The Board approved Zoning Ordinance revisions to permit Conditional Use by Churches and other Religious Institutions in most of Northfield Township's zoning districts.  This was recommended for approval at the April 6, 2016 Planning Commission meeting.   Our new $130/hour planner, McKenna's Sally Hodges, marked up the necessary changes to existing Township zoning ordinances.  They comprise three pages of PDF in the April 6, 2016 P.C. meeting packet. 

Buried in the financials included in this meeting's packet is McKenna's bill for their services in handling the Conditional use revisions.

The Darlene Curtis property donation was discussed.  The Board approved accepting the donation on the conditions that the title was clear and the house could be demolished for less than $25,000. 

$25,000?  Doesn't anyone on this Township Board read the Detroit news?

 

van curler parcels overlaid 220w

At an April 6, 2016 meeting, the Northfield Township Board approved coupling the bids for the 8.2 and 15.3 acre Van Curler parcels.  Town manager Fink explained that his attempt to lowball the 8.2 acres at $80,000 had been rejected, as had his $97,000 follow up offer.   $100,000 was what they wanted, and by a fantastic coincidence, exactly what the Board had previously in an open meeting authorized Fink to offer.

According to Fink, accepting the $100,000 was tied to the $229,500 listed price of the 15.3 acres.  It was an all or nothing, special deal just because they wanted it to go to the Township, Fink said.

Trustee Dockett said that the price collapse, from the guesstimated previous price of about $2 million for the same empty parcels, should make a buyer suspicious.  Some of it was wetland, mucky.  In addition to the cows Dockett mentioned at the previous meeting, a gas station and a dry cleaning plant had once occupied parts of the property.  Supervisor Engstrom said the 70-90 day due diligence period would suffice to perform the environmental testing.

Dockett also complained that he hadn't been notified of this meeting until 9:30 am.  He objected to Fink's 18 hour minimum legally required, stapled to the bulletin board version of public notice.   As a Board Member he felt he deserved a phone call.  Fink apologized with his usual things got away from me and we'll do better next time spiel.

[updated 4/8/2016 12:44 pm]

The meeting is over.  In the proposed revised bylaws, Section 8.9 was amended to meet the recommendations of the Township Attorney.  The Bylaws revision passed by a 4:3 margin.  Chockley, Cousino, and Chick opposed.   The Township Master Plan may now be changed by a simple majority vote of the seven seated Planning Commissioners followed by a simple majority vote of the Township Board.  (If you've read this far, you now see the problem.)

What else happened at this meeting?  The "church" conditional zoning issue passed.  The PC's 2016 Goals were briefly discussed.  The meeting adjourned relatively early.  After all, the real work of the year had been successfully completed.  The supermajority vote required by the 2014 bylaws (yes, the bylaws were less than two years old) has been removed as an obstacle to upending the Township Master Plan. 

On the Agenda: TetraTech Sewer Capacity Presentation,  Washtenaw County Road Commission Annual Meeting

At this meeting Township Manager Howard Fink made the astonishing assertion that his back-of-the-envelope calculations showed that the proposed $3,000,000.00 WWTP expansion, the holding tank, wouldn't cost anyone a dime of increased fees.

Watch the 3-29-2016 Northfield Township Board meeting in High(er)-Def on our Youtube channel.  This video incorporates our repair of the two minute Livestream dropout that occured during the Road Commission session.

Our 3-29-2016 Northfield Township Board - Planning Commission Joint Session LiveAgenda

Downloadable documents:

A township lakeside homeowner wins approval of new porches.

3-21-2016 Northfield Township Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) LiveAgenda

  1. March 16, 2016 Northfield Township Planning Commission meeting
  2. March 15, 2016 Northfield Township Board meeting
  3. March 2, 2016 Northfield Planning Commission - Biltmore and the Living Water Church
  4. February 23, 2016 Board Workshop report
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