Township Information, Forms & Ordinances
Homestead and Inland Townships
Joint Planning Committee Workshop
Homestead Township Hall
11508 Honor Highway
Honor, MI 49640
April 17, 2007 at 6:30P.M.
Attending: Zelda Gray, Bruce Andersen, Roger Hubbell, Fred Poynor, Blake Brooks, Jessica Wooten and Mary Miller. Amanda Deemer arrived at 6:45.
Absent: Christy Andersen
Others Present: Cathy Demitroff, Roger Williams, Roger Chorley, Cindy Chorley, Dan Moore, Frank Walterhouse, and Craig Seger.
Motion by Mary Mill to accept the minutes with corrections. Bruce Andersen supported the motion. All Ayes Motion Carried
Agenda was approved by Chairman Brooks.
Craig Seger introduced himself and shared his vision for land use in Benzie County. He feels there is a lot of opportunity here to develop a land use system that will benefit all of Benzie County as much as possible. He also encourages people to do what this group is doing, taking issues at hand and moving towards what your community wants. He is interested in assuring that a good land use policy is developed. The zoning administrator position is a full time job now so he can devote more time to compliance and ordinance issues. He feels the most important item now is the current zoning ordinances. He is committed to making it a document that is clear and easy to use. He encouraged the group to be in a position to put the land to the best use possible. He reassured all once again that the County is updating the ordinance to be very clear. It was stated that the U S 31 corridor is one of the most important assets here at this time. We must attempt to protect the environment, appearance and provide as much safety through access management as possible. These ordinances must be enforced in a common sense manner.
One of Mr. Segers duties is to do land divisions. He stated you must have a good clear understanding to make these divisions. He is committed to having a land use policy that is strong, affective, and based in a unified manor that we can work together with.
He would like to be allowed to sit down and talk about alternative to communications between his office and the joint planning commission whenever it makes sense to do it. He would be grateful for the opportunity.
Bruce Anderson asked what this zoning administrator position did to Dave Neiger’s position. “Where does this put Dave Neiger? I have not seen him around in a while.” He is the planning director and I am the zoning administrator. Mr. Anderson, “But you are two separate offices?” Seger, “Well, that’s correct. Right now, the Benzie County Commissioners has put us in, yes, basically to parallel offices and that is to remain in affect for the time being. Dave is the planning director and I carry out the other functions.” Mr. Seger stated that right now the Benzie County Board of Commissioners has made both departments separate.
Zelda asked where he lives and where he grew up. He resides on Homestead Road. He grew up on a small town on a lake, Lake City. He considers Benzie County home. He grew up with tree farmers and worked at the dog and suds. “This is like home to me.”
Mary, “What do you mean by communication?” Seger, “If there is a way to improve communication, that is what I am after. If there is a way to develop a better channel then that is what I am coming to talk about.” Brainstorm. There are a lot of things this group and my office can do to help better understanding.
Bruce: “ The US 31 corridor is a hub of Benzie County. What do you see in the future for 31 growth?” Mr. Seger stated his background is as a “Road Guy”. When you look at highway work you have access management. To allow cars to pull off on a long area, as you have at the County Road Commission, you increase risk of accident to car and people. You must take into consideration how close driveways are; attractiveness – what do you see; and safety.
Blake Brooks thanked Mr. Seger for his presentation and suggested he meet with the respective Township Boards. The commission will try to get him back on the agenda at a later date.
No Correspondence
Zelda Gray had nothing to report from the Township Board
Mary Miller reported the Inland Board approved the setting up of the joint planning commission checking account at the Honor State Bank with Marilyn Wareham and Gladys Wilson as signers.
The suggested planning commission budget was adjusted as previously discussed. A motion was made by Zelda Gray to approve the adjusted budget for the Joint Planning Commission and present it to the respective Township Boards. Mary seconded the motion. All Ayes Motion Carried
Planner Contract – Roger Williams. The adjustments suggested at the last meeting are agreed to and the contract amended accordingly. Mary Miller made the motion to approve the contract as presented. Jessica Wooten seconded the motion. All Ayes Motion Carried
It was stated both Township Boards need copies of the contract. Joint Planning Commission will hold the original as will Mr. William.
Master Plan – Do we want to schedule anther meeting just for the master plan after the forums. Consensus was yes. .
These forums are for public input, for what the public sees for the future.
Master Plan - Roger Williams discussed the plan a little. He asked, “What do you want to see? What are the land issues? US 31 will be a big factor in the Master Plan.” He suggested that the strengths and weaknesses would need to be found. This needs to be looked at 20 years in the future. What goals do you wish to accomplish by 2028.
He suggested we have an ending time as well as a beginning for the forums. It was decided to have a time of 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mr. Williams suggested we start with some history as to how the joint planning came about. Give the public some background as to how we got to this point. Tell the public what the commissioners’ visions for the future are. List some of the Townships assets. More forums can be added if the need is there.
Mr. Williams told the commission that good digital maps are needed.
Mr. Williams will e-mail Blake some information that may help with the forums and the Commission discussed with him a format, and how to get the public to the commission what they see for the Townships future.
Attorney selection – Blake received a letter and firm profile from Running, Wise and Ford. Blake will do a table to make it easier to compare the different attorney’s information at the May 15, 2007 meeting.
Public Input - There was no public input.
A special meeting was set for just the Master Plan and information from forums. Homestead Township Hall at 7:00p.m. on May 1, 2007
The next regular meeting will be at the Inland Township Hall on May 15, 2007 at 7:00p.m.
Bruce Andersen moved to adjourn the meeting. Zelda Gray supported this. All Ayes
Meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
Submitted by
Cathy Demitroff
Return To Joint Planning Commission Minutes