http://www.sunandnews.com Saturday, October 12, 2024 3
DUTTON
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applied earlier this year to have the land
rezoned to a Planned Unit Development,
so the developer would have more flex-
ibility in laying the properties out. A
western corner of the PUD covers a sec-
tion that was zoned Office-Service and
would be rezoned to Village Center.
Phase 1 of the five-phase project
calls for townhouses and veranda-style
homes to be built under a single owner-
ship and management.
“The new development will provide
much-needed housing and retail oppor-
tunities for small businesses serving
the community,” Gaines Community
Development Director Dan Wells said.
The original project design was
presented to the planning commis-
sion in March, but Larabel was told
by commissioners that it needed
more public park space amenities. An
updated design was submitted this
past summer for Phases 1 and 2 that
was based on that input from commis-
sioners. It includes plans for a nearly
6,000-square-foot dog park, a 60-foot-
by-105-foot concrete sport court for
basketball and pickleball, a pavilion
with picnic tables, a paved pedestrian
path, and a tot lot playground area for
children ages 2-5. Plans also call for a
water fountain to be installed as part of
a stormwater detention plan.
There is an extra 1.5 acres of open
space in the Thornapple Farms plat to the
south, which connects to Shadyside Park.
The PUD potentially could be con-
nected to a marked bike path or trail
that could connect to Shadyside Park
and the Paul Henry Thornapple Trail.
Phases 3 through 5 are only in the
conceptual stage at this point. Because
Allen Edwin Homes is a residential
builder, the developer may partner with
another company to build the apartment
and commercial areas.
The Dutton Center would indirectly
tie into an adjacent future subdivision
called Thornapple Farms which was
approved last by the township and is
being built immediately north of Dutton
Shadyside Park.
Wells noted that it will complement
the Thornapple Farms neighborhood to
the south.
“It reinforces Dutton as a historic cen-
ter of commerce and provides a variety
of housing for new and current town-
ship residents,” he said.
The village-center concept is designed
to create a mix of commercial and
residential buildings that accommodate
pedestrians in the neighborhood.
“(It) creates a safe, walkable corridor
for residents to get to the businesses,”
Wells said.
In regard to vehicular movement,
some citizens expressed concern at
earlier township meetings about traffic
safety. Jim Blehm cited heavy traffic
from the nearby Amazon Fulfillment
Center on 68th Street, which narrows
from two lanes to one in each direction.
In August, the planning commis-
sion voted 7-0 in support of a resolu-121 E. Main Street
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rbyogastudios.comGreg Chandler
Staff Writer
A new preschool and day care facil-
ity could soon be coming to Caledonia
Township.
The township Planning Commission
Monday voted 6-0 to recommend approv-
al of a conditional rezoning for a 2-acre
site at 8546 Whitneyville Ave. SE from
rural residential to neighborhood business
district. The Township Board must still
sign off on the new zoning designation.
The new preschool and day care center,
to be known as Horizon Learning Center,
could serve as many as 90 children. The
school would use an existing building
that was once part of Whitneyville Bible
Church, which is located nearby.
“It was formerly a church building and
historically there has been a day care,”
Township Planner Lynee Wells said.
“However, over time, circumstances
have changed on that property, and it
necessitates a zoning approval process
because it is not a permitted use in the
(rural residential zoning) district.”
Wells and township Building and
Zoning Administrator Lois Dekens
researched the history of the property and
how it has been used over the years.
“There was a day care, a home-based
day care operating because there was a
residential component (to the property),”
Wells said. “Over the years, that parcel
has been divided and that house (is) sepa-
rate now from the former church prop-
erty ... The path forward is a conditional
rezoning.”
The site offers ample parking and plen-
ty of room for outdoor play, Wells said.
“It represents an important reuse of a
building that’s been in the township formany years,” she said.
Day care facilities and preschools are
a permitted land use under Caledonia
Township’s neighborhood commercial
zoning designation. However, a condi-
tional rezoning to that designation would
limit use of the site only to a day care or
preschool, Wells said.
“No other use in (that district) would
be permitted unless they amend their
conditional rezoning,” Wells said.
If the property was no longer used as a
preschool or day care, it could be grouped
with other nearby parcels for a larger
residential development, but that property
would have to be rezoned back to the
rural residential designation, Wells said.
Commissioner Jodie Masefield raised
a question about the conditional rezoning
request since it represents an apparent
departure from the township master plan,which shows the property retaining its
rural residential zoning in the future.
“The conditional rezoning is an
important tool that the state of Michigan
allows. I think they recognize sometimes
that there’s unique circumstances, there’s
times when you have existing develop-
ment, existing buildings, or unique areas
of a community where perhaps that
future plan doesn’t comport with what’s
around it,” Wells said.
The preschool and day care would be
owned by Brandy Murray, who has owned
the Horizon Daycare Center in Ionia since- Kayla Hall would be the director of
the Caledonia Township location. If the
Township Board approves the conditional
rezoning, Murray hopes to open the new
facility before the end of the year.
Planning Commission Chairman Doug
Curtis was absent for the vote.
Preschool, day care proposed in Caledonia Twp.
tion approving the project, if all of the
standard conditions are met, such as
fire safety, environmental and traffic.
A center left-turn lane will be added
on Hanna Lake Avenue and streetlight
sequencing will be installed at the
Hanna Lake/68th Street intersection.
In the Dutton Center’s first phase,
there would be 14 veranda homes and
48 four-unit and two-unit attached town-
homes. Phase 2 calls for 51 detached
homes with minimum lot sizes of 5,
square feet. Phase 3 calls for 120 multi-
ple-family apartment units, which would
consist of 10 buildings with 12 units
each. Phase 4 envisions two, 2-story
15,400-square-foot buildings along
Hanna Lake Avenue that would include
commercial, residential and office build-
ings. Phase 5 would have two, one-story
commercial buildings of 6,350 square
feet along 68th Street.“The proposed Dutton Center project
is the fulfillment of a vision that has
been desired by the township for over
a decade,” Wells said. “The concept
for new development in Dutton was
envisioned in 2008 during a Master
Plan public input process, and with
the growth of the township it is finally
coming to fruition.”
A separate, unrelated project is also
one step from final approval in Dutton.
The Gaines planning commission voted
6-1 at its Sept. 26 meeting to recom-
mend the township board approve a
PUD amendment for the Marathon gas
station at 3495 68th St.
Adam Bryant with Irish Design &
Building requested approval to build a
1,400-square-foot addition for a refriger-
ated walk-in cooler. The township board
will reconsider that request after a public
hearing at Monday night’s meeting.