote requested by Commisioner Kunnath:
Dr. Bill Drake, Aye; Bernie Pelc, Nay; George Kunnath, Aye;
Mary Agnes Simons, Aye; Bill Jenuwine, Aye; Debbie Hayes, Aye;
Isla Boskee, Aye; Georgia Phelan, Aye.
Ayes: 7; 1 Nay. Motion Carried.
Letter will be prepared & signed by the Building Official and forwarded to you.
b). Discussion of Newspaper Clipping Renewable Energy Sources (Detroit
Free Press – July 12th issue).
c). Handout #1 – Sample zoning for Wind Energy Systems on-site (home) scale
d). Handout #2 – Sample Site Plan
Georgia Phelan had brought all of the above clipping and handouts for us to discuss, and they were duplicated and handed out this evening for us to review
for discussion at another meeting.
Debbie Hayes had also brought us in further information on outside wood stoves too. She also advised about sample language to write these ordinances, as the state is holding onto the regulation if we don’t get it quite correct.
We should probably get some sample language from MTA or other communities
and Debbie Hayes offered to check with her source at Metropolitan Planning Commission to get prudent information on these.
It was the consensus of the commission to put off the discussion of handouts 1 & 2 until the board has a chance to read through them and discuss them next month.
There were no public comments, and with no further business to discuss, the
meeting was,
ADJOURNED at 8:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by,
Mary Agnes Simons, Chairperson
Acting on Behalf of Georgia Phelan, Secretary
Your next regular Planning Commission Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.