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Planning Commission
1. Meeting called to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag 3. Roll
call: Present: Short, D.Boulier, MBoulier, Cataldo, Cunningham,
Dembinski 4. Approval of Agenda – Amend agenda to add Bill Karas/St. Clair Little League. Motion by Cataldo to approve amended agenda. Seconded by Boulier. Motion carried unanimously. 5. Motion by Boulier to accept minutes as presented. Seconded by Cunningham. Motion carried unanimously. 6. Brief Public Comment – Howard Silk – Interaction was positive, very good guy. 7. Correspondence/Communication:
MTA Magazine 8. New Business: 8a. Land Spit – William/Judy Webb, Serenity Lane – Frank spoke to Mrs. Webb. House will remain on five acres and sell and will keep additional five acres for now. They will be moving out of state. Both parcels meet current requirement for parcels. Motion by Dembinski to approve land split on Serenity Lane for William and Judy Webb. Seconded by Cataldo. Motion carried unanimously. 8b. Pine/Rec Initiative – Vince presented a plan to make the river available for canoe access points. St. Clair County is donating an accessible floating canoe launch, this launch costs approximately $25,000 new. We would have to commit to a building a barrier-free launch to the river from our drive in the park on Neuman Rd. People would rent the canoes in the city and end up back there. Along the way we would like to have recreation points, places to pull over and rest. St. Clair County would promote the launch, provide any technical upgrades to the launch. They are looking for St. Clair Township to provide the site, provide a safe rope for the first year and provide ADA access the second year, maintain the site, clean it, remove it in the winter, secure the launch so it does not go downstream, we cannot charge for it. We will need to provide an insurance policy for the area and recognize that St. Clair County Parks and Recreation contributed to it. There is an additional approx $3500 available in grant funding. St. Clair County received a state grant to fund a website to inform people about the recreation in the area. The river is an asset to our community and I think we should take better advantage of it. Short – what is the plan to go from here? Cataldo – When I was reviewing the recreation plan and a couple of things came up that were to be accomplished in 2010, 1) Construct an ADA restroom at Meiselbach Park 2) General Maintenance 3) Develop new access point at Meiselbach Park 3) Develop a Steering Committee for Joint Parks and Recreation Commission. This is in the best interest of both the City and the Township. If the Township sends a letter of intent to St. Clair County we should get the launch and the $3500. We could make a recommendation to the board to go ahead with this project and they would have to write the letter of intent. Motion by Cataldo to take the concept of the canoe launch to the Township Board at the next meeting. Seconded by Cunningham. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by Cunningham to name the new launch site after Howard Silk. Seconded by Dembinski. Motion carried unanimously. 8c. St. Clair Little League – Bill Karas stated the Little League has the opportunity to get some millings and some concrete to increase the parking area. They are working on St. Clair Highway. We are short of parking right now. We want to increase the parking by about 120 spaces. Brian Bayly stated they have to amend the 2006 plan and that is why they are before the Planning Commission. The engineer is working on the revised plan, but this came up and we would like the approval so we can get the millings. We are having a wood bat tournament next weekend and it involves 30 teams and we could use the additional parking. We have a donation from Cargill Salt Company of $48.000 and we will be developing another area. We will be meeting this week to discuss the concession and restroom areas to get those finalized. Motion by Cataldo to approve the amendment to the plan for the additional parking. Seconded by Dembinski. Motion carried unanimously. 9. Old Business: Private Road Ordinance – I took the old ordinance and meshed it with the new ordinance with the maintenance agreement. One ordinance has our maintenance agreement attached and the other one states they provide a joint agreement with an option that if the road is not maintained then St. Clair Township has the option to maintain the road and charge the property owners. The attorney recommended that the maintenance agreement be provided by the property owners and we provide standards that the road is to be built. Cataldo – the difference is the maintenance agreement. Whether we want to have a standard agreement that everyone abides by or they draw up their own agreement and have the attorney review each one. What is the consensus of the Township Board regarding private roads? William Karas, Trustee – My feeling is they felt it was too expensive to construct a paved road to the county standards. Initially they thought this would control growth, but made it too expensive for anyone to construct a road. Cataldo – are there other obstacles that we need to eliminate. Karas – I think the biggest obstacle was the paving. We should add to the maintenance agreement how to proportion the cost to maintain the road. Cunningham – should a copy of the maintenance agreement be registered at the St. Clair County Register of Deeds so that new ownership of property are made aware of the restrictions? Can we add that in addition to recordable form at St. Clair County Register of Deeds. Consensus is as long as it is stated that it has to be recorded at the county and reviewed by the Township attorney prior to approval of the road. Cunningham – will we have the local fire department review the plan for a private road. Short – That is normal procedure to have the utilities review the plan. Brian Bayly to make changes as discussed. Motion by M. Boulier to recommend to the Township Board to approve the Private Road Ordinance with changes. Seconded by Dembinski. Motion carried unanimously. Motion by M. Boulier to rescind motion to recommend the Private Road Ordinance. Motion carried unanimously. Brian Bayly to make changes and bring back to Planning Commission at next meeting. 10. Call from the Floor: J. Leaman - Wind energy conversion ordinance – the current ordinance is more for a large commercial units, is there any consideration to change the ordinance for smaller residential units? Cunningham – I have attended seminars on these units. There are concerns that should be considered, noise, setback requirements. It was suggested that as technology advances we address these units in the ordinance. Brian Bayly will bring Ira Township ordinance to next meeting. 11. Reports: Township Board – Wm. Karas – M-29 watermain replacement bids to be opened tomorrow, applied for a grant for River Road bike path, gravel on North/South Roads, ditching projects, BZA – No Meetings 12. Call from the Table: Cataldo- I spoke with Township officials regarding the memorial for Howard. They are going to buy a tree and a plaque in his memory. Does anyone have any further information regarding the tree? Karas - I believe they are going to take donations then purchase a tree. Cunningham – Brian, is there any further information on the gas station? Brian – I got the address and found out there is already an EPA report on the property. Next meeting June 10th, 7:oo p.m. Meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
Respectively submitted,
Mike Boulier
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