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Printer-Friendly ModeKochville rezoning issue comes to vote
Township's future to be decided tomorrow
February 27, 2006 —
Have you wondered where the controversial 13.98 acres of land are? Wonder no longer.
Five years of political tension is coming to a head tomorrow with a Kochville Township-wide referendum on the rezoning of land at the corner of Pierce and Davis roads.
The land in question is 13.98 acres located on the southwest corner of the two roads. The rezoning of the land from single-family residential to mixed-use development was approved by the Kochville Board of Trustees on Sept. 20 amid some residents' objections, and those same residents gathered 260 signatures slightly over one month later to bring the matter to a vote by Kochville residents.
If the rezoning is approved, the developer, Campus Village Communities (which owns the Cardinal Townhomes), and investor John Leuenberger will add a 200-unit extension of the Townhomes along with 10 small businesses.
"It makes all the sense in the world to do this," says Ernie Schaefer, president of Campus Village. "This is a real win for students."
Some of the residents opposing the rezoning have formed Kochville First, an organization aimed at ensuring that "local government is acting in the interests of its constituents." One of the founding members is Stephen J. Yanca, professor of social work at SVSU.
"In our mind, the development is a hair-brained idea," Yanca says.
Yanca is worried about the direction Kochville Township will continue to move in, and argues that the continued expansion of the commercial district into formerly residential or agricultural areas threatens both the livability and the quality of life for residents.
A news release from Kochville First states that the semi-rural aspect of the Township is being threatened and "If we wanted to live in Saginaw Township, we would have moved there," referencing Kochville's heavily suburbanized southern neighbor.
Smart Growth
However, Kenneth P. Bayne, the Township's supervisor, argues that the continued development of Kochville is in line both with the Township's Master Plan and the development ideology "smart growth." At the Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday and in a subsequent interview two days later, Bayne emphasized that Kochville is working within the tenets of smart growth.
"This is the framework from which I have been working since I've been in office," says Bayne, a Republican, who was first elected in 2000 and was re-elected in 2004.
Yanca also addressed smart growth at the meeting, albeit before Bayne had the floor. He chastised the Board for not adhering to smart growth principles.
"What we have is dumb growth," Yanca says. While he feels the Board pays lip service to smart growth principles, Yanca feels it is merely a subterfuge for developers' interests.
"When you have tenets like smart growth, you can fit nearly anything into them," Yanca says.
Bayne lists 10 tenets of smart growth that he adheres to, a list courtesy of the Planning and Zoning Center in Lansing. While the vagueness of the tenets does lend to Yanca's claim, Bayne points to specific examples where Kochville is adhering to the tenets. Of relevance to the referendum is the first tenet, which reads, "Create a range of housing opportunities and choices."
"Part of achieving this is having both single-family and multi-family places to live," Bayne says. "This can only be done through some rezoning."
The area that would be rezoned is within the mixed-use area of the Township's future land use map, which was created along with the Master Plan. The area runs mainly north to south parallel to Bay and Davis roads in between Pierce and Tittabwasse roads. Within it is a proposed extension of Fashion Square Boulevard north to Pierce.
Yanca says having the development at Pierce and Fashion Square would be acceptable.
"If they were building on that site, they would have our full support," Yanca says.
The mixed-use area on the future land use map, however, has a small extension east on Pierce Road to Davis Road, allowing the proposed development to be within Township regulations. Both Yanca and Bayne cite the results of a 2000 Township-wide survey as justification for their respective positions. There were 784 surveys sent throughout the Township, a number that reflected the amount of properties owned at the time. Bayne says 324 of the surveys were returned, a "very strong" return rate of 41.3 percent.
The survey results, which were incorporated into the Master Plan, indicated among other things that 77 percent of Township residents wanted to restrict commercial development "to Bay and Tittabawassee roads and roads directly adjacent to them." Bayne believes this includes the corner of Pierce and Davis roads; Yanca feels this is not the residents' intent.
"Bayne's version of adjacent is any road that crosses Bay Road," Yanca says. "People did not mean anything on Pierce. They meant Bay Road."
The survey was accompanied with three public hearings allowing residents to speak their mind on the direction of Kochville.
"We provided the community four opportunities (to speak)," Bayne says. "We took comments and suggestions, then the committee would deliberate."
Bayne says the "committee" was put together one month before he was elected and was charged with creating the Master Plan and had representation from around the area, including SVSU.
Adherence to the Master Plan from a literalist perspective makes it difficult for the Township to adapt, even if it makes sense, Yanca believes.
"Bayne talks about the Master Plan as if it's some God-like plan," Yanca says. "The Master Plan is not carved in stone."
Special use permits
What is essentially carved in stone, however, is the Township's interim zoning ordinance. In addition to the Master Plan, Bayne and his administration undertook rewriting the ordinance, which had not been touched since 1979. State law says a municipality may have an interim ordinance for up to two years; the interim one in Kochville was approved in September 2004, so the final ordinance will be voted on this September.
What the ordinance states is that property owners have the right to, regardless of what their property is currently zoned as, to obtain special use permits. These permits allow property owners to essentially do what they please with their land as long as the permits are approved by the Kochville Planning Commission. According to the interim zoning ordinance, the Planning Commission is required to hold a public hearing regarding the issue.
Bayne says the requirements to get such a permit are "more stringent," and would be similar to a site plan review except it would require the public hearing. However, he adds, approval of the permit would not have to go through the Board of Trustees.
"The message that seems to be lost in the rezoning is the property owners' rights," Bayne says. "The current owner does not have to rezone."
Bayne adds that a main reason the developers would like to rezone is because it would allow for the proposed combination of businesses and apartments. In the current plan, 10 businesses would be on the first floor of the complex underneath two floors of apartments.
By obtaining the special use permit, the developers would be able to use it to build certain developments. Included among these developments are "Planned Commercial Unit Development." According to Bayne, if the developers were to obtain this special use permit, it would allow them to only build the businesses on the land the permit was obtained for; mixing the businesses with the apartments would not be allowed, hence a "mixed-use" district.
Bayne says if the residents vote down the rezoning, the developers could simply obtain the special use permits necessary. They would obtain two permits: one to build the businesses on one parcel of land, and another to build the extension of the Townhomes.
"As the zoning administrator," Bayne says, "I saw (the land) was mixed-use. From a community representation standpoint, I want to see things stay mixed-use (as opposed to commercial development). They said they want to do what is right for Kochville Township."
Leuenberger acknowledges this as an option.
"We could do (that) and it would be a dead issue," he says. "But we're trying to set a precedent for other developers down the road. It wouldn't be a good idea to not comply with Cardinal Square requirements."
By rezoning the land to mixed-use, Leuenberger says, the Township would have more control. The developers would be required to comply with Cardinal Square guidelines put in place by the zoning ordinance.
"We're trying to work with the Township," Leuenberger insists. "Even if we (obtain the permits), we would still comply with Cardinal Square requirements."
Yanca is unconvinced that development would be allowed to continue if a majority voted to deny rezoning.
"If we win this referendum (tomorrow), we are going to see that the will of the people is followed," Yanca says. "Why don't they just live with the results of the election?"
Yanca says he and other opponents of the rezoning are willing to live with the Township's decision tomorrow. He has said several times the residents would not take legal action if the rezoning is approved.
"If we determine this is a fair election, and a solid majority of people say this is good for Kochville Township, we will live with it," Yanca says.
A lawsuit is also a possibility for Leuenberger. While he says he has not determined whether he will in fact file suit if the rezoning is voted down, he went on record saying he would when the referendum was announced in October.
Leuenberger argues that the Township Board is required by state law to approve potential rezoning if it is within Township guidelines and was earlier recommended by the Planning Commission. Bayne acknowledges this as well.
"We as a Board cannot just deny a rezoning that is in line with the future land use map," he says.
Businesses' success
Yanca is concerned that the development will not have the client base to support the small businesses being proposed. Not only will the businesses struggle during the summer months when few students are in the area, Yanca believes that local residents are not going to intermingle with students half their age.
"There will be businesses that fail here," he says. "People around here are not going to want to hang around with students."
Yanca argues that the main reason he feels the commercial project is doomed to failure is the traffic flow, or lack thereof, on Pierce.
"Excluding Tittabawassee, traffic goes north and south, not east and west," Yanca says.
Yanca feels that the businesses being targeted for tenancy in the proposed commercial development - a coffee shop, pizza parlor, bookstore, and other student-oriented enterprises - are going to have to offer their products at a higher markup to offset the small volume of sales, which will send students and residents alike fleeing for the Bay and Tittabawassee corridor.
"We're trying to save these people from themselves," Yanca says, alluding to the developers. "Once you build this, you can't experiment with it any longer."
Schaefer argues that businesses can and will be successful in the development.
"(The level of success) depends on the kind of businesses," he says. "There is a strong customer base here. Businesses will have to look at what kind of selection and needs the students and community wants. They have to ask what is already available on campus."
Although Yanca believes the businesses will not be of much use to the residents, Schaefer would disagree.
"The development would significantly reduce traffic; this is why mixed-use is becoming more popular," he says, pointing out a major resident concern. "The hope is that there will be some services for the residents."
Impact on SVSU
Without SVSU, of course, this rezoning would not be occurring. However, Bayne argues that Kochville would also not be developing as well as it is without what he calls a "small city."
"We have very unique interests in this community," Bayne explains. "We have SVSU, a strong business district, an agricultural district, and the residents all making up the fabric of the character of Kochville Township."
He adds that SVSU has been just as important to the Township's growth as the other interests.
"SVSU is very successful and brings benefits to the community," he says. "The success of SVSU is important to not only Kochville Township but to the tri-county region. It's one of the bright stars in the region. We've become a place that is one to get a good higher education."
Schaefer agrees. Since Campus Village, which operates apartments on 10 different campuses in Michigan and Ohio, purchased the property on which the Townhomes were located in December 2003, he says, it has been trying to make SVSU look more like a "real college campus."
"The SVSU campus is in the middle of nowhere," he says. "(The development) will bring a flavor of campus that the other state schools have."
He adds that the development will also make SVSU more competitive around the state in attracting students.
Yanca, however, argues this will be a null issue. He points out that the University is not building any more housing, with modest gains or even stagnation in growth expected in upcoming years. A report released by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) predicts an almost 10 percent decrease in Michigan high school population from 2008 - the height of the baby boomlet generation - to 2013.
A glut in students would lead to a glut in student housing occupancy levels, which Yanca believes will force the Townhomes to accept troublesome students that otherwise would have been evicted.
Bayne, however, is more willing to develop with SVSU in mind.
"We would be negligent if we ignored the impact this 'small city' has on our community," he says. "Students are part of our community."
Growth of Kochville
Bayne, who is facing a potential recall along with three other Board members, stresses that before he was elected, a development like this - and many other that have come to Kochville in the last five-plus years - would have never had a chance. While some may believe that is a good thing, he does not.
"The planning of the Township was at the lowest degree before I was elected," he says. "Kochville was a poorly planned community."
Bayne points to several factors to back up his claim. He says that although there were regulations and ordinances in place, they were not up to date, such as the 1979 zoning ordinance, and there was no master plan.
"When a rezoning request came in, it was typically denied because it was termed as 'spot zoning,'" he explains. "Developments were shot down because it was thought of as spot zoning because there was no master plan in place."
Bayne adds that residents "afraid of the unknown" stunted Kochville's growth.
"Previous administrations would scare off developments before they even applied because the residents would not rezone it," he says. "There was very little foresight for the future."
This had a negative effect on Kochville Township, he concludes.
"The 1990s were the strongest decade of development in the state and in the country," he opines. "Kochville Township missed out on that."
In addition, Bayne argues the perception that development in Kochville is out of control. He reemphasizes what Trustee Lynn Kauer pointed out at Tuesday's Board meeting, that the Planning Commission approved eight developments in 2005, and that only three had started any kind of work on fulfilling those development requests. Several of them, he said, had been cancelled.
Bayne also looks back to 2001 to attempt to shed the misconception. He estimates that since then, there have been 49 approved new developments or redevelopments. Most of these, he says, have been reinvestments in existing developments.
"There is a very proportionate relationship between the two," he argues. "So the perception that Kochville is out of control in development is actually a misperception."
As much as Yanca believes the developers are destroying the social fabric of Kochville Township, he also holds one person responsible for undermining the will of residents: Bayne.
"He will tell you anything that suits his purpose," Yanca says.
Yanca says it is his arguments listed above, as well as a culture of secrecy at the Township Hall, that is leading him to not only oppose the referendum, but to try and recall Bayne and the other members of the Board.
Bayne concludes that not having the proper planning in place would have been unfair to Kochville Township.
"We are located in one of the counties where developers feel that the synergy is here to have successful businesses," he says. "We could have sat back and done nothing. Growth would have continued, but it would have been less acceptable than the Township is entitled to."
Paul White also contributed this to story.