In a four to two vote, Van Buren Township Planning Commissioners approved plans to expand the present site of the Wal-Mart retail store at 10562 Belleville Road.
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The 71,000 square foot expansion at the north end of the site will permit the addition of a 24-hour grocery store.
Preliminary site plan approval was granted in July 2006, and was conditional upon the implementation of several changes requested of Wal-Mart by planners.
Some of these conditions were discussed in the meeting. Wal-Mart had already complied, or planned to comply with most of the requirements.
The primary issue was the signage on the front of the store, specifically the signs saying "Low Prices" and "We Sell for Less," and the blue background lights that framed these signs.
Planning commissioners Joan Franzoi and Jerry Cullin voted against the motion to grant final site plan approval. They maintained that the signs and the blue background lights were unnecessary, and detracted from the appearance of the front of the building.
Wal-Mart representative Daniel Short asked that the signs and the blue background remain, noting that Wal-Mart had complied with most of the other requests from the Planning Commission.
But, Short said, the signs were important to Wal-Mart's identity, and he asked that they be allowed to stay. Planners, in approving the final site plan, voted to retain the signs consistent with Wal-Mart's request.
The other issues, which were resolved to everyone's satisfaction, were the number of parking spaces at the expanded facility and landscaping at the front of the building, particularly the landscaping to shield from sight the loading dock area at the north end of the building.
The plans presented by Wal-Mart called for 902 parking spaces at the expanded facility, but township standards, described by McKenna and Associates Urban Planning consultant Jim Breuckman, permitted a maximum of 883 spaces.
Several planners noted that the Wal-Mart parking lot is never full, and supported the proposal to reduce the number of planned parking spaces. Wal-Mart representative David Oakes agreed with the Commissioners to reduce the number of parking spaces to 883.
In other business, commissioners granted preliminary site plan approval to a new subdivision on the south side of the township, called River Ridge.
River Ridge would be located in the southeastern corner of the township, on the east side of Haggerty Road. It would be across from Riggs Road, immediately west of Lower Huron Metropark.
The site has an area of 34 acres, and will feature 81 single family homes. In its site plan review, Breuckman had noted that "The site contains significant natural features, including densely wooded areas all in an official woodland, steep slopes, and a stream."
The stream, at the north end of the planned subdivision, is called the Griggs drain.
Marc O'Rourke, owner of Landmarc Building/Development in Novi, addressed what he described as the two issues raised in a previous planning commission meeting in February.
The first issue, O'Rourke said, was mitigating the environmental impact of the new subdivision on the Griggs drain at the north end of the subdivision.
O'Rourke said that a swale ditch would be constructed at the north end of the site during construction, to trap water runoff and direct it away from the drain.
In order to protect the drain after the new homes are built and occupied, O'Rourke said that homeowners adjacent to the drain will be required to use a lawn fertilizer with limited phosphorus content. The requirement will be noted in the deed to the property.
The other requirement that he was asked to address, O'Rourke said, was an Alternatives Analysis that showed alternatives layouts of the homes in the subdivision.
O'Rourke said that five site layout alternatives had been considered, but when factors like the front of the homes facing Haggerty Road, open space and tree preservation were considered, the specific site plan proposal before the Planning Commission was the best alternative.
Paul White, a south side resident, raised several issues with the proposed subdivision.
White wondered why a playground for children wasn't included in the plans, noting that, at an average of one and a half children per home, about 120 children would reside in the new subdivision. He asked where the children would play, but didn't receive an answer to his question.
White acknowledged that Lower Huron Metropark was adjacent to the subdivision, but he added that there was a fee to enter the park.
He also asked that tree preservation be maximized. He noted that there were many mature trees on the site, some with a diameter as large as twenty-four inches.
"If you replace a 24 inch diameter tree with a two-inch sapling, you're going to wait 75 years for it to grow," he said.
The developer has complied with township requirements for tree preservation and replacement. Of the 1,201 trees on the site, over half will be removed, but the developer will replace these trees with new trees elsewhere on the site.
Gerald LaVaute is a Van Buren Township resident and freelance writer for The View. He can be reached at glavaute@aol.com.
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