By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
An addition to True's Towing and Recovery, a fence issue at Green Brothers' Division Tire and Battery Co., a lot split and a limited site plan for storage, screening and parking for Fortuna Excavating in the industrial park all won approval from Dowagiac Planning Commission Tuesday night.
City Building Official James Bradford asked planners to weigh in on a complaint his office received regarding removal of a six-foot wooden fence along the east side of Division Tire.
Owner Steve Green took down the deteriorated fence, which a neighbor complained about because the storage area was no longer concealed, the parking area was no longer contained and the resulting openness contributed to a higher noise level.
"In defense of (Green), he thought he was doing a good job. He took the fence down because it was falling down," Bradford said.
But, Bradford learned, similar complaints in June 1984 prompted the city Planning Commission to require the business, then under different ownership at 313 E. Division St., to submit a site plan specifying parking, screening and green space.
That action 22 years ago required that: all parking for the business be maintained on the paved parking area; a six-foot fence be installed on the east side of the paved parking area for screening; and a green space be provided east of the fence to the existing walk of the home at 315 E. Division St.
Green now owns this adjacent rental property and inquired if he must still maintain the 1984 site requirements and, if so, if the fencing could be moved to the east side of the rental property.
At some point in the future Green is considering creating a complex with the house converted to office space.
"There is some concern in reviewing the records," Bradford wrote in an Aug. 22 memo to the Planning Commission, "that parking may become a problem should this occur and could result in the loss of the green space required by the Planning Commission. It may also allow additional parking of vehicles in the front yard of 315 E. Division without any control of location.
"One option may be to maintain the 1984 site requirements as approved," Bradford wrote. "The new owner could then install a second fence adjacent to 315 E. Division St., should he wish to utilize this structure as an office at a future time," which would require additional paving.
Planners approved of Green replacing the wooden fencing with metal fencing as long as it contains slats to obscure the view.
"As long as it's opaque and separates the uses," City Manager Bill Nelson said.
"I told him I didn't think the Planning Commission would revoke something a prior Planning Commission put in place," Bradford said. "It's the same use and the same issue. I'm asking your guidance because I don't know how to resolve this. My input was to put the fence back where it was. If he wants to put another fence after that becomes an office, certainly he would have that right, then deal with the asphalt parking if it's for more than four spaces. But if he changed that green space, I think he would have to come back to this body to alter it from the 1984 requirements this Planning Commission set."
Mayor Donald Lyons agreed: "My personal preference would be to see the fence go back up where it was. If he was going to take the rental property and turn it into an office and make that his business complex, that's one matter, but if it's going to continue to be a residential building, I think we need a screen."
True's, 725 N. Front St., will be constructing a 28-foot by 70-foot pole building on the south side of its existing structure for additional storage for the wrecker business, including indoor storage of impounded vehicles.
"They've got a pretty substantial parking lot there as it is," Bradford said. "There's no additional parking required."
In the lot split, Douglas and Ernestine Matthews, 712 N. Front St., requested a lot split of 714 and 716 N. Front St. for Living Alternatives for the Developmentally Disabled (LADD) Inc. of Clarkston and its proposed office space and recreation building.
LADD, for which First Ward City Councilwoman Donna O'Konski is a manager, already operates an adult foster care home on Dowagiac's north side, Bradford noted.
"We're basically maintaining it just like we did with (a former proposal for a) funeral home, so that there will be access to both sides. Both lots, after the sale, remain buildable. As such, we recommend approval," Bradford said.
An easement runs along vacated Sunset Drive, where there is also a state highway drain. Besides M-51 North, there would be access from McOmber, off Sheldon Street, Bradford said.
Joseph and Cheryl Fortuna of Fortuna Excavating Inc., 28963 White St., Cassopolis, submitted a limited site plan for storage, screening and parking provisions at their Fortuna Construction Inc., 56618 Woodhouse Drive, the 9,600-square-foot former ICG warehouse in the industrial park.
"We ran into some 'concerns,' I guess is a good phrase for it, about parking and storage. Because it's an existing building, we didn't have to do a full-blown site plan. We did ask that they submit something that they drew up. Ultimately, what will happen is all the vehicles will be parked behind an existing fence. Solid wood fencing will run across the front open space. Then there will be a section that goes to the tree row in the back. They're going to store all their heavy equipment behind that. They'll have three spaces for employee parking. They don't have a lot of employees on this site," Bradford explained. "Their drop-off and pick-up will be through that gated, fenced-in area. All of their stone, gravel and dirt, stuff like that that they use on site, will be behind there. It does meet the minimum standards of our industrial park covenants. It also meets our planning and zoning requirements for a site in the industrial park."
City Councilman Darron Murray and Sandra Hoger were absent.