The Clark Township Planning Commission wants to rezone 11 properties west of downtown Cedarville from residential to commercial. The motion to rezone came at the end of the Tuesday, November 10, commission meeting after the commission tabled an improperly worded request from Cedar Cove Assisted Living facility to put in a driveway on one of those residential lots. The request was tabled because it failed to notify the public that the property would need to be rezoned commercial.

The commission wants to rezone all residential properties from the north side of Mary L Street south to Pearson Creek, and from Meridian Road west to the edge of existing commercial properties, near where Cedar Cove sits. Commissioner Gary Wellnitz made the motion to rezone the 11 properties to keep in line with the future land use map in the township master plan, which outlines that area to be zoned as commercial at some point. A public hearing on the rezoning will be held during the commission's Tuesday, December 8, meeting.

The assisted living facility applied to build a driveway at 83 Weston Avenue connecting to its facility on Mary L Street. Cedar Cove wants to demolish the vacant home on the property to make a second entrance to its facility. The request was tabled because public notices posted in town and in the October 22 edition of The St. Ignace News failed to state that the lot would need to be rezoned commercial.

"The case was not notified as we would normally notify a zoning change. It was left out of the notice that there would be a possible change of zone from residential to commercial," Township Clerk Mike Miller said. "I believe we did notice it within reason. That isn't usually the way we notify rezoning; the rezoning itself was left out of it. It basically was a slip through the cracks."

Cedarville resident Linda Hudson, who lives next to the property targeted for a driveway, opposed Cedar Cove's request. She objected that the request violates the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act. A properly posted rezoning request, she said, would have also attracted a larger audience to the meeting, and more public discussion. About 12 people attended Tuesday's meeting.

The property would need to be rezoned because a driveway is not an acceptable use for a residential property. The commission agreed with Mrs. Hudson and said the notice should properly outline exactly what is requested by the assisted living facility.

"I think we should do it the proper way. There's a chain of events that needs to be taking place here," Commissioner Steve Honnila said.

Owners of properties within 300 feet of a property being looked at for rezoning are required to be notified of the possible rezoning, and a public notice also needs to be published in the newspaper of record at least 15 days prior to the meeting.

Commissioner Wellnitz said the commission is being proactive in rezoning the entire area commercial.

"We're going to do one lot right here, and maybe another year or two down the road we might want to do these lots, too. If this is what the master plan is calling for in that area, it would completely sew up that whole thing as commercial," he said. "This is one little block with commercial all around it in the master plan. This is what is projected to happen."

Commission Chair Jeff Davis added: "Basically we're shooting for everything that's not commercial in there now. It makes sense because everything south of it is commercial [Taylor Lumber] and east of it is commercial" [First National Bank of St. Ignace and Reichlin Painting].

ZBA liaison appointed

Commissioner John Grenier volunteered to replace outgoing Commissioner Joe Eger as the planning commission's liaison to the Clark Township Zoning Board of Appeals. Mr. Eger resigned from the commission in October to move south for the winter. Cedarville resident Bob Dunn was appointed as his replacement on the planning commission. Tuesday's meeting was Mr. Dunn's first meeting on the commission.