Page 8 — Thursday, September 22, 2022 — The Hastings Banner
PRAIRIEVILLE TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
TO: THE RESIDENTS AND PROPERTY OWNERS OF PRAIRIEVILLE TOWNSHIP, BARRY COUNTY,
MICHIGAN AND ANY OTHER INTERESTED PERSONS:
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a Planning Commission meeting and public hearing regarding zoning
ordinance text amendments will be held on October 13, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. at the Prairieville
Township Hall, 10115 S. Norris Road, within the Township, as required under the provisions of the
Michigan Planning Enabling Act, Michigan Zoning Enabling Act and the Zoning Ordinance for the
Township.
PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the item(s) to be considered at said public hearing include the
following:- Zoning Ordinance text amendments regarding outdoor storage in the C-
Zoning District (Article 6.4) and I-1 Zoning District (Article 6.5) - Zoning Ordinance text amendments regarding accessory buildings, and open
air businesses and outdoor sales as special land uses in the C-1 Zoning District
(Article 6.4) - Zoning Ordinance text amendments to add Section 6.12-7 Open Air Businesses
- Zoning Ordinance text amendment to Section 3.1, Definitions, to add definition
of open air business. - Such other and further business as may properly come before the Planning
Commission at said hearing.
PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the proposed text amendments can be reviewed at
the office of the Township Clerk during regular business hours of regular business days and will also
be available at the time and place of the hearing.PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that written comments will be taken from any interested
person concerning the rezoning application at the email address of the Township Clerk below, at
any time during regular business hours up to 4:00 p.m. on the date of the hearing and will further
be received by the Planning Commission at the time of said hearing.PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the Prairieville Township Planning Commission and
Township Board reserve the right to make changes in the proposed text amendments and overlay
zoning district map at or following the public hearing.Prairieville Township will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services to individuals
with disabilities at the hearing upon four (4) days’ notice to the Prairieville Township Clerk.
PRAIRIEVILLE TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION
Rod Goebel, Township Clerk
Prairieville Township Hall
10115 S Norris Road
Delton, MI 49046
(269) 623-
[email protected]187891Thornapple Credit Union completes renovations at
Hastings location, accommodates for its growth
Hunter McLaren
Staff Writer
Thornapple Credit Union held a ribbon
cutting ceremony at the newly renovated
lobby of its Hastings location on Friday.
Courtney Stonehouse, Hastings branch
manager and collections manager for TCU,
said the new renovations included an update
to the interior of the building as well as a
new look for the exterior of the building for
the first time.
“We wanted to expand the building to
make it look more professional and have
more room for growth. We’ve been growing
at such a significant pace that we needed
more office space,” Stonehouse said. “The
building has been here since 1930, so while
we have done multiple renovations through-
out that time, we wanted something that was
just a little bit more modern and professional
looking from the outside as well as the
inside.”
Also included in the update was a new
community meeting space, which will be
used by community organizations and for
in-house financial education for staff mem-
bers, Stonehouse said.
“We’re really community-based. Having
this big community space that we’re hoping
to use is going to have a big impact for us,
too,” she said. “(It’s nice) just having moreof an open area for our members to come
and be more comfortable. We are hoping to
benefit members in the long run. That’s
always the goal.”Although the building has been renovated
and updated a few times over the years, CEO
Amy Byers said none of those renovations
came close to the scope of the most recent
project, which started last summer.
Byers said there have been a few surprises
along the way. Before becoming a TCU branch,
the building was a restaurant with housing
above it as recently as the 1970s. A few weeks
before construction was set to be complete on
the recent renovation project, empty gas tanks
were found in the ground below the parking lot
suggesting that the building used to be a gas
station at some point in its history.
Between adapting to COVID-19 regula-
tions and working around ongoing construc-
tion, the last year has been an interesting one
for TCU members. Some members would
even joke and ask which door they should
use on any particular day, Byers said. How-
ever, even with concessions made for the
ongoing construction, the bank only had to
close for two days.
“We might do things in a goofy or unorth-
odox way,” Byers said. “But it’s all in the
spirit of, ‘Who cares if it looks goofy if we
can still serve our members?’”CARE FORCE: United Way Day of Caring brings out hundreds of volunteers
Hunter McLaren
Staff Writer
Hundreds of volunteers donated thousands
of hours of work to various community proj-
ects throughout Barry County last week as
part of the Barry County United Way’s Day
of Caring event.
The non-profit organization holds the event
every year in conjunction with its fundraising
campaign kickoff event. Volunteers gathered
in the Barry County Expo Center grandstands
to hear a performance from the Thornapple
Kellogg High School Band before heading
out to their service projects.
The theme for this year’s campaign is
“United Now More Than Ever,” both a call to
action and a reference to the community’s
continued support of the organization despite
the challenges raised in the past three years.
Lani Forbes, Barry County United Way
executive director, said the organization has
set a goal of $700,000 raised for this year’s
campaign. United Way had already received
$253,000 in donations on the day of the kick-
off event, about 35 percent of its goal.
“Today, we are going to show our commu-
nity that we are stronger together, that we are
needed here and we are united more now than
ever,” Forbes said. “Thank you so much for
being here.”
Forbes offered some information to contex-
tualize what donations to the Barry County
United Way could provide. A donation of $1 a
week provides around 300 pounds of food to
those who need it, and $5 a week provides an
infant with a safe sleeping environment. Barry
County United Way provided 300 students
with school supplies in August, its Meals onWheels program supports 322 seniors daily,
and nearly 1,500 children will be provided
with a new book in September, she said.
“When we are united, lives change, children
reach their full potential, seniors are support-
ed, families achieve success and urgent needs
are addressed,” she said. “Our community
needs us to be united now more than ever.”
This year’s appointed United Way cam-
paign chair is Rich Franklin, Barry County
Intermediate School District superintendent.
Franklin said the Day of Caring encapsulates
the important kind of public services that are
made possible through the United Way.
“We know that the United Way campaign
is about raising funds to do the things that we
need to do,” Franklin said. “But the Day of
Caring kicks off our campaign not talking
about money, not talking about asking formoney, but talking about giving of ourselves,
our time, our talent and our sweat equity to
put into our communities.”
And volunteers put in plenty of sweat in
their volunteer efforts during Day of Caring.
The annual event leverages the help of the
hundreds of volunteers to take on projects
across Barry County, from Middleville down
to Delton. This year’s Day of Caring started
last Thursday with the kick-off before volun-
teers tackled projects both in the morning and
afternoon. Volunteer projects continued Sat-
urday morning with no activities Friday.
Last year, nearly 500 volunteers completed
1,700 hours of volunteer work as part of Day
of Caring. In Barry County, it’s expected that
about 500 volunteers show up every year.
The Village of Middleville, and elsewhere
through Thornapple Township, were just twodestinations where volunteers descended.
Volunteers trimmed, thinned and trans-
planted flower beds throughout the village
and also cleaned up the Paul Henry Trail from
overgrown brush.
Another crew painted the fence that divides
Thornapple Township Hall and Westen’s Carpet.
Middleville resident Brenda Kearly worked
outside of the Thornapple Township Emergen-
cy Services building to weed the landscape and
thin it out. She was one of over 40 volunteers
from Bradford White and the UAW. It was her
second year volunteering for the cause.
“It gives you a little extra pride,” said
Kearly, who works on the heat pump line at
Bradford White. “I drive right through here
five days a week.”
Editor Jayson Bussa contributed to this
reportFrom left to right, Jeff Keessen, chairman of the board for Thornapple Credit Union;
Amy Byers, CEO; Courtney Stonehouse, branch manager and collections manager;
Sylvia Hook, assistant branch manager; Stephanie Dunklee, member service repre-
sentative; and Jessica Barcroft, member relations manager; cut the ribbon in the
newly renovated Thornapple Credit Union lobby.Thornapple Credit Union’s Hastings location at 202 E. Woodlawn Ave. wrapped up
a year-long renovation project to the interior and exterior of the building Sept. 16.Barry County United Way Executive Director Lani Forbes addressed vol-
unteers that gathered at the Barry County Expo Center before they headed
out to their Day of Caring projects on Sept. 15. (Photo by Hunter McLaren)
From left to right, volunteers Heather Albright, Stacy Gangwer, Ronnie
Fogg, Melissa Priest and Leah Ruesink from the Barry County ISD
worked to clean up the garden in front of the Habitat for Humanity build-
ing in Hastings. (Photo by Hunter McLaren)Sheryl Lewis-Blake (left), former Spectrum Health Pennock
executive, and Lynae Mathews from Buckland Insurance helped to
prepare the Barry County Commission on Aging’s windows to be
repainted. “Day of Caring symbolizes the best of Barry County,”
Lewis-Blake said. (Photo by Hunter McLaren)A group of volunteers overhauled the landscape outside of the Thornapple Township Emergency Services building. This was just
one of the many projects that volunteers took on for the annual Day of Caring event. (Photo by Jayson Bussa)Brenda Kearly of Middleville works to weed the landscape outside of the Thornapple
Township Emergency Services building last Thursday. She was joined by a large
group of co-workers from employer Bradford White. (Photo by Jayson Bussa)