sn 7-29-2023

The Sun and News, Saturday, July 29, 2023/ Page 3

Crane Road bridge in Middleville remains closed

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
The bridge on Crane
Road over the Thornapple
River in the village of
Middleville will remain
closed for at least another
week or more as additional
repairs are made.
Department of Public
Works Director Alec
Belson updated the Village

Council on the status of the

project Tuesday night.

“From the very begin-

ning, the contractors and

engineers told us (it would

take) two weeks (to finish

the project),” Belson said.

“During the course of con-

struction, they started

removing some of the old

scour protections on the

riprap (below the bridge

deck). That was deter-

mined through the contrac-

tors and engineers that the

block wall that they were

intending to put in there

was not going to work. So

they diverted that, and

went into heavy riprap.

That is essentially

150-to-300-pound rocks,

placed underneath that

shoring on the east end of

the bridge.”

The scour protection is

meant to prevent potential

erosion at bridge abut-

ments.

Because of the project

change, the village had to

go back to the Michigan

Department of Environment,

Great Lakes and Energy to

get approval for revising

plans. EGLE gave approval

to the revisions on Friday

of last week, Belson said.

But because of schedul-

ing conflicts with contrac-

tors, the project has not yet

resumed. Work is expected

to pick back up on Monday,

Belson said.

“I’m in daily conversa-

tions with contractors, try-

ing to move it along as fast

as I can,” Belson said.

The Village Council in

February authorized

Village Manager Craig

Stolsonburg to sign a con-

tract with the Michigan

Department of

Transportation to under-

take preventive mainte-

nance repairs on the bridge,

following a 2019 inspec-

tion by engineering consul-

tant Williams and Works.

The project had an initial

estimated cost of $290,000,

with $130,000 coming from

the Local Development

Finance Authority and

another $50,000 coming

from an MDOT grant.

want,” Community
Development Director Dan
Wells said. “And then, we just
give that to the developer and
say, ‘You either meet what we
want or ... we’re not going to
approve it.’ It’s a better ham-
mer almost to say, ‘You have
to give us park space. You
have to give us amenities. You
have to give your residents
amenities. You have to build a
community that the vision of
this entire group of people
here — the leadership of this
township — has for what
we’re going to be.’”
Township officials say they
want the new zoning ordi-
nance to reflect the wishes of
citizens and other stakeholders
that were expressed in the
year-long input-gathering pro-
cess that planners conducted
for the new master plan and
future land-use plan that were
recently completed.
Fifteen township officials
participated in Monday’s
meeting, including David
Jirousek, township consultant
with the Horizon Community
Planning firm. He gave a pre-
sentation on the audit report
and various categories that
will be included in the zoning
ordinance.
Wells said the township has
a contract to pay Horizon up to
$50,000 to facilitate the
research and help carry out the
zoning ordinance update.
“I think the last full, com-
prehensive update was 2007,
and the index of the zoning
ordinance actually includes a

number of amendments from

2008 to 2022,” Jirousek said.

A steering committee con-

sisting of no more than three

members each from the town-

ship board, planning commis-

sion and Zoning Board of

Appeals will be working with

Horizon on the ordinance

update over the next few

months. As of late July, the

steering committee had met

twice. It is drawing up a draft

of the initial working chapters

of the zoning ordinance.

“And then, we’ll be going

to the planning commission

for public hearing and public

input in probably month four

or five. I think the project will

be completed in, maybe,

January to February 2024,”

Jirousek said.

The full audit of the project

will be based on the input of

various stakeholders, including

the public, township officials

and the steering committee in

conjunction with Horizon

Community Planning. The

new zoning ordinance will

reflect recent changes in case

law, the Michigan Zoning and

Enabling Act and best practices

in planning and zoning.

“So, there’s going to have

to be some changes in zoning

districts based on your mas-

ter-planning effort,” Jirousek

told members of the township

board and planning commis-

sion.

One objective of the plan-

ning would be to require that

developers of each future sub-

division set aside land for a

small community park within

the development. The parks

would be maintained by a

Homeowners Association

(HOA) in most cases.

Jirousek said some aspects

of the existing zoning ordi-

nance can be implemented in

the new zoning ordinance that

is being crafted, but several

sections of it will need to be

changed. One of the major

ones pertains to Planned Unit

Developments (PUDs). Right

now, projects have to go

through a lengthy site-plan

review process before they go

to the township board for

review.

That process often includes

a review of a proposed proj-

ect’s traffic impact and a

review by the drain commis-

sion or a state agency. And

then, the planning commission

has to review the initial site

plan and, later, the final site

plan before it eventually gets

to the township board.

“All of that work could

(cost) tens of thousands of

dollars ... in some cases, hun-

dreds of thousands of dollars

before an applicant even

knows if they’re going to get

an okay for a project,” Jirousek

said.

So, instead, he is recom-

mending that the preliminary

plan for a development project

be reviewed by the planning

commission and then go right

to the township board.

“You’d have an overall idea

of what the project details.

You’d have enough detail to

make a decision from a policy

perspective. And then later, it

comes back, so just the plan-

ning commission has the final

site plan,” Jirousek said.

Giarmo said the public

should be allowed to get

involved in the review process

much sooner than it currently

does on such projects. She cited

the Prairie Wolf Station devel-

opment as a prime example.

“It had been a year that we

had probably been involved

with this before they really got

to see the project,” Giarmo

said.

She estimated American

Kendall probably spent “thou-

sands and thousands of dol-

lars” researching utility needs

for the development before the

public ever got involved.

Instead, she said the public

should be invited to participate

in the process at the time of the

preliminary review.

“Then, it gives us a better

idea of what the community is

thinking, as well,” she said.

Jirousek said the planning

commission could hold a

pre-application listening ses-

sion in the early stages. It

would not be a public hearing.

“So, the public’s involved

from day one. You’re just up

there as a planning commis-

sion hearing the proposal at

the same time as the general

public. You have no obliga-

tion to give any input, but you

can. It would be non-binding,”

Jirousek said.

“I’ve been uncomfortable

with some of the PUDs,” Tim

Haagsma said. He sits on both

the township board and the

planning commission.

“The (developers) come

and do a preliminary (presen-

tation), and we look at it,” he

said. “Then we send it back.

Then they come back. We

send it back (again) and say,

‘Okay. Now let’s schedule a

public hearing.’ And then, by

the time the public gets around,

we’re talking to the developer

like we know this project inti-

mately. And the public’s

going, ‘Wait a minute. We

haven’t even seen it yet, and it

sounds like you’re going to

approve it.’ Well, probably

because we’ve already kicked

the tires and cut out all the

stuff we don’t like. It just feels

uncomfortable.”

Giarmo agreed that getting

the public involved earlier in

the planning process is a good

idea.

“I think it will make us a

little more comfortable as we

move ahead with PUDs,” she

said. “We sometimes hear

from the public about things

we didn’t really know about,

that we didn’t realize were

going on with the site that’s

being looked at.”

ZONING , continued from page 1

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Members of the Gaines Township Board and

Planning Commission held a joint workshop meeting

last Monday evening to discuss plans for a new zon-

ing ordinance. (Photo by James Gemmell)

Additional repair work will keep the Crane Road
bridge over the Thornapple River closed for at least
an additional week. (Photo by Greg Chandler)