City Council

Armada Township PLANNING COMMISSION 23121 E. Main Street, P.O. Box 578 Armada, Michigan 48005 Telephone: (586) 784-5200 Facsimile: (586)784-5211 planning@armadatwp.org MINUTES Wednesday, June 5, 2024 - 7:00 p.m. (Held in person and electronically via GoToMeeting) Regular Meeting 1. Call to Order – Kehrig called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance – Kehrig led the Pledge of Allegiance a. Roll Call – Present at Roll Call: Chair Kehrig, Vice Chair Finn, Commissioners Abercrombie, Arnold, Jabara and Kutchey, and township liaison Murray. b. Absent: None c. Also present: Planner Habben and Recording Secretary Martin. d. Approve/Amend Agenda Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Murray to approve the agenda as amended. All Ayes, Motion Carried e. Approval of Minutes Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Murray to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 1, 2024, as amended. All Ayes, Motion Carried f. Public Comments – Agenda Items – Marcia Holland 3. Public Hearing: a. Armada Township Master Plan – Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Kehrig to open the public hearing for the Armada Township Master Plan at 7:06. All Ayes, Motion Carried. Kehrig confirmed for the commission that the public hearing notice was posted and published in the paper of record, and copies were mailed to neighboring communities and others as required by the Planning Enabling Act. He explained what a master plan is, the sections and maps included in the plan, then covered the major changes requested during the comment period including: Updates to the Demographics, housing and economics data using more current Census and SEMCOG data; added a Zoning Plan as required by the Planning Enabling Act. This Zoning Plan provides a mapping of current Zoning Districts to future defined land uses that do not exist today; updates to the Future Land Use Map to correct errors and expand Flexible Residential / Flexible Development areas around the west side of the village. Adding additional verbiage on the Complete Streets Network page, enhancing language on Goals and Objectives Agricultural importance on encouraging Farming operations and Agritourism; and adding a definition of Overlay Zoning in the Implementation section. Also removing a paragraph from the page on Energy that discusses the recent Solar and Wind Act that was passed by the State Legislature. Updates on the Community Facilities Map missing siren locations and missing Fire Dept on the Legend; update to the Thoroughfare Plan map missing a couple of local roads. Public Comment from Marcia Holland asked how many responses were received on the Survey and read some information on research around low survey response rates. Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Jabara to close the public hearing at 7:44. All Ayes, Motion Carried b. Special Land Use – Miller Farm 71800 Romeo Plank Rd - Indoor and Outdoor Event Venue, Manufacture of Food & Beverage, and Year-round Kitchen - Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Finn to open the public hearing for Miller Farm 71800 Romeo Plank Rd - Indoor and Outdoor Event Venue, Manufacture of Food & Beverage, and Year-round Kitchen at 7:47. All Ayes, Motion Carried. Kehrig confirmed for the commission that the public hearing notice was posted and published in the paper of record, and copies were mailed to neighboring property owners as required by the Planning Enabling act. Planner Habben reviewed the May 28 review letter regarding the SLUs and Site Plan review requested. He proposes to use the existing barn to host indoor events such as baby showers and wedding showers, expand the parking lot area to host outdoor events such as trunk-or-treat and car shows, and potentially add buildings in the future to increase capacity. The applicant and his attorney Bob Kirk then spoke on his intended uses for indoors and outdoors, including the trunk-or-treat and a petting zoo, as well as using the front section of the existing barn to serve food indoors for wedding and baby showers. Neil & Sandy Mork 72000 Romeo Plank have concerns about future weddings at night, how big is it going to get, wants to see the business thrive but previous owners did not follow rules. Mr. Miller  confirmed that he is leasing ITC property but that this property can only be used for farming, he will not be parking or even allowing employees onto that section. Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Jabara to close the public hearing at 8:01. All Ayes, Motion Carried 4. Reports and Correspondence: a. Project Status Report- May Kehrig read the report into the record. Martin added that Supervisor has a meeting set with Blakes to discuss the egress issue discussed during the meeting with the Road commission. Kehrig noted the included Memo regarding the meeting with the road commission, the additional correspondence from the attorney for Miller Farm, and updated documents from McKenna for the Master Plan. Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Finn to receive and file the reports as presented. All Ayes, Motion Carried 5. Unfinished Business: None 6. New Business a. Hidden River estates – Site Plan Extension Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Murray to approve the extension of the Hidden River Estates site condominium plan for one year as requested by the applicant. All Ayes, Motion Carried b. Special Land Use – Miller Farm 71800 Romeo Plank Rd - Indoor and Outdoor Event Venue, Manufacture of Food & Beverage, and Year-round Kitchen - Kehrig read part of the letter of intent into the record, called out the report from the Armada Township Fire Marshal confirming that they passed their inspection with one minor change to be brought into compliance. The applicant asked what constitutes an outdoor event. Planner explained anything not specific to the Farm Market. When you are inviting the public to participate in something outdoors, i.e. Trunk-or-Treat, Car Shows, Craft shows, etc., specifically an outdoor baby shower would also be considered an outdoor event. Kehrig pointed out that Indoor and Outdoor events are under two different ordinances. Planner pointed out that the Outdoor Event ordinance requires 50 acres, the applicant only has 30, so he would need to apply for a variance to be approved for section 16.40. She reviewed all other requirements for section 16.40 for the commission to consider. She clarified that Tractor Pulls were requested by the applicant, but that those are specifically forbidden in the Ordinance, so it cannot be considered. She reviewed the requirements for Indoor Events under section 16.39 Event & Hosting Facilities, as well as Acceptable Ancillary Use section 8.01B2L. The discussion then reviewed the requirements for Manufacture of Food and Beverage, and Year-Round Kitchen. She pointed out that the commission needs to be clear for the applicant the maximum number of people that are allowed for each Special Land Use requested or other triggers like gross floor area so the applicant knows when to come back to Commission for a modification to their SLUs. The SLUs can be approved taking into consideration the proposed capacity of the future buildings, but the proposed future buildings should be labeled as phase 2 to clearly delineate what is being approved on his current site plan. Planner then moved into the standards required for each use. Bob Kirk, representing the applicant then reviewed his letter to the commission outlining applicant’s belief that he adheres to the standards. The commission then began to deliberate. The applicant verified that he is farming 20 acres on the site and leases acreage in nearby communities. He also verified that he plans to add the outward swinging doors to increase his capacity in the existing building to 99 persons. Outdoor event space was measured out to be a maximum gross floor area of 40,000 sq ft, which is the approximate size of the combined parking lot areas, but the event space could be moved to other accessible areas of the property, as long as it does not exceed the maximum sq ft. The commission asked if the SLUs could be limited to a maximum number of people on site at a given time regardless of which use individuals were there for, Planner confirmed that the motion could include that. A commissioner asked if Mr. Miller could call the planner directly to clarify some of the information she was pointing out to the commission. Planner confirmed there is some room in the budget to allow her to talk to him directly. A question was asked regarding the requirements of Ordinance 16.41 Manufacture of Food that as written requires that the food being served at least 51% must come from on site. Planner clarified that GAAMPS was modified a few years ago to combine farm markets and roadside stands were combined as a single use and allows the operator to purchase produce from local vendors and manufacture cider or candy apples under the already approved Farmer’s Market without a special land use. Motion by Finn, 2nd by Arnold to continue meeting to complete review of Miller Farm SLUs. All Ayes, Motion Carried Motion by Murray, 2nd by Finn to recommend approval of a Special Land Use to the Township Board for an Event Hosting Facility under ordinance 16.39 to be located at 71800 Romeo Plank Rd with a limit  of 99 people indoors and for events to end no later than 11:00 p.m., contingent on full site plan approval, because it meets all standards in section 16.01 of the zoning ordinance. Ayes: Murray, Finn, Arnold, Kutchey, Abercrombie. Nays: Jabara, Kehrig. Motion Carried Motion by Finn, 2nd by Kutchey to recommend approval of a Special Land Use to the Township Board under ordinance 8.01B2L Agribusiness Ancillary Uses for Outdoor Events to be located at 71800 Romeo Plank Rd. with a maximum of 40,000 square feet event space and for events to end no later than 11:00 p.m., contingent on full site plan approval, because it meets all standards in section 16.01 of the zoning ordinance. Ayes: Murray, Finn, Arnold, Kutchey, Abercrombie. Nays: Jabara, Kehrig. Motion Carried The commission reviewed the requirements for 16.41 Manufacture of Food and Beverage and 16.42 Year-Round Kitchen, and determined that as written, the applicant cannot qualify for these uses. The ordinances were written so narrowly that they prohibit the uses for most businesses. Motion by Jabara, 2nd by Arnold to postpone review of SLU requests for 16.41 Manufacture of Food and Beverage and 16.42 Year-Round Kitchen until we can evaluate the text amendments. Ayes: Jabara, Arnold, Kehrig Nays: Abercrombie, Kutchey, Finn, Murray Motion Failed More discussion on the requirements of the two sections, actions the ZBA could take to give relief, and timing of the actions the various boards would need to take to allow the uses. Motion by Kutchey, 2nd by Jabara to postpone review of SLU requests for 16.41 Manufacture of Food and Beverage and 16.42 Year-Round Kitchen until we can evaluate the text amendments. All Ayes, Motion Carried Motion by Jabara, 2nd by Abercrombie to initiate text amendments for Zoning Ordinance 16.41, 16.42 and 8.01B as discussed. All Ayes, Motion Carried The commission reminded the applicant that they need to update the site plan for all items identified as missing on the site plan checklist. Planner again offered to talk to the applicant and his architect to clarify missing elements. c. Armada Township Master Plan – Commission wants to hold a workshop with McKenna to finalize the updates needed to the Master Plan to vote on at the July meeting. Motion by Finn, 2nd by Murray to postpone review of Master Plan. All Ayes, Motion Carried 7. PC Projects: None 8. Public Comments – Non-Agenda Items 9. Adjournment. Motion by Abercrombie, 2nd by Murray to adjourn the meeting at 11:10 p.m. All Ayes, Motion Carried Next Scheduled Regular Meeting: July 3, 2024 Respectfully submitted: Cris Martin Recording Secretary Approved: DJ Kehrig, Chairperson_ Date ____