DRAFT

County  of  Antrim

PLANNING  COMMISSION

Jill Barnard

Al Luurtsema, Chairman

 

Shirley Klunzinger

Joe Allen

Jim Gurr, Vice-Chair

 

Laura Stanek

Barbara Bradford

Alan Martel, Secretary

 

Marshall  Wright

 

Vacant

 

Minutes

July 7, 2009

7:00 p.m.

Antrim County Building - Board of Commissioners Room

 

Members Present:

 

Al Luurtsema, Jill Barnard, Joe Allen, Jim Gurr, Alan Martel, Barb Bradford, Laura Stanek, Shirley Klunzinger, and Marshall Wright

Members Absent:

 

None

Advisory Present:

 

None

Staff and Others:

 

Joe Meyers and Pete Garwood

Audience Present:

 

 

 

1.       Meeting called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Al Luurtsema.

2.       Public Comment

 

None.

3.       Minutes

 

Motion by Jim Gurr, supported by Barb Bradford, to approve the June 2, 2009 minutes as presented.  Motion carried – unanimous.

4.      Banks Township Zoning Ordinance Amendment  

 

 Joe Meyers gave his explanation of the Zoning Ordinance Amendments and indicated that he felt that it was just going into further explanation on items that were currently in the ordinance.

 

Barb Bradford spoke on airport airspace right-of-ways. She wondered if towers could be built in the ROW.

 

Discussion ensued over Section 4.06 #1.  The Commission indicated that it was worded strangely and would ask that the first five words of the first sentence be deleted so the sentence would read clearer.  

 

Al Luurtsema spoke regarding his concern of reducing the setback of the wind generator to ˝ the height of the tower height. 

 

Discussion ensued over the height of wind towers.

 

Al Luurtsema handed out a newspaper article from the Grand Rapids Press regarding wind generation.   

 

Motion by Barb Bradford, supported by Alan Martel, to thank Banks Township for moving forward with an energy saving application/Green Energy application and to recommend approval of the Banks Township Zoning Amendment, with the condition that the first five words of Section 4.06 #1 be removed to read:

“Towers erected prior to a noncommercial wind turbine generator any district…”. 

 

Also that Section 4.06 #4 should be altered to read:

“the owners of abutting lots may jointly apply for a permit to construct an anemometer tower or a noncommercial wind turbine generator serving lots.  If the anemometer tower or a noncommercial wind turbine will not meet the setback requirements of subsection 1…”. 

 

In addition to the grammatical changes, the Planning Commission would like Banks Township to rethink having the ability of reducing the setback of half of the tower. Motion carried – unanimous.

5.    Elk Rapids Zoning Ordinance Amendment

 

Joe Meyers indicated that the Elk Rapids Zoning Ordinance Amendment was short, to the point, and that it added some clarification to the ordinance. Discussion commenced about the ordinance.

 

Motion by Marshall Wright, supported by Laura Stanek, to recommend Elk Rapids Township approve of the Zoning Ordinance Amendment as presented.  Motion carried – unanimous.

6.      Rules for the Business

 

Motion by Shirley Klunzinger, supported by Joe Allen, to recommend Charlie Koop review the Rules for the Transaction of Business.  Motion carried – unanimous.

7.      Various Matters

 

Discussions ensued over recycling, Phragmites, and the USAID.

8.      Public/Member Comment

 

Alan Martel spoke on zoning and private roads, non-conformity, and subdivision lines. 

 

A further discussion ensued over Phragmites.

 

Barb Bradford thanked the Commissioners for the recycling program.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.