MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE MIDLAND CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
WHICH TOOK PLACE ON TUESDAY,
JANUARY 12, 2010, 7:00 P.M.,
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, MIDLAND, MICHIGAN
1.
Roll Call
PRESENT: Brown,
Eyre, Hanna, King, Mead and Senesac
ABSENT: Pnacek and Stewart
VACANCY: One
OTHERS PRESENT: Keith Baker,
Planning Director, Cheri King, Community Development Specialist and 28 others.
2. Approval of
Minutes
Moved by Senesac, seconded by Hanna, to approve the
minutes of the regular meeting of December 8, 2009 as written. Motion passed
unanimously.
3. Public Hearing
a. Conditional
Use Permit No. 38 – the request of Open Door Youth Outreach Ministry for
offices, residential treatment, men’s shelter and soup kitchen located at 222
North Saginaw Road.
Mr.
Baker presented the background for Conditional Use Permit #38, of the Open Door
Youth Outreach Ministry. It is for the
purposes of housing a residential men’s shelter, soup kitchen, and
administrative offices. The current
location is 412 W. Buttles and 409 W. Indian Street. The proposed new location is 222 N. Saginaw
Road, comprising 8,119 square feet in three levels. It is zoned “C” Circle District
classification. The petitioners are
seeking to expand and relocate their facility to this location.
The
aerial photo shows the property is located on N. Saginaw Road, just north of
the “circle”. The property abuts Vail
Court to the east and Manor drive to the west.
The property abuts single-family residential RA-1 on three sides and the
Circle zoning district to the south. The
future land use map shows this area as mixed use, abutting low density
residential. There is a commercial
classification and mixed use across Saginaw Road. Barstow Woods Park is located across the
street to the northwest.
The
property in question has two means of ingress/egress. There is a one-way driveway, marked as
one-way, around the building. There is
parking on both sides of the building.
There is some older landscaping on the northwest side. There are residences on three sides of this
property and Circle District on the fourth side.
Staff
determined that “homeless shelter” and “soup kitchen” are not uses provided for
in the current language of the zoning ordinance. To locate at 222 N. Saginaw Road, staff
outlined the need to apply for a conditional use permit for the proposed uses
in the Circle District zoning classification.
The current Open Door site is zoned Office Service. The original public hearing notice
erroneously stated that 222 N. Saginaw was zoned Office Service. A second, corrected notice was sent out
stating that this property is in the “Circle” District.
Additional
information since distribution of the staff report and packets includes a
review by the Fire Marshall for emergency vehicle access and he has reported
that the parking lot and access to the site are adequate for emergency vehicle
access including turning radius and accessibility to the building. The Midland Police Department, since 2006,
has responded to the current site of the Open door facilities fifty-six times
in four years. Additional public
correspondence has been distributed to the Planning Commission this evening.
Tonight,
we are conducting a public hearing.
Criteria for approval of a conditional use permit include:
1. Protection
of public health, safety and general welfare.
2. Compatibility
with surrounding land uses.
3. Detrimental
effects.
4. Impact
of traffic.
5. Adequacy
of public services.
6. Protection
of site characteristics.
7. Compatibility
with natural environment.
8. Compatibility
with Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance.
Staff
recommendation is for denial. The
proposed use is not consistent with the Future Land Use map or the city’s
Master Plan. The property is identified
on the future land use map as being low density residential. (Thought this may be an error or oversight of
the plan and should be investigated independent of the current petition). The proposed use is not appropriate for being
in such close proximity to adjacent single family residential uses given the nature
of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, noise and light. Goal #3 of the Master Plan states as the
intent to “protect the long term stability and of quality neighborhoods.” There is some potential incompatibility of
uses as this site is surrounded by single family residential. The hours of operation of a men’s shelter
would not be consistent with the nature of the surrounding development being
single family residential. The proposed
uses would be contrary to existing and proposed plans as they relate to the
Center City Authority and Circle Business District. Goal #10 of the Master Plan states as an
aspiration to “protect and promote the long term vitality of existing
commercial districts including Downtown and Ashman Circle.”
Mr.
Baker stated a homeless shelter and soup kitchen are legitimate legal land uses
that while not specifically identified or provided for in the city’s zoning
ordinance, they need to be discussed by the Planning Commission as to where
they would be most appropriately located in the community and correspondingly,
where in the Zoning Ordinance they should be referenced as a permitted by right
or conditional land uses. While a
proposed conditional use may not be determined appropriate on one site within a
zoning classification that does not mean it would not be appropriate on another
site. It is a concern of staff that the
petition be evaluated on the merits and impacts of the proposed uses of the
property and not on any characterization of the persons that are served by the
petitioner. As a conditional land use
petition, the Planning Commission may recommend contingencies and place
conditions upon its action that it deems appropriate to address or mitigate any
perceived impact of the proposed use on the site or adjoining parcels.
James
McDaniel, 710 Hollybrook, Midland, Michigan.
He has lived in Midland since 1993.
In 2006 he became president of the Open Door. The Open Door has been in Midland since about
1975. It started out as a coffee house
for people who needed a place to go. It
grew into a residential facility near Pizza Sam’s and has since moved over to
Buttles Street. Currently they operate
three facilities, one for men, a “restoration house”, and a shelter for
women. They are run by volunteers and
share the gospel of Christ with all who stay there. They have a soup kitchen, a clothing ministry
and services to help their clients. They
would like to purchase that property.
They have looked at other properties in the city in the past. Their numbers have been increasing over the
past several years. They are at near
capacity in all their houses. Their goal
is not to turn anyone away. It became
apparent a couple years ago that they needed to find a larger facility. They realize they are a “tough fit” for
anywhere in the community because of their clientele. This particular location became available and
they felt like it was a good opportunity due to location and that there was
enough buffer between this building and the surrounding residential
neighborhoods. They want to be a good
partner with the City of Midland. They
are looking to expand the shelter so they can adequately house the people who
come to them. They accept people from
the age of 17 on up. They ask clients to
leave by 9:00 a.m. and hope that they will go out looking for work during the
day. They do follow up with this. They have a staff of four resident advisors
who stay there full time. These are men
who have been homeless and who have been there for a number of years. The men are allowed back into the house at
6:00 p.m. for the night. The 56 police
visits may be due to the police looking for someone on parole or who has
recently been released from prison so the 56 police visits have not been all
due to crimes. Their meal counts have
increased over the past several years, as well.
They feed lunch from the soup kitchen between 12:00 noon and 1:30
p.m. They are not a treatment
center. The only “treatment” they
provide is the Bible.
Mrs.
Hanna asked if they also needed to increase the size of the facility for the
females. Mr. McDaniel stated the females
are housed at a separate facility and they will not be moved into this
facility. They served 40,346 meals in
their soup kitchen in 2008. They do not
yet have the numbers for 2009. Ms. Hanna
asked Mr. McDaniel if there were any sex-offenders in this group of
individuals. Mr. McDaniel stated that
there were not. Ms. Brown asked about
the meal counts. Mr. McDaniel stated the
soup kitchen is open to anyone who needs a hot meal. Ms. Brown asked about the capacity at the
existing facility. The current capacity
is 18 men plus the four RA’s. The
Restoration Ministry has a capacity of six individuals plus one RA. Mr. McDaniel stated they would love to double
their capacity if possible. They would
also like to have a training facility on site that would benefit their
clients.
Mr.
King asked what they are looking for in a site.
Mr. McDaniel stated they would like to have the room to be able to house
people, room for the soup kitchen at the same location, parking areas and the
availability of Dial-A-Ride. Right now
they just have one driveway. They
thought that, since this property is fairly isolated away with fences and
bushes, that this would be an appropriate location for their facility. Mr. King asked where people go if the shelter
is filled to capacity. Mr. McDaniel
stated he does not know where they go.
Mr. Eyre asked what time the doors close. Mr. McDaniel stated they have to be in by
9:00 p.m. The doors are closed at 9:00
p.m. The people are made aware of the
rules when they arrive and they generally follow those rules in order to have a
warm place to stay.
Mark
Smith, 2606 E. Ashman Street. He owns
Smith’s Flowers in the Circle Business District. There are about 60-65 people per day who come
for lunch. These are not homeless people
– they are older people who need a hot meal.
Mr. Smith is also on the Board of Directors. There are facilities in this area such as
Kroger’s, the post office, and public facilities in this area. Space is a huge consideration. They currently do not have enough space. They are at capacity for housing and their
soup kitchen is at capacity many times during the year. If someone gets released from jail at 12:05
a.m. and comes to the shelter, they are let in that night. They are not made to stay out overnight until
the next day.
Ted
Asch, 4941 Grandview Circle, is also a Board member. When they started looking for a new property,
they thought it would be a pretty easy thing to get a land use permit. They have rules in the house. If someone comes in drunk, they are
gone. They can’t be drinking during the
day and come in there at night. They are
very strict with their rules. The police
come periodically in the middle of the night to bring people who are stranded
and have no place to go. They cooperate
with the police closely. The soup
kitchen serves the “working poor”. They
serve one meal a day to the community and that is the noon meal. They have a lot of “take-outs” at that time
for dinners. One of the letters received
talks about garbage. Where will it
go? Mr. Asch stated that if it poses a
problem, they will take care of it. If
they need to put up a higher fence, they will do that. They have been good neighbors where they are
now. There have been very few incidences
that have affected their current neighborhood.
There are homes right by their current location.
Michael
Dalton, 116 Vail Court. They are right
at the end of Vail Court. The parking
lot for this facility is 10 feet from their kitchen window. They are in strong opposition to this
conditional use permit. One of the
public stated goals from the Open Door website is that they provide facilities
for newly released prison inmates. Mr.
Dalton feels that placing recently released prison inmates in single family
residential neighborhoods is not appropriate.
Goal #3 of the Master Plan is to “protect the quality of the existing
neighborhoods”. They have spoken with
seniors, parents of young children, grandparents, and families who intend to
have children and they all feel that they would steer away from this type of
neighborhood and that this would lower property values in the area due to the
fact that they do house ex-prisoners. One
of Mr. Dalton’s first questions was of the men who stay overnight in this
shelter, what is the percent of recently released prisoners? The answer is approximately 30%. He asked what types of criminal offenses have
been committed by their clients. He was
told drugs, alcoholism, robbery and assault.
Mr. Dalton asked if any of the residents were there by “court
order”. The answer given him was that
they were there by “court option” rather than “court order”. He asked if any of these residents were from
out-county areas. The answer was yes, some
of these residents are from Bay, Saginaw, and Isabella Counties. Mr. Dalton had some additional questions
including what crimes have the clients been convicted of? What kinds of offenses have been
committed? They were relieved to hear
that there are no sex-offenders. They
believe the proposed change for land use will adversely affect the neighborhood
and request that the petition be denied.
Susan
Fogarty, 410 Lingle Lane. Her back yard
is the playground part of Barstow Woods, off Manor Drive. Lingle is a small curved road that butts up
against Barstow Woods, one block from Saginaw Road. Barstow Woods is one of the largest parks in
Midland. It is heavily used by the community
by dog-walkers, children’s activities in the summer, and the Boy Scouts who use
the park for overnight camping in the summer.
The entire back of Ms. Fogarty’s house is glass so she has a very good
view of the park. She feels the Open
Door definitely has a place in the community.
However, many of the homeless people are using Barstow Woods as their
place of overnight dwelling. Last year
there was a man who died in the pavilion of Barstow Woods. There is crime taking place in the park. There is drinking going on in the park. She has witnessed people drinking in the park
and people using vile profanity.
Dianna
Dalton, 116 Vail Court. Mrs. Dalton
stated their second major objection to this permit is to the adjacent land of
the facility. She is concerned about
people being released from both local jails and prisons so you would have
people guilty of felonies as well as misdemeanors. The office use in this area has provided a
buffer for many, many years. The office
use for this land has been an excellent use for buffering the residential
neighborhoods from the more commercial circle area. Every single home on Vail Court has had major
improvements made during they time Dalton’s have lived there. The North Saginaw Rd. building lies 25 feet
from their property. When her mother
imagines standing at their kitchen window and envisions a prisoner staring into
their home, she would not feel secure.
This use would provide an increase in the intensity of use in this
area. This would be a 24-hour a day activity
which has not been occurring prior to this.
They are not used to traffic in the evening. They have a 4’10” chain link fence in this
area. However, it not enough to screen
vehicles from this site or to screen open garages from this facility. Article 28 of the Zoning Ordinance discusses
the conditions for land use. They believe
the conditions provided in Article 28 do not apply to this facility. There is a gate in the fence. The gate currently has a chain and a lock on
it. This lock was installed by Mr. and
Mrs. Dalton. They believe there is
insufficient buffering of land uses in this area to allow this conditional
use.
James
McDaniel stated that they certainly appreciate the people who have come to
voice their opposition. He hopes that
they will find a suitable location in the community to increase their mission
in this community. Mr. Senesac stated
that, typically in a conditional use, there is a site plan proposed. He asked where the dumpsters might be located
if they were to occupy this building.
Mr. McDaniel stated there would be an area to the north of the building
and they would put up some shields to cover this area. The outdoor tables for their clients would be
out in front of the building.
Ruth
Ann Saide, 305 W. St. Andrews Road. She
owns Sids Party Store. She is in
opposition to this petition. She stated
she has no problem with them where they are now. She has tried to employ some of their
clients. It was her understanding that
they go to the Methodist Church or to Blessed Sacrament. She has no problem with that. She did not know they have a soup kitchen at
the Open Door. They come in her store
and they have their Bridge cards. She
knows they go down by the Tridge and the Farmer’s Market.
Jan
Soper, 3217 N. Jefferson, on the corner of Jefferson and Vail Court. They are the oldest residents of the court,
having lived there close to 30 years.
They are a low-density residential neighborhood. Barstow Woods is also in this area as well as
several pre-school programs. St. John’s
Episcopal Church and Trinity Lutheran Church and the MCESA all have programs
for children in this area. She is
opposed to the Open Door coming to this area.
Her understanding that their 18 bed capacity right now would be doubled
to 36. They also said tonight that no
one would be turned away. If this were
considered a “residential facility” it would be required to be licensed. This is not a “residential facility” and it
is not licensed. How many adults would
be able to stay there at a time since this is not a licensed facility? It was said that the police were called 56
times in the past 4 years. They are
talking about doubling the population which could mean doubling the number of
times the police will be coming over there potentially. There are convicted felons living at the Open
Door. The plaza by FIA and Michigan
Works has empty space where there are no schools and no residential buildings
immediately adjacent to this property.
Terrie
Stevenson, 108 Vail Court. She also
works at 2927 Manor Drive. She sees this
affecting both where she works and where she lives. She stated she does support their
ministry. Of most concern to her is that
there is no screening of the prison population.
They stated tonight that no one is turned away. With neighbors, surrounding schools and
parks, she does not see this as the appropriate location for this ministry.
Shahtel
Heilman, 510 Gordon Street. Her niece
and nephew live at 105 Vail Court. She
is a nanny. There is no way she would
want to take any kids out to literally be in their back yard. You want people in the community to stay
connected and develop their neighborhoods.
If this type of use were allowed in here, people would stay inside and
not develop the sense of neighborhood.
Meghann
Webb, 2918 Manor Drive, stated she lives next to a doctor’s office. She stated she already is going to have to
put up a fence. She frequents Barstow
Woods with her puppy. She is a single
woman and she often walks her dog and she does not want this type of use in
this area.
Cathy
Peterson, 301 W. St. Andrews. She stated
she applauds the work the Open Door does in the community. She is a single woman. She just bought her house, knowing it is in a
good neighborhood.
Ted
Asch, 4941 Grandview Circle, Midland.
Mr. Asch stated when they take in a recent prisoner from wherever, they go
through a very rigid check of that person.
What was their crime? How did he
act in prison? Did he go to church
services or Bible studies? Several times
they talk to the Chaplains. They have
quite a long-term study with ex-prisoners.
They teach them how to take care of a check book and how to manage
themselves. They don’t just take them in
with no background checks.
No
one else wanted to speak either in favor of or in opposition to this
conditional use permit. The public
hearing was closed.
b. Zoning
Text Amendment to Article 21.00 , DNO – Downtown Northside
Overlay District of the City of Midland Zoning Ordinance No. 1585.
Mr.
Baker introduced Jeff Purdy to give the presentation of the proposed Downtown
Northside Overlay District. The goal was
to transform the “Near Neighborhood” or Northside Downtown area based on a
common vision. The process included
assessing the district and determine the desired building form, develop a draft
of the overlay district standards and to review drafts with Overlay Advisory
Committee and Planning Commission. A key
pedestrian link between the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods was
desired. The future land use map showed
this as a part of the Central Business District or Downtown area. Part of this area was zoned Office
Service. They took a typical block in
this area and presented a conceptual plan.
They wanted to look at how this area could potentially develop according
to the way the zoning regulations were written.
The
Northside Downtown Overlay District includes a statement of purpose, permitted
uses, building height, building placement and overlay district development
standards. Any uses that are there now
would remain. Any new development would
have to comply with the new overlay district.
If there is expansion of an existing building, it would have to comply
with the new zoning language. Types of
uses that would be permitted include residential, office, retail and office
service uses. There is both a minimum
and maximum building height. The minimum
height would be two stories. The maximum
height would be 76 feet. There would be
a transitional area from the residential to the commercial buildings. The building must occupy a minimum of 40% of
the total frontage, which may include wall extensions. Parking may occupy 50% of the total
frontage. The overlay district allows
for a variety of uses from residential uses to commercial uses. There are also detailed streetscape
requirements including sidewalks, street trees, street lights, parking lot
screening and sidewalk cafes. The
District Boundaries include the original district but also included the area
down to Larkin Street for the public hearing purposes in case the Planning
Commission wanted to include that in their consideration.
Ms. Hanna stated she sees no difference in
what is being proposed here and what has been here for the past 36 years. There has always been housing above
commercial uses in the downtown area.
She still has not seen a statistical survey showing that this kind of
housing is needed in this community. She
does not see a need for this type of development in this town. She feels there is a lack of green space in
this proposal. She has seen nothing in
this plan that addresses these issues.
What she does see is a lot of impervious space that will have a lot more
runoff that will have to be treated.
Sidewalks have been there for a long time.
Mr.
Mead stated this is a direction he would want to go. He likes the idea of the transition and the
idea of the walkability of it and living where you are shopping. He likes the theory behind this type of
development. He also likes including the
area down to Larkin Street in this district.
Mr.
Eyre stated he would love to hear from some young professionals. Is this what they are looking for?
Mr.
Baker stated he wants to acknowledge the Midland Area Community Foundation for
their financial support of LSL Planning in assisting with this project over the
past year. Due to the nature of the
transition of property ownership, this is an opportunity to physically affect
what this area is going to look like in the future. We have a master plan in place and we have a
downtown plan in place. This is actual
zoning language that would physically affect how these properties are built or
developed in the future. It is proposed
to extend down the one-way pairs and it would be an increase in the types of
uses in this area. There is a downtown
housing portion of the Housing Needs Assessment that addressed the need for additional
housing in this area.
Craig
Delaney, 4967 S. Birch Lane, Cadillac, MI 49601. Mr. Delaney stated he is in support of the
overlay district except for his piece of property. His property is at 415 Jerome, on the corner
of Jerome and Indian. It has an office
building located on it. Ten years ago
there was a bank on that piece of property and they were looking at buying the
bank. He also owns 404 Jerome Street. In 2006, the Dept. of Transportation was
looking at widening to put a double turn lane on the north and on the
south. His building was actually hit by
traffic that jumps the curb to get to the building. In 2006, he donated 12 feet of easement to
MDOT so they could build the wider streets.
415 and 404 Jerome Street are both zoned commercial right now. Right now they are looking at combining 412
and 409 and 415 Buttles into a single development. Right now they are not zoned. Right now there is a double left turn lane
going onto M-20 and a double left turn lane on US-10 Business Route. If you were to build within 10 feet of the
lot line in this area, you would have problems with traffic in this area. He would like his property exempted from the
district.
Ted
Asch, 4941 Grandview Circle. For the
Open Door, they would like to be zoned whatever Mr. Delaney’s property is zoned
as they are working together.
Mike
Hayes, 919 E. Park Drive, representing the investment group that has purchased
a lot of the land between the two one-way pairs. The way this development came about for this
property, a lot of land has been banked.
It could have developed in a very unorganized manner. They wanted to see some type of organized
development for this area. The original
platting of the city provided for blocks that were so small that you couldn’t
build anything but some type of small strip mall. The desire was to make it more pedestrian
friendly, slowing down traffic on those two streets. The concepts of being more vertical on both
sides would have the effect of slowing down traffic on these two streets. Mr. Hayes has data that young professionals
are not looking for the traditional type of housing. They are looking for the high end mixed-use
townhouses or condominiums downtown.
Also, empty nesters are looking for these types of homes in the downtown
area. Mr. Hayes would recommend John
Palen’s article this month in Midland Issues about the displacement of people
in the housing that was purchased in between the one-way pairs. Four years ago today it was announced that
baseball was coming to Midland. Right
after this, developers came to Midland and were looking for land to build this
type of housing. They couldn’t find
any. That is what caused the land
banking of property in this area. It is
bounded by the river on one side, Dow Chemical Company on another side, and
state trunk lines on the other sides.
This is the only area that would be conducive to this type of
development in this area.
Tami
Heilman, 510 Gordon Street. She thinks
it is great what has been proposed. On
paper, this looks wonderful. She does
not like walking along the one-way pairs.
Traffic is going too fast to cross these streets. You will have all these wonderful buildings
but you can’t cross the streets. The
calming of the traffic will help make this area more pedestrian friendly.
Ruth
Sutton, 2335 N. Meridian Road, Sanford, Michigan. She owns property for her son at the corner
of State and Grove Streets. She is in
support of this. Her son does not
drive. As a result, he spends a lot of
time walking around the downtown. He is
not the only disabled person who lives in this area. He loves his home and his neighborhood. This would make it safer for him on foot as
well as other people who live in this area.
Bill
Johnson, 3535 E. Ashman Street. He is
not in favor or opposed. However, he
would like Keith Baker or the Planning Commission to take a poll of the
property owners in this area to see how they feel about this. If you have bought a house and lived in it
for 35-40 years and all of a sudden you won’t be able to sell it if this goes
through.
No
one else spoke either in favor of or in opposition to this zoning text
amendment.
Mr.
Purdy stated they like to make the break mid-block rather than on the
street. Grove Street Commons is generally
the type of development they would like to see since the buildings are out
close to the street and they have the parking to the rear. With regard to the corner of Indian and
Jerome, the reason they included that corner, if you are driving down Indian and
you turn onto Jerome Street, they did not want to have a change in the design
as you go around the turn in the street.
The lines for the proposed district follow the lines delineating the
zoning classifications at the present time.
The
public hearing was closed.
4. Public Comments (unrelated to items on the
agenda)
None
5.
Old Business
None
6.
New Business
None
7. Communications
Michigan
Planner and Planning and Zoning News were distributed in packets.
8.
Report of the Chairperson
None
9. Report
of the Planning Director
1) Zoning
Text Amendment for Accessory Structures was approved by City Council last
night.
2) A
& W Conditional Use Permit was approved with all the contingencies by City
Council last night.
3) Zoning
Petition 563 – Bennett Conditional Zoning Request was presented to City Council
last night and was tabled pending a presentation by the petitioner of one
additional level of restriction as to how they would divide the density of the
project. Council postponed any decision
until January 25, 2010, pending further detail provided by the petitioner.
10. Commissioner
Comments
None
11. Adjourn
Adjournment at 10:09 p.m. was unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Keith Baker, AICP
Director of Planning & Community Development
MINUTES ARE NOT FINAL UNTIL APPROVED BY THE PLANNING
COMMISSION