Board OKs Pot Ordinance
75 Barker Road Fire Hall Value Jumps 27%
Fed-Up Treasurer Calls for Firing Manager & Planner
Residents Pack Meeting
Calling All Volunteers
Nov. 12, 2019 Township Board Meeting Report
By David Gordon
Downtown Pot Shops Permitted
The Board of Trustees last night adopted a Marijuana Ordinance that allows a limited number of pot shops downtown, micro-businesses in the rural district and larger grower/processor operations in areas zoned for industry.
The ordinance passed 6/1 and [updated] will go into effect December 21.
Last-minute changes needed to be made to the ordinance allowing pot shops downtown. Treasurer Lenore Zelenock said she was frustrated that Planner Paul Lippens (who was absent) hadn’t alerted the Board downtown pot shops had been omitted from the ordinance language.
Manager Steven Aynes was tasked with drafting an business application for pot entrepreneurs by the Nov. 26 meeting and was criticized for not having it ready for this meeting.
Are Downtown Property Values About to Skyrocket?
One immediate impact of the ballot proposal was a big bump in the value for the township’s old fire station at 75 Barker Road.
A buyer last week offered $275,000 but after the vote Nov. 5 allowing pot shops downtown, a second buyer offered $350,000 (a 27% increase and $75,000 above the asking price). Both buyers may be planning to open pot shops and now appear engaged in a bidding war.
The Board postponed a decision on the 75 Barker sale. Some Trustees said that, in light of this exciting increase in property values, it might be wise to reconsider plans to sell the majority of the VanCurler property (now known as North Village). The Board is negotiating to sell 18 of the 23 acres to developers for housing, leaving only five acres for a waterfront park.
Off with Their Heads! Treasurer Wants to Axe Manager & Planner
“It’s time to fire people,” said Zelenock near the end of the four-hour meeting. “Because come 2020, we’re going to get fired (by the voters). I am appalled that three years into this administration, (Manager Steven Aynes) still can’t get our agendas right,” she said.
Zelenock also said the Board should find a different planner. “The planner is making too many unforced errors and I’m tired of it,” she said after the meeting. She laid out the timeline and series of events leading to the omission in the marijuana ordinance of pot shops downtown, asking “how are we going to hold our paid professionals accountable?”
Residents Speak Up!
Nearly 50 pro and anti-pot “activists” packed the second floor and many spoke at the “First Call to the Public” which lasted more than 45 minutes. It was obvious the Nov. 5 ballot proposal vote changed few minds though it did show that pro-pot is the majority opinion.
Mary Devlin, a long-time resident and frequent speaker at Board meetings, announced this would be her last appearance. She said she was disappointed with the ballot proposal turnout, upset with the outcome and exhausted by her efforts. (We hope you feel better and return soon, Mary. You will be missed.)
Northfield Township Wants You!
Supervisor Chockley announced that there are multiple openings on various township boards and committees, as follows:
Land Preservation Committee – 3 openings
Downtown Development Authority – 3 openings
Planning Commission – 2 openings
Parks & Recreation Committee – 1 or more
Contact Chockley. Office: (734) 449-2880, ext. 15 * Cell: (734) 730-0795 * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Rest of the Story
Northfield Joins Select Group of Townships
As of October, four of ten Michigan municipal governments have opted out of allowing pot stores even though their residents voted to legalize recreational pot, according to Mlive.com. (Maybe that 40% should hold ballot proposals too.)
Because of the Nov. 5 ballot proposal supporting pot businesses, Northfield joined a select group opting in. Adopting an ordinance to regulate where and how many pot businesses operate in the township was undertaken with the knowledge that the majority of its citizens approve.
Prior to the vote, the Board was divided but still favored “opting in” 4/3. The minority of Chockley, Clerk Kathy Manley and Trustee Tawn Beliger joined with a citizen group, “Save Northfield”, that collected enough signatures to force a ballot proposal.
Before the final vote on the pot ordinance, Trustee Janet Chick moved to re-insert the omitted ordinance language allowing pot shops downtown. Her motions passed 4/3 with Chockley, Manley and Beliger opposed.
At the final vote, Chockley and Manley overcame their personal opinions, respected the ballot proposal results and voted in favor of the ordinance. Beliger did not.
Beliger spent more than 15 minutes making numerous motions in an attempt to block pot shops downtown and to prohibit all marijuana in the rural area. “Do I need to get down on my knees and beg the township Board?” she said. Chockley “seconded” all the motions which were all defeated on 4/3 votes.
Chockley tried to mandate that pot businesses donate to local charities. Her idea was rejected. She also wanted to dictate that medical and recreational businesses “co-locate” in the same building, but that idea was rebuffed.
Trustee Jacki Otto suggested hiring a part-time employee to handle pot applications but her idea was deemed premature. Trustee Wayne Dockett and Zelenock said the manager should handle it.
Off with Their Heads!
Treasurer Zelenock said her issue with both Manager Aynes and Planner Lippens is incompetence. She noted that Aynes put the pot ordinance at the very end of the agenda and that, unsurprisingly, several residents found the placement insulting, “a slap in the face”.
Board meetings typically run so late that the last items on the agenda are postponed. This meeting ended at 10:40 pm. Agendas are routinely re-arranged on the fly; many “action items” lack proper or supporting paperwork, and the result is lots of debate but little action, Zelenock said.
She blamed the four Trustees who hired Aynes for his “consistent lack of professionalism”. (His actions) “are not logical. Not acceptable. It’s time to fire people,” she said. “So Ms. Chick, Ms. Otto, Mr. Dockett and Ms. Beliger, I want you to hold your township manager accountable....you hired him....(and) you rehired him. “
After the meeting, Zelenock addressed her issues with the planner and the deleted passages in the pot ordinance. “Lippens is not getting the job done. There are too many mistakes and omissions,” she charged.
“We pay more than $90k to our planners and more than $120k for our manager....and we’re always having these issues. We need to....(search) for new people,” she said.
The Supervisor, Clerk and Treasurer have consistently voted against hiring a manager, saying the position is unnecessary and expensive. (Only 3% of Michigan townships have managers according to the Michigan Township Association.) However, the four Trustees have voted in a block to support the position.
Zelenock said she was frustrated that Aynes and Lippens had failed to draft any guidelines for pot business applications. “They’ve known about this for weeks and we’ve got nothing in the packet tonight.”
Residents Pack Meeting & Speak Up!
Barb Wutka asked that the Board prohibit pot businesses in Precinct 2 since voters there opposed pot while Precincts 1 & 3 favored it. (Later in the meeting, her suggestion was dismissed as unrealistic by a majority of the Board).
Sam Iaquinto, owner of Mac’s Marina and supporter of pot businesses, said he was disappointed in Beliger, claiming she badmouths local businesses; grandstands at Board meetings and flip-flops in her capacity as Board Rep to the Park & Recreation Committee. “Tawn Beliger is a disappointment to the voters and citizens of Northfield Township,” he charged.
Mary Czech, a business woman who owns several properties downtown, supported local pot shops saying “we need growth....please honor the will of the people you swore to represent.”
Her sentiments were echoed by residents Jon Gura, Dana Forrester, James Trunko, David Gordon, Wayne Davison, Craig Warburton, Adam Olney, Todd Hawkmeyer, Coyote Windsong, Jerry Griffin and Marissa Prizgint.
James Trunko, co-owner Lovely Monkey Tattoo, made the point that Northfield Township residents have “now voted twice” to allow marijuana. He urged the Board to act quickly.
Opponents who spoke of their disappointment and concerns were Monica Miller, Sharon Koenig, Margaret Riddell and Planning Commissioner Brad Cousino.
Here are two comments from the 2nd Call to the Public:
David Gordon (the author) asked the Board to be more mindful of the environment; conduct an energy audit of township-owned buildings; consider solar panels to lower our carbon footprint; investigate bringing high-speed internet downtown to attract small business owners and again suggested the Board include page numbers on the Agenda. “Your packet is typically hundreds of pages long. Having page numbers would be helpful to the public and the Board.”
Local resident Dan McLean made a couple of simple, smart suggestions.
”It’s been tense (at these meetings this year) but it could be a little less tense with a better handling of the meetings,” he said, echoing a common criticism of Supervisor Chockley whose statutory duty is to run meetings and of Manager Aynes, who is tasked with helping her.
“Things always seem to be confused as to what ordinance version you’re working with - what page - what this - what that.,” he continued.
“In the business I’ve been in, we have documents projected on a screen. You have version control and document control so you know exactly what is happening; even editing on the fly with Word documents.
“They have editing features showing all the changes, with initials showing who made the changes; (it’s) very simple to do; it would make these meetings go about three times as fast,” he said.
One can only hope Chockley and Aynes were listening.
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Meeting Documents:
11/12/2019 Board Meeting LiveTimeline - About 250 moments of interest are linked to - unapologetically undisciplined editing.
Here is the LiveAgenda, greatly expanded. Click any of the links to watch the meeting beginning at the linked speaker's speaking. Toward the end the link lands about ten seconds early.
Here's a portable, clickable version of the LiveTimeline
11/12/2020 Northfield Township Board of Trustees meeting LiveTimeline
And here's the stuck-to-the-webpage version of the LiveTimeline
Call to order
Invocation
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call
1st Call to the Public
- Mary Devlin
- Barb Wutka
- Sam Iaquinto
- Dan McClean
- Monica Miller
- Mary Czech
- John Gura
- Dana Forester
- James Trunko
- David Gordon
- Wayne Davison
- Craig Warburton
- Denise Pollicella, Managing Partner, Cannabis Attorneys of Michigan: Remove interbusiness boundaries. Remove Unenforceable caregiver language
- Adam Olney
- Todd Hoffmeyer
- Coyote Windsong
- Jerry Griffin, PincannaRx
- Shannon Koenig
- Marissa Prizgint
- Margaret Riddell
- Brad Cousino
Board Member Response
- Zelenock
- Dockett
- Otto
- Chick
- Audience applause shouted down by Chockley
- Manley
- Beliger
- Beliger: Some people say the Yes vote lost
- Chockley
Motion to Accept the Consent Agenda
Recess
Meeting called back to order
- Wagner: comment re police, fire dept use of PFOS
- Beliger asks Wagner re report on potential costs of marijuana regs
- Otto re Crystal Ball
- Dockett re sewer department statement
- Correction of Minutes begins
- $17,000 raise in insurance
- Zelnock - Tetra Tech is already surveying the WWTP
- Zelenock: questions on the manager's report
- processes, procedures re marijuana ordinances - have you started mr Aynes?
- Zelenock: can we at least see a draft at our next meeting
- Otto: I would like to see a draft at our next meeting
- Zelenock: motion that we have a draft of the administrative procedures and forms at our next meeting
- Manley asks about 30 days
- Burns: Yes, there's a publication requirement
- Aynes, we would anticipate it being in the ann arbor paper, the sunday following today: if you were to pass something tonight. It's thirty days from that point, which puts us about December 17th.
- Dockett
- Chockley: My only concern...
- Zelenock and Otto: We've had plenty of time to get ready for this
- Zelenock: Tell me what event, what item in this Township has brought out so many people and has gathered so much attention
- Zelenock: I still have the floor
- Beliger asks for an impact study before...
- Chockley asks if WWTP can remove pesticides from MJ grows
Adopt the balance of the Agenda
- Chockley: motion to move items 7 and 8 to front
- Otto: recommends moving 7&8 to number 2. Bills come first
- Fun with numbering of agenda items. priceless stuff.
- We're doing one, then seven and eight, then three, then going through the rest
- Roll Call vote
- Failed 4:3
- Chockley, So we're gonna do 1, then 7 and 8, then the newly added 9, which is the opt out ordinance, then number three, then number 2, 4, 5, 6
- Zelenock: Whose job is it to do the Agenda
- The Township Manager addresses the issue
- Zelenock: That's not good enough
Agenda Item 1: Chockley: Motion to approve payment of open bills
Agenda Item 7, Ordinance 1966
- Chick: motion re WLD
- Manager Aynes, comment re item removal by Lippens in July??
- Chick clarifies her motion re allowing downtown provisioning centers
- Chick: I make a motion to allow marijuana provisioning centers to locate in the WLD-D, downtown, and the WLD-W district, waterfront
- Call the Question
- Dockett: We're done; let's go to another one.
- Chockley: Please don't interrupt
- Dockett: Go Right Ahead; I love it.
- Chick: Motion to allow Adult Use Recreational Marijuana in the WLD-W downtown and WLD-D waterfront
- Roll call...
- Roll call
- Roll Call
- Chockley: That passes 5:2
- Chick: I make a motion to allow grows of over 500 cannabis plants to locate in the Research Manufacturing Technology district
- Roll Call
- Roll Call
- Motion passes 6:1 Beliger: no
- Chick: Motion to adopt Ordinance 19-66 with the changes to the Whitmore Lake District Downtown and the Whitmore Lake District Waterfront
- Manley asks Chick wherefrom the changes arose? Lippens?
- Chick: The public has been asking for these businesses in the downtown area for months
- Manley: Were you aware of these changes before today?
- Chick: Yes, yesterday
- Otto: It was on the 9/24 meeting
- Zelenock: I'd like to add… Zelenock asks about disappearance of the WLD-D and WLD-W business inclusion between the 9/24 packet in which it was present, and the succeeding ordinance, dated 10-8, in which it was absent.
- Zelenock: We were not informed that it
- Zelenock: We were informed of some minor changes but this major deletion....
- Zelenock: I didn't realize that I had to make sure deletions don't occur in the things I get back.
- Zelenock: I have asked for more procedures. I've asked for summaries to be put in. I've asked for changes to be documented, and it doesn't happen
- Zelenock: So we revisit and we revisit
- Zelenock: It's to the point that it might be time to look for new planners
- Beliger: How many feet are we away from schools
- Belilger: Motion to change school buffer to 1000 feet
- Chick: we can adopt anything. The City of Ferndale has a 500 foot buffer; The City of Inkster has a 500 foot buffer. Walled Lake, Oakland County has a 500 foot buffer.
- Jacki: The Marijuana Act stands on its own
- Beliger: How many foot buffer in Ann Arbor?
- Chick: reads MTA explanation: You have asked
- Dockett: Can I get in on this?
- Dockett: We do not have to reinvent the wheel
- Dockett: We use the same thing for marijuana that we use for alcohol
- Dockett: There's no difference between this and alcohol
- Dockett: What is wrong with having it the same as alcohol?
- Chockley: The Law.
- Otto: Paul [Township Attorney Burns], can you tell us if the public act code supercedes the marijuana act?
- Burns: I don't think the law has been settled
- Beliger: I'd like to move to increase the buffer zones around schools to 1000 feet.
- Zelenock: Don't we have a motion on the floor, Madame Chair?
- Manley: question to mr burns
- Burns on the question, again. State law preempts local ordinances. But the question is not settled of whether this is a carve-out and the doctrine of state pre-emption may no apply.
- Zelenock: We have talked about this time and time again and it's always a 4:3 vote
- Roll Call
- Beliger motion fails. 4:3
- Beliger moves to add public parks to the existing 500 foot buffers
- Beliger Motion Fails: 4:3 No
- Beliger: Motion 500 foot buffer around day care
- Beliger Motion Fails. 4:3
- Beliger: move to disallow all marijuana uses ... from the Agricultural District
- Beliger restates the Anti Ag district motion
- Dockett: What do we do about the 307 in Ag who voted for it?
- Beliger: The motion is to disallow these establishments in the agricultural zone. I did not say in precinct 2
- Manley: what is allowed right now in Ag?
- Zelenock: I think we have addressed those (Ag zoning) issues
- Chockley: What's allowed in the Ag area will be 500 or less plants
- Beliger: Do I need to beg the Township Board? Do I need to get on my knees and beg?
- Roll Call
- Another Beliger motion fails 4:3
- Zelenock: Motion to exclude or preclude the four new classes. temporary marijuana events
- 1 temporary marijuana event
- 2 marijuana event organizer
- 3 excess marijuana grower
- 4 designated consumption establishments
- Beliger: Asks why the board doesn't simply vote to do what Zelenock's motion allows them to vote on. Bizarre.
- Motion passes. Beliger votes no.
- Zelenock tells Chockley to make Motions.
- Chockley: Motion that recreational marijuana retailers be colocated with a medical marijuana establishment
- Chockley: reveals that she and Barb Griffith attended an Michigan Downtown Association for two sessions on marijuana
- Chockley: David Heywood, the Planning and Zoning administrator for East Lansing
- Chick: we don't have any medical marijuana business. This makes it more difficult.
- Chockley: East Lansing ordinance is in the packet
- Chockley: East Lansing ordinance requires a 1% of net profit annual donation
- Otto: People should give because they want to, not because they're forced to
- Manley: sounds like a bribe to me
- Chockley: Emergency rules expire in January. 10 additional rulesets will be arriving in January to replace the expiring emergency rules
- Chockley: Traverse City DDA does not allow marijuana establishments in their DDA district
- Chick: Motion to adopt Ordinance 19-66 with the changes. to the WLD Downtown and the WLD Waterfront district and the Research Technology Manufacturing district
- roll call vote
- Chockley: passes 6:1, Beliger opposed
Chick: Motion to adopt Ordinance 19-67 to add chapter 23, Marijuana facilities to the code of ordinances
- Beliger: With the passing of these ordinances we are necessarily placing the township at risk and in harms way and this township government will be aiding and abetting illegal drug activity. This will be redefining of the township, transformational.
- Manley: I still feel that the numbers are too high
- Chockley: People laugh at that. They know it's a mind altering material.
- Zelenock: Certainly for the dispensary
- Call the question
- Call the question
- Motion Passed 4:3
Otto: Motion to hire a temporary clerk to help handle the applications
- Zelenock: We should do that only if we cut back the township manager's hours, and pay for it that way. The township manager should be leading this effort. If we don't think he's capable, he shouldn't be the township manager.
- Manley: I totally agree with you that we probably will need more staff
- Beliger goes off on a tear about growing government
- Beliger asks when they can ask for an impact study
- Chick answers Beliger's question. No impact was shown in at least one study.
Item # 3, no #9, no #2? Opt out - #9
- Zelenock: It's the one that's not on the Agenda. "Laying on the table"
- Chockley: the current opt out is expiring today
- Paul Burns: Really, the opt out should expire simultaneously with the effectiveness of the zoning ordinance.
- Planner: the MRA is accepting applications from anyone with an opt out not on file
- Planner: Unlike MMFOA, MRTMA requires...
- Beliger shoots for the moon, a sunset date of nearly never
- Manley piles on the sunset date try
- Beliger: we could opt out for a year or two...
- Zelenock: Motion to extend the sunset clause until December 17th
- Burns: What I'm recommending
- Vote on opting out til 17th
- Passes 7:0
- Beliger: Wait a minute. Did we just agree on something?
#3 now? No, #2
- Chockley: No, No, the sewer backup claim
- Chockley: Number [ ? talked over by Dockett] Motion to adopt resolution 19-613 amending the 2020 budget
- Motion passes 7:0
Consider purchase offer for 75 Barker
- Township Manager: asking price of $275K was met. Followed immediately by counter offer of $350K
- Motion to postpone until next meeting passes 7:0
Chockley: motion to approve rezoning from AG to Limited industrial for 6410 Whitmore Lake Road
Chick: Motion to approve Terra Firma's request to operate a landscape biz with outdoor storage of materials
Trustee Liason Reports
- Zelenock: Motion to accept the resignations of three Land Preservation Committee Members: Patrick Kelly, Jacob Donner, David Perry
- Motion passes 7:0
- Vote 7:0 to accept Trustee Liason reports
Announcements
- Chockley thanks trunk or treat volunteers. 400 kids attended
- Zelenock: Northfield Historical Society received a grant
- Otto: two announcements
2nd Call to the Public
Board Member Response
- Dockett
- Beliger
- Beliger: Four names will be forever affixed to this
- Chick
- Otto
- Manley
- Zelenock rips
- Zelenock: It's time to fire people
- Chick: suggestion
- Aynes defends himself
- Zelenock: Why is the policy of the board not being followed? re tuesday afternoon packet deadline?
- Aynes completes Zelenock's comment: "It's 3:00pm, not 3:30pm"
Beliger: Move to Adjourn
Motion passes. Meeting adjourned.
These are the raw elements of the 10/22 LiveAgenda. Clicking a link takes you directly to video of the meeting at the point where an agenda item, utterance, or comment transpired.
Youtube makes this possible. But what Youtube giveth, it can take away. I uploaded two versions of the underlying meeting video. Their quality differed by a factor of four, but the lower quality video is what Youtube displays as HD. I moved the LiveAgenda links below from the higher quality upload to the lower quality upload, because the lower quality upload displays as 720P. Makes perfect sense, no? OK Boomer!
Call to Order
Invocation
Pledge of Allegiance
First Call to the Public
Sam Iaquinto: Pro Pot Business Opportunities and revenue stream
Amy Scholl: "we’re not ready for pot"
Shannon Koenig: powerful pot industry will buy our politicians
Carl Watkins “our quality of life will be terrible”
Stacy Sloan: ethics & accountability lacking
Board Member Response
Chockley: "we’ll do better on that blahblahblah"
Chick: “We can’t afford it. The park is a burden on the township.”
Consent Agenda
Sewer Liability issue raised by Beliger
Chockley: why the sewer backup issue was not an Agenda Item
Property Owner public statement re sewer backup
Chockley: motion re consent agenda
Dockett re address, Barker & Main, of Driftwood Marina being torn down
Zelenock: motion to end meeting at 930pm
Zelenock introduces Shink's presentation while Chockley busy
Shink announces hearing dates, november 6th coming up
Shink: citizen complaints re tree cutting
Shink: re citizen protest against herbicide spraying
Shink: offers help with county park grants for north village
Agenda Item #1:
Chockley blows off concerns; I just think it's time to move on.
Chockley: It really does open up some areas
Chockley: I guess I would like to call the question
Agenda Item 2:
Otto: why now, why the limit to 4 acres? Lippins
Burns: to make a park, deed restrictions
Dockett on boat slips, piers, fishing, people sleeping overnight
vote on amendment to strike in perpituity from language
Beliger offers 5 acre amendment
Chockley: "I'd hate to eliminate five houses over 1/4 acre of open space"
Zelenock: Manager, how many acres did we put in out rfps? I recall nine.
Lippins: That's not the recommendation you have from the committee
Zelenock: and none of this has been scored
Chockley: Does the board feel this is premature?
Call the vote on Beliger's motion to make it a minimum of five acres
Beliger I think we should wait on that idea
Zelenock: $157,836.68 paid in County Park Millage Y2018
Chockley Waffling re time limit
Chockley: res to opt out of the hard cap
Chockley: motion to skip number 3
Dockett: now you're being a jerk
Beliger: motion to approve health insurance
Docket & Mgr argue over packet, insurance figures vs percentages
Docket to Aynes: “Oh poor you!”
Zelenock to Aynes: Your info is incomplete
Agenda Item 5:
Long discussion over $17k increase & and Aynes’ report
Motion by Chockley to continue health insurance contributions same as past year
beliger: move to extend thomas duke contract for barker road sale
Beliger: move to extend meeting until 10pm Dockett: you broke all your promises.
Beliger, Why don't we just extend the meeting half an hour
Agenda Item 3:
Zelenock, so what if we go back and talk about building right now...
Dockett shouts out contention that county is available every day of the week and saves money.
Dockett: the county has not raised their prices in 13 years
Motion by Zelenock to have Aynes assemble information by January. Dockett recommends a subcommittee
Two board members volunteer for the subcommittee : beliger and zelenock
Agenda Item 6:
Beliger Motion to renew Thomas Duke Contract to sell 75 Barker
Agenda Item 6: Contract Extension for sale of 75 Barker
Chick suggests postponing all 75 Barker decisions until March
Vote to extend the current contract with Thomas Duke
Agenda Item 7:
Beliger: can we move to consider purchase offer of... Number 7
Zelenock: I would like to table Number 7
Dockett: I don't think we should sell this
Agenda item 8:
motion by beliger to close twp offices
Chockley: I don't know that we can get into your item
Agenda Item 9:
Otto: I would like to table this item, the Clerk's survey
Announcements
Zelenock: Is there any legal constraint on that Mr Burns?
2nd call to the public
George Brown - spoke for six full minutes.
Dockett: – we don’t need this project (park). Glad when pot is over.
Dockett: you people are putting up half a million dollars. that's what we've got invested.
Oct. 22, 2019 Board of Trustees meeting
By David Gordon
Highlights:
1 – MASTER PLAN
- A new Master Plan was approved by a slim 4/3 vote. Historically, the plan receives a unanimous vote but this Board, led by Supervisor Marlene Chockley, is divided on nearly every issue.
Treasurer Lenore Zelenock and Trustees Wayne Dockett and Tawn Beliger had problems both with the substance and the process of the Plan rewrite which costs $35,000 and took nearly two years.
Supervisor Marlene Chockley pushed for the adoption because she said the new plan “opens up lots of land on Whitmore Lake Road for development”, one of her main priorities.
2 – PARKS
- A proposal to set aside “forever” only five acres at the 23-acre North Village “park” passed 5-2, with Zelenock and Dockett voting “no”. Zelenock questioned why only five acres are being set aside instead of the nine acres recommended in an expensive Board-approved analysis. No answer was given. Dockett simply is against the Board acting as developers.
Two developers are hoping to erect condos, houses and mixed-use structures on the only vacant land left on Whitmore Lake. The four acres will have some green space and a band shell, among other possible amenities. A lakefront beach is being considered.
Chockley expressed concern about creating a defined area for parkland. “I’d hate to have to eliminate five houses to save a quarter-acre of open space,” she said.
In response to why so little land was being set aside for park, Trustee Janet Chick said “the township can’t afford to maintain all that area.....it is a burden on the community.”
However, the Board has refused to ask residents if they would support a dedicated millage to keep the whole site as a park.
3- SEWER TAX HIKE
- Clerk Kathy Manley had hoped to mail a survey with the December sewer bills about the proposed $5M sewer basin but the idea was tabled for several reasons; mainly because it was the last agenda item and nobody wanted to begin the discussion after 10 o’clock. (Especially since the Board voted to end the meeting at 9:30pm....and blew right past it’s own deadline....again...as usual.)
The Board last month voted 5/2 (Zelenock & Dockett opposed) to spend $200,000 on an engineering study for the proposed $5M retention basin at the Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). Township engineers TetraTech has been selling the idea of a basin as a necessity since 1988. All previous Boards have rejected the spending.
Manley hoped to do some outreach with the survey and determine how popular the $5M basin is with sewer customers who will see their fees skyrocket. In addition to the basin, some Trustees also want to spend $3M on sewer line expansion. Together, these two projects will raise sewer rates about 40% for the next 20 years.
Chockley, Chick and Trustee Jacki Otto now say that sewer expansion is their #1 Priority . None of them said anything about that when campaigning in 2016.
4 – MARIJUANA
– About five members of the public spoke at the beginning of the meeting supporting a ban on all pot stores, grow operations or processing in the township.
Ms. Mary Devlin, Ms. Amy Scholl, Ms. Shannon Koenig, Ms. Margaret Ridell and former Police Chief Karl Watkins spoke against allowing pot into the township even though 63% of township residents approved recreational pot in the 2016 election.
Mac’s Marina owner Sam Iaquinto spoke in favor of the new businesses and said most downtown proprietors support it too. “Dispensaries will bring badly needed foot traffic downtown and add $280,000 a year in taxes to our general fund,” he said.
5 – ROAD COMMISSION
– County Commissioner Sue Shink said that as a result of controversies this year, a re-organization of the Washtenaw County Road Commission is being considered.
There are four ideas being explored:
- Expansion of Road Commission (RC) from 3 to 5 members.
- Transfer of RC duties to the County Board of Commissioners.
- Change RC members from appointed to elected.
- Retain current system.
The shake-up is the result of a massive public outcry against two RC projects – the cutting of historic landmark trees along N. Territorial and Mast Roads (400+ trees were felled) and the proposal to spray herbicide along all county roads (which never happened after the push-back.)
- WCRC Managing Director Sheryl Siddall's memo about the Governance Plan Public Hearings, 10/10/2019
- WCRC Organizational Structure Options, 2019-09-19
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Read that again. Quickly. Read it aloud. Feel the footfall of syllables. Breathe. Bite each consonant. Speak surely, confidently. You know what it means. They know what it means. Everybody knows what it means.
Squish-puff is what happens when revenue-neutral has no empirical, quantified basis. It was a planner's ploy, a tasty morsel of insider jargon, to convey an illusion of financial planning, to focus attention where he wanted it focused, away from the possibility of a real downtown park. The limits or your language are the limits of your thinking. Control language to control thought.
Revenue neutral now has a seat of honor, the foundation of the Lake Park dream evisceration. Chockley invoked it again at this meetup.
Up next? A map showing just how little park space will be provided by the latest Board retrenchment, a proposal to reserve as Public park property a band of public land only 400 feet deep, measured from the lake's edge.
As a public service, here are the packet Documents broken out and separated into separate pdfs:
- 6:15PM Northfield Township Board of Trustees Regular Meeting LiveAgenda - Coming Soon
- 7:00PM Northfield Township Board of Trustees Regular Meeting LiveAgenda - Coming Soon
- WCRC Managing Director Sheryl Siddall's memo about Governance Plan Public Hearings, 10/10/2019
- WCRC Organizational Structure Options, 2019-09-19
- 2019-10-22 Resolution 19-612 to Adopt Northfield Township Master Plan
- 2019-10-22 Recommendation to Adopt Northfield Township Master Plan, McKenna 2019-09-03 [the memo in the 2019-10-22 packet]
- 2019 Northfield Township Master Plan, McKenna [35MB]
- 2013 Northfield Township Master Plan, Carlisle-Wortmann
- 2019-07-10, North Village Development Proposal, Livonia Builders [2.5MB]
- 2019-10-15, North Village Development Proposal, A. R. Brouwer [5.5MB]
- 2019-10-15, North Village Committee Report and Recommendation, McKenna
- 2019-10-22, Resolution-19-615 to Establish North Village Park Minimum Park acreage
- Building Department Builddown (Outsourcing) Report
- Budget amendments, 10-15-2019
- Annual review of Township Employee Health Insurance Benefit and HSA contribution, 10-15-2019
- Barker Road Property Sales Listing Agreement, 10-17-2019
- Coyle Rd property purchase offer, 10-17-2019
- Manager Aynes' Holiday Week Paid Time Off (PTO) memo, 10-17-2019
- Clerk Manley's memo proposing a Retention Basin/Sewer Survey [link repaired]
- 6:15PM Northfield Township Board of Trustees Special Meeting Agenda [10/22/2019]
- 7:00PM Northfield Township Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Agenda [10/22/2019]
- 10/22/2019 Northfield Township Board of Trustees Meeting Packet [95MB}