LiveMeetingMinutes for the March 4, 2015 PC meeting. 

March 4 Clickable Video Highlights:

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If you insist on watching the meeting the old fashioned way, click here to watch on Livestream

As usual, the discussion centered on the Master Plan.  Several Commissioners are denying that the current push toward remastering and rezoning have anything to do with Biltmore.  At this meeting, Commissioner Cousino called them on this.

Township Manager Fink revealed the existence of "back of the envelope calculations" showing no need to run the Biltmore waste through existing lines, particularly those of the North Territorial special assessment district.  He did this before the public discovered how little anyone knew about the state of Northfield Township's Wastewater Treatment System.

To those wondering why Biltmore came sniffing around when it did, Fink offered a clue in his mention of conversations with "commercial [real estate] brokers."

Chairperson Chockley released the results of the poll asking PC members their preferred priorities for the coming year.

Commissioner Cousino asked an interesting question.  The Ann Arbor School District has opened up a large number of School of Choice slots.  Does this increase the attractiveness of non-AAPS district housing?

The usual suspects again advocated fact free planning.  Other commissioners objected.  Sewer systems and road capacities do matter.  On that subject, some commissioners expressed an interest in seeing an existing traffic study.  This is the traffic analysis submitted five months ago for the proposed Nowatzke Truck & Trailer Fuel station.  This study was included in the September 23, 2014 B.o.T. meeting packet.  According to the study, the North Territorial Road & Whitmore Lake Road intersection is rated at LOS (level of service) E and F during peak traffic hours.  That's as bad as it gets. 

If you paid attention during the MDOT/US-23 meetings, you'd have heard MDOT say that this intersection wasn't their responsibility.  Here is the MDOT right-of-way map documenting that fact.   The MDOT maps for the entire US-23 corridor through Northfield Township are downloadable here.

Commissioner Stanalajczo again argued that planners should be planning for twenty years in the future.  This was despite the fact that he's loudly declared that the Master Plan he helped create only two years ago was already a fail.  He'd served on both the Planning Commission and the Board when that plan was created and approved.  If you can't plan two years down the road, why would you expect us to believe you can plan for twenty years ahead?

Township Planner Lewan gave a presentation showing the density of housing enabled by our current zoning, including density bonuses.  It's on the Livestream video now; I will capture the drawings in a later report.

Planner Lewan and our Township manager both made the case for a scientific survey of Township residents before changing the two year old Master Plan.  Commissioner Stanalajczo argued that, given a survey, there would be no need for public input into this year's version.  His idea is that the public input from 2012's Master Planning process should be recycled. Click here to watch a 1.5 minute Youtube video clip of Stanalajczo saying it.  What do you think?

Again, several commissioners expressed an interest in reading traffic studies for the Territorial Road/Whitmore Lake Road intersection and area.  The study prepared for the Nowatzke application and delivered to the Board of Trustees in September, 2014, is readable online here and may be downloaded, from here, as a pdf.

Lisa Lemble's Meeting Minutes are below:  The Livestream is here.

 

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