Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModeRezoning encounters opposition
August 25, 2005 —
Nearly 25 Kochville Township residents along with various business and area leaders attended a recent Township conceptual plan meeting to discuss the logistics of rezoning additional land off Pierce and Davis roads.
However, Township resident anger was palpable, with most residents in attendance objecting to the rezoning of land. Many Township residents cited various complaints such as the potential depreciation of home and property values, an increase in congestion and traffic flow on already crowded streets, and dissatisfaction with students moving out off campus into the community. Many residents believed this would cause more harm than good to both SVSU and Kochville Township.
The land in question lies adjacent to the current Cardinal Townhomes, which is owned and operated by Campus Village. And while previous construction by Campus Village has focused solely on bringing multi-family units to the community, any new construction would add a new dimension to the campus.
This is because the proposed rezoning of land would change from R-1 (single-family residential), to mixed-use. Mixed-use rezoning would add both apartments as well as a series of shops and businesses within walking distance from campus.
While Campus Village's developer, Ernest D. Schaefer, believes the rezoning would give SVSU a more "traditional" campus feel, he said he also believes that new development will be a boon to the community, with sidewalks, landscaping, and a more close-knit feel. Campus Village developed much of the proposal along with SVSU, and he argued that the new loft-style apartments would appeal to young faculty members as well as students.
For students, the opportunity of having shops within a feasible walking distance would be a new development, and could reduce their driving a couple miles down to the Bay and Tittabawassee corridor.
With two entrances to the new development, one off Pierce Road, and another roughly 500 feet north on Davis, there will be easy access to the site.
But many residents view this rezoning as an encroachment on their property rights, and they believe this will cause more problems for Kochville Township then it will alleviate.
While most residents acknowledged that there is a housing shortage for students, most also objected to placing off-campus housing at the proposed site.
Many residents questioned why SVSU simply couldn't build more housing if there was such a high demand for housing. Keeping students on campus, they believe, will reduce drinking and other nuisances associated with having a larger off-campus community.
Other Kochville residents proposed an array of potential sites, including across from SVSU off Bay Road, and at an empty parcel of land near Fashion Square Boulevard.
Schaefer responded by saying many of these options have been explored, and the land was either not for sale or not available at a reasonable price.
Another common complaint was that the proposed rezoning (and eventual development) would further deteriorate Davis Road, which is already in bad condition. Yet Schaefer countered these arguments by saying that keeping housing close to campus will reduce traffic, rather than having many students commute from apartment complexes in Saginaw and Saginaw Township, where most of the potential rental pool is forced to reside now, because of a paucity of close housing options.
Among the most vocal of opponents to the proposed rezoning is Stephen J. Yanca, professor of Social Work at SVSU and a Kochville Township resident near the proposed development.
Yanca struck a theme common with his neighbors at the conceptual plan meeting.
"We don't want a student ghetto in our backyards and front yards," Yanca stated at the meeting.
Not all residents were opposed to rezoning the land mixed-use. One resident said he felt sorry for the Township residents who lived near the original Cardinal Townhomes, but another resident quickly countered this, saying the four homeowners just referred to were actually in support of the rezoning.
A few other residents offered support for the rezoning, but often their voices were drowned out by angry feedback of the dissenting residents.
This meeting did not establish anything resolute; it simply provided a forum for Schaefer to present his proposal, and for residents to provide input.
It is, however, a step in the process of either rezoning the land mixed-use, or keeping it single-family residential.
At the next planning commission meeting, the commission will vote on whether to recommend the rezoning for approval or denial, where it will then move to the Saginaw County Metropolitan Planning Commission for review.
The Metropolitan Planning Commission will forward their recommendation to the Kochville Township Board, which will take in the opinions of the two planning commissions, and ultimately make a decision whether to rezone the land mixed-use.
The Kochville Township Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 12, at 7:00 p.m. at the Township Hall, located at 5851 Mackinaw Road. It will be open to the public.