Page 8/The Sun and News, Saturday, November 20, 2021Sign prohibition struck down in Caledonia Township
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
The Caledonia Township
board Monday removed a
provision from an update to
the township’s zoning ordi-
nance regulating architectur-
al standards for multi-family
and commercial buildings.
The board unanimously
struck down a proposed stan-
dard that would have prohib-
ited signage in windows of
storefronts in new commer-
cial buildings.
“In my opinion, that’s not an
architectural standard. That’s a
sign regulation,” Township
Treasurer/Administrator
Richard Robertson said.
Robertson said he and
Lois Dekens, township
building and zoning adminis-
trator, visited businesses
along Cherry Valley Avenue
a few weeks ago, and “virtu-
ally every retail business
along our corridor has win-dow signage.”
“That window signage can
be as anything as innocuous
as open and closed, hours of
operation, no shirt, no shoes,
no service to these gargantu-
an signs that we see at Auto
Zone and Wendy’s,”
Robertson said.
“The concern I have is that
we’re prohibiting all of that ...
in these new buildings. I per-
sonally think that’s something
we need to be looking at, and itshould be looked at in the con-
text of the sign ordinance,
which doesn’t even define the
word ‘window sign’ and
doesn’t give any kind of param-
eters of what those window
signs should be or what limita-
tions there can be on them, as
other townships have.”
Township Supervisor
Bryan Harrison agreed with
Robertson.
“I’d be comfortable hav-
ing that decision on signs on
windows as part of an
amendment to the sign ordi-
nance,” Harrison said.
The township planning
commission earlier this
month voted to recommend
approval of the architectural
standards, which also call for
at least 75 percent of all
walls in new commercial
buildings to be comprised of
brick, wood, Hardie board,
native stone and tinted or
textured concrete masonry.
In addition, the standards
also call for 75 percent of all
four sides of multi-familybuildings, including townho-
mes and duplexes, to use
masonry as the predominant
exterior building material.
Other materials that could be
used include stucco, fiber/
cement siding, decorative rock
or stone, or brick, according to
township documents.
Robertson sounded a note
of concern about the residen-
tial architectural standards,
saying that the current Cherry
Valley Meadows condomini-
ums would not have met
those standards, and that the
proposed rules may reduce
access to affordable housing.
“My concern is that as we
layer on these responsibili-
ties, we’re building up the
cost, and we’re limiting the
availability of these dwell-
ings to a smaller segment of
people,” Robertson said.
Trustee Tim Bradshaw,
who is the township board’s
representative on the plan-
ning commission, said he
struggled with some of the
ordinance language but ulti-mately voted in favor of rec-
ommending the standards to
the board.
“I do think that the
improved materials are
important, but there’s defi-
nitely a cost to that. It takes
affordable housing and
makes it a little bit less
affordable,” Bradshaw said.
“Whether that’s 1 or 2 per-
cent or 10 percent, I don’t
know. I’m not into that mar-
ket enough. There definitely
is a change there.”
Harrison spoke out in
favor of the standards.
“By having higher material
[standards], I’d argue you’d
have less maintenance
involved, and therefore prop-
erties are likely to maintain
their appearance. There’s
some benefit to that,” he said.
The proposed standards
are expected to come back
for a second and final read-
ing at the board’s next meet-
ing at 7 p.m. Wednesday,
Dec. 1, at the township hall,
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press release.Caledonia Township OKs multimillion-dollar budgets for 2022
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
The Caledonia Township
board Wednesday adopted a
$2.65 million general fund
budget and a $1.57 million
emergency services fund
budget for next year.
No comments were made
during a public hearing prior
to the budget adoption.
One of the biggest line
items in the general fund bud-
get is in parks and recreation,
with nearly $1.12 million in
expenditures planned. That
includes $350,000 toward the
addition of a splash pad at the
Community Green park,
another $150,000 toward con-
struction of a service building
at the same park, $134,200 to
match a Michigan Natural
Resources Trust Fund grant
for acquisition of land for the
Riverbend Greenspace proj-
ect and $106,300 for acquisi-
tion of land for the ThornappleRiver Trail, according to the
budget document.
About $205,000 is planned
to be spent on road repair and
maintenance, $151,500 is
planned to be spent on ceme-
teries, and more than
$118,000 is planned to be
spent on the township hall.
The latter amount includes
$50,000 for replacing a gen-
erator and $25,000 for a new
storage closet, according to
the budget document.The township is expected to
receive $1.1 million in reve-
nue sharing from the state –
and nearly $694,000 in federal
funding through the American
Rescue Plan Act, according to
the budget document.
The new general fund
budget projects a surplus of
more than $102,000, accord-
ing to the budget document.
The emergency services
fund budget calls for nearly
$1.19 million in funding forthe Caledonia Fire Department
and $380,000 for contracted
law enforcement with the Kent
County Sheriff’s Department.
That law enforcement amount
is up $15,000 from this year’s
contracted amount, according
to the budget document.
The emergency services
fund is paid for by a dedicated
township law enforcement and
fire department tax levy.
Because of the Headlee roll-
back, that tax next year will be1.9388 mills, a reduction from
this year’s levy of 1.9594 mills.
The township’s operating
millage also is being rolled
back because of the Headlee
amendment, from 0.
mills to 0.6713 mills.
The voted library millage,
which supports the Kent
District Library Caledonia
branch, is being reduced
from 0.1922 mills to 0.
mills, according to township
documents.