Township Information, Forms & Ordinances
Homestead and Inland Townships
Joint Planning Committee Workshop
Homestead Township Hall
11508 Honor Highway
Honor, MI 49640
March 6, 2007 at 6:30P.M.
Attending: Zelda Gray, Bruce Andersen, Roger Hubbell, Fred Poynor, Blake Brooks, Christy Andersen, Jessica Wooten and Mary Miller
Absent: Mike Cochran
Others Present: Cathy Demitroff, Marilyn Wareham, Gerald Bush, Roger Williams, Kathy Ralston Cindra Moore, Mary Geetings, Roger Chorley, Cindy Chorley, Shelley Rosa, Bob Rosa, and Sandy Houghtaling.
Motion by Christy Andersen to accept the minutes as presented. Fred Poynor supported the motion. All Ayes Motion Carried
Public In-Put:
Sandy Houghtaling asked at what point the Commission is at for taking zoning from the County. Blake Brooks reminded the public that Commission will not respond to any comments. The public should not interpret this as disinterest or disagreement by the board.
Cindra Moore asked if the in-put could be reserved until after the presentations. Permission was granted.
Roger Williams presented on planning to the Commission. He is a native of the Boardman River Valley and has 40 years experience as a planner. He retired from Grand Traverse County in 2002. At that time he opened his own business, Williams Consulting Services. He helped most of the townships in Grand Traverse County with their planning and zoning. He explained his process and stated he now works primarily for townships. He listed Mayfield, Fife Lake and Leelanau as a few townships he has helped. He presented the Commission with a resume and listed Paradise and Leelanau Townships as references. He feels a Master Plan should not be lengthy but simple without a lot of planning jargon. It should have background, census, demographic information and what the trend looks like. He touched on whether to develop goals then ask the people what they think or ask and then develop. He feels the best informal method for gathering this information is an open house. He discussed the state moving towards having one stature for city, county and townships on this matter. Commission must decide on future land use recommendations and the look at the zoning ordinances. MTA is a good resource for this. He believes in uses by rights with minimal special uses. His costs are $75.00 per hour, no travel time to meetings. Feels it normally would take $3000.00 to $5000.00 to do the master plan and the same for zoning ordinances. The time frame should be about 3 months to complete the process. Townships can give the Planning Commission permission to issue special use permits but do not have to. He is presently completing a master plan for Manistee County so he would be available immediately.
Garth Greenan from Environmental Consulting Civil Engineering Surveying (EC&S) gave his presentation. They have been in business for 7 years. They do land development among other things and have 15 employees. They are very environmental minded. The have mostly work on private community developments assisting in land plans and zoning. He explained the importance of a well written plan and ordinances. He promotes open space and preserving of environment. He consulted with municipal site plans for the cities of Wayland and Berrington Springs. He went to high school in Leelanau County. He understand we are looking more for an advisor then a total planner. Someone to help see how a Master Plan effects real life. He charges $85.00 an hour and the total cost will depend on how much work the Planning Commission does on it. He did the downtown development plans for Wayland and Berrington Springs. He worked for Grand Rapids on there recreation plan for there parks. He assisted in drawing up the master plans for Plainwell and Wayland.
Cindra Moore stated that she is just trying to learn. She asked what are the pluses for going on our own?
Sandy Houghtaling stated Mr. Williams delt with two different township areas. She was impressed with Mr. Greenan’s environmental background but voiced concerns of his contacts. Suggested the Commission contact Ron Harrison from the conservation office in Beulah and find out about the wet lands survey.
Roger Chorley asked if the Commission has spoken to other townships to see what there master plans are?
Zelda Gray and Mary Miller reported 4 out of 5 of the respective board members were present. The Commission thanked the board members for attending.
Blake Brooks went over the proposed budget. Fees for review of ordinances would be $1500.00 per Graham, Elsenheimer, Wendling & Kazim, P.C out of Bellaire. This is the legal review. Cost for both master plan and ordinances would be $2500. A review we send the documents to the attorney. The attorney reads every word and sentence. He sends back a report of his recommendations for the legal terms in the document. There firm does not charge travel time or mileage fees. They only charge extra fees if they have massive quantities or copies. They have various scheduled plans.
- $140.00 per hour when needed.
- $150.00 per month phone retainer. Calls less then 20 minutes. Projects requiring extensive time is regular $140.00 per hour.
Developers pay fees for legal reviews for site plans not the residents. They submitted a resume for consideration.
Blake will contact Running, Wise and Ford to get an estimate and Christy will contact Inland Townships attorney for the same. Christy will ask Mr. Williams for attorney’s he has worked with and Jessica will ask Mr. Greenan the same.
Next meeting is a Inland Township Hall on March 20, 2007. Roger Hubbell will take minutes.
Jessica feels the commission should have an open house to keep communications open with the public but after a planner is selected so he can attend. All agreed
Christy stated a calendar is needed. The commission needs to set a time line and deadlines. This will be looked at on March 20th.
Bruce Anderson moved for the meeting to adjourn. Mary Miller supported it. All Ayes
Meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Submitted by
Cathy Demitroff
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