SN 11-20-2021

The Sun and News, Saturday, November 20, 2021/ Page 7

Two drive-thrus have one big problem: Not enough space

Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
Caledonia Township plan-
ners are being asked to approve
a new 3,500-square-foot com-
mercial building with two
drive-thru windows north of
the Culver’s restaurant that is
currently under construction
on Broadmoor Avenue/M-
near 68th Street.
However, some local offi-
cials say there’s one big prob-
lem with the proposal: The
current size of the lot doesn’t
meet township standards for a
project of this kind.
The planning commission
Monday tabled the site plan
and special land use request
from Michael Brann for the
proposed development at 6675
Broadmoor Ave. SE.
Brann also is part of the
ownership group for the
Culver’s that is under con-
struction at 6697 Broadmoor
and was approved by the
township earlier this year.
The proposed building
would house three tenants, but
no specific tenants have been
identified yet. The property
would have two drive-thru
lanes, with one drive-through
window on the north side of
the building and a second on
the south, according to plans
outlined by Jeff Brinks of
Venture Engineering, who rep-
resents the developer.
At issue with the planning
commission is the size of the
lot.
The lot is 1.66 acres, while
the township zoning ordinance
requires lots in highway-com-
mercial zoned areas to be at
least 2 acres.
“The parcel, as it exists now,
is the way it was purchased. No
property line adjustments or
land divisions or lot combina-
tions or anything were done to
it,” Brinks said. “Mr. Brann
purchased the property at the
size that it is.”
In its present form, Brann
would have to get a variance

from the township Zoning

Board of Appeals because of

the current lot size, Township

Planner Lynee Wells said.

Planning commission

Chairman Doug Curtis agreed.

“The rules are clear. The

highway commercial

[requires] 2 acres. We can’t

change that with a ... special

land use,” Curtis said.

Commissioners spent a

good chunk of time discussing

how cars would be stacked at

the two drive-thru windows.

Commissioner Jodie

Masefield spoke about the dif-

ferences between a food-based

drive-thru and other uses of

drive-thrus, and how they

might affect vehicle traffic that

use them.

“To me, two food ...

drive-thru windows are very

different than potentially a dry

cleaner and a food [drive-thru]

or even potentially a pharmacy

or other [use],” Masefield

said. “Part of it [is] recogniz-

ing you don’t have control

over who your tenants are, and

I think, for our purposes, we

have to look at ... worst-case

potential scenarios of car

stack-ups and people waiting.”

Masefield called the pro-

posal for two drive-thru win-

dows “a precedent-setter.”

Commissioner Carol

VanLaan raised a similar con-

cern, pointing to traffic at

Biggby Coffee’s Caledonia

location off 100th Street.

“I was just shocked where

the line would be [out onto

100th]. This has the potential

to happen here and wind up on

M-37,” VanLaan said. “This is

my concern. I do not like the

way that sits, and to have two

drive-thrus. I can see the con-

fusion ... and upset people

getting out of line because

they’re not going to wait.”

Brann pointed out that the

double drive-thru window con-

cept recently gained approval

in the city of Newaygo.

He added that a service

drive approved by the

Michigan Department of

Transportation off Broadmoor

• which will also serve the
  Culver’s restaurant and a
  potential commercial develop-
  ment to the north – should
  alleviate the potential problem
  of traffic backups.
  The motion to table by
  Commissioner Stan Bosscher
  was approved unanimously.

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This week we celebrate the
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National Rural Health Day
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These are great places to
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“It is the season of
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Douglas Smendik, MD,

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recruiting additional provid-

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Enrollment drop means $1.

million loss for Caledonia

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

A decline in enrollment for

Caledonia Community

Schools is expected to result in

a $1.4 million hit to the dis-

trict’s budget for the 2021-

school year.

Finance Director Sara

DeVries updated the school

board on the district’s enroll-

ment and budget Monday

night.

DeVries reported that

Caledonia’s enrollment on

count day was 4,616 students.

Adding in full-time equiva-

lents from shared-time pro-

gramming where Caledonia

teachers provide instruction

to non-district students, the

final enrollment came in at

4,858 students – 49 fewer

than the previous year,

DeVries said.

“We partner with some of

the local non-public schools

to provide instruction in

some of the non-core areas

such as [physical education],

music, art and Spanish,”

DeVries wrote in an email to

the Sun and News. “We are

able to pay for these teachers

for these specific classes

which is a benefit to those

schools and we are able to

collect the portion of time

the students are in these

classes.

“We also provide services

in our Early Childhood Center

where we service students for

portions of the day or week

that also get included in our

overall FTE,” DeVries added.

In the 2020-21 academic

year, Caledonia had 4,697 stu-

dents on count day, plus the

equivalent of another 210 full-

time students that took shared-

time instruction for a final

count of 4,907.

“When we adopted the bud-

get back in June, we were

assuming in that budget we

would see about 50 students

returning to us,” DeVries said

at Monday’s board meeting.

Under the budget adopted

in June, CCS predicted reve-

nues of about $58.7 million

and expenditures of about

$60.6 million, projecting a

shortfall of $1.89 million. But

the district had entered the

2021-22 fiscal year with gen-

eral fund reserves of more

than $9.17 million.

The district saw steady

enrollment increases from

2014 to 2017, followed by

relatively flat enrollment in

2017 to 2019. Then the district

experienced an enrollment

loss of 152 students during the

2020-21 year, DeVries said.

No decisions have been

made as far as any potential

cost-cutting moves resulting

from the loss.

DeVries said she will pres-

ent proposed budget amend-

ments in January.

See SPECTRUM, page 5