The Sun and News, Saturday, August 5, 2023/ Page 5Orion Construction gets the go-ahead to build first
phase of Ashford Woods townhouses in Gaines Twp
James Gemmell
Contributing Writer
After 21 months of plan-
ning, Grand Rapids-based
Orion Construction can
begin building the Ashford
Woods townhouse develop-
ment in Gaines Township, so
long as it receives standard
approvals from outside agen-
cies, such as the local fire
department, the Kent County
Road and Drain Commissions
and the Michigan Department
of Environment, Great Lakes
and Energy.
Developers and the town-
ship expect no problems in
attaining those. Orion must
also meet a landscaping con-
dition that a tree buffer be
added between the parking
lot of the adjacent Kentwood
Community Church and the
surrounding homes.
The planning commission
voted unanimously on July
27 to approve the site plan
for the first phase of the
33-building development at
1200 60th St. Orion original-
ly proposed the 152-unit
project to the township in
Oct. 2021. It will have 124
units in the first of two
phases of construction.
The site-plan consider-
ation was the last main item
on the agenda of a planning
commission meeting that
lasted 3 hours and 30 min-
utes. Much of the time was
spent discussing draft chap-
ters of the new zoning ordi-
nance the township is craft-
ing. By the time discussion
of the Ashford Woods project
came up, almost all the citi-
zens had cleared the board
room.
The project’s first phase
calls for 124 market-rate
townhome units. It will con-
sist of four- and six-plex
buildings. Orion said the
monthly rents will be some-
where between $2,100 and
$2,700.
The commission had voted
in May to conditionally
rezone 30 acres of the 48-acre
site from residential (RL-10)
and Office-Service (O-S) to a
Residential-3 (single-family
only) designation. That was
with the condition that the
Ashford Woods development
be restricted to townhomes
or detached single-family
homes. The first phase will
cover 18 acres.
Kentwood CommunityChurch owns the parcel and
plans to divide it into two
separate parcels that would
not be part of the church
property after it is rezoned
and sold. The parcels will
be categorized as “Village
Residential” under the
township’s Future Land
Use Plan.
There was no public hear-
ing at the July 27 meeting,
but several citizens had
expressed worries at prior
hearings about potential
flooding of their homes once
the Ashford Woods develop-
ment is built.
Orion Construction CEO
Roger Rehkopf and Orion
President Brad Walsh gave a
brief verbal and video pre-
sentation to the planning
commission. In response to
recent requests from citizens,
Rehkopft said his firm is
“more than willing” to put up
a fence on the western edge
of the property to prevent
people from a nearby apart-
ment complex from access-
ing the Ashford Woods
development.
Rehkopf addressed the
neighbors’ concerns about
potential flooding, specifi-cally, that the development
might cause more stormwa-
ter runoff to spill over from a
creek. He said that the Kent
County Road Commission
has agreed to inspect two
culverts for possible prob-
lems because one of them
appears to have partially col-
lapsed and is pointed in the
wrong direction. The Kent
County Drain Commission
will also be reviewing the
site.
“My personal opinion is
that it’s not all this creek.
The problem is ... there is
nowhere for that water to go.
So, all it does is back up, and
that’s what is creating the
flooding. We’re trying to
help them with that, but they
know now that we are not the
ones who are going to add
stormwater. We’re actually
going to decrease stormwa-
ter,” Rehkopf said.
Detention ponds will help
with that. The development
will be built around existing
wetlands, which will be pre-
served.
Rehkopf also mentioned
that Orion has been in dis-
cussions with the road com-
mission about getting astrip of land at the end of
61st Street legally aban-
doned so no vehicular traf-
fic would be able to use it
to drive through the devel-
opment.
“It’s a little different than a
typical abandonment. It’s
actually a deeded piece of
property; it’s not a right-of-
way,” he said.
As for amenities in
Ashford Woods, there will be
1,000 feet of walking trails
and 6,200 feet of sidewalks
that will be interconnected
within the development.
“We’ve added a little half-
court basketball court (to the
site plan),” Rehkopf said.
“We do have a playground
area planned that will be, in
essence, double what the size
of that little playground is
right now. We’ve proposed a
12-by-12 (foot) gazebo,
which would be public, for
anyone’s use.”
He added that Orion is in
discussions with church
leaders about the potential
opportunity for residents ofAshford Woods to use an
indoor gymnasium at the
adjacent church in the winter.
He said more amenities will
be considered when plans are
drawn up for the project’s
second phase.
The two-story townhouses
will have three different
color schemes. Each would
be either a two-bedroom unit
or a three-bedroom unit.
Each unit would have its
own entrances, a garage and
one or two parking spaces.
The garages will be either
front- or rear-loaded in terms
of where they sit in relation-
ship to the townhomes.
The township had suggest-
ed the garages be built behind
the townhouses, but Orion
wants the option to place
them out front, as well.
“We still believe there’s
people who want a rear patio
and more privacy,” he said.
“We do find that they meet
the (township) standard for
parking,” Community
Development Director Dan
Wells said.Middleville needs a
movie theaterI have lived in Middleville
all my life and seen many
good changes downtown.
Why can’t we get a movie
theater? We used to have
one when I was younger,
and a lot of people would go
to it. There is room and
space for one, and it wouldhelp most ages have some-
where to go and it would be
busy.Barb Stauffer
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27
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Letters from our readersLetters from our readers
The Pulse Autocycle was manufactured by the Owosso Motor Company
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the most unique items to come through their doors. (Photo provided)