Friendship Township Planning Commission

Minutes, August 27, 2007

           Donahey    J Gelb    Kurburski     D Simon    F Troup    B Trufant
Present    X        X    X    X   
Absent        X                X
                       

I. Call to order at 7:00 p.m.
II. Public present: Dan Seamon, Janell Van Divner, guest Nancy Salar
III. Storm Water Ordinance – N Salar (Soil Erosion officer for Emmet Co.) gave an overview of what was added to the Zoning Ordinance to cover some of the oversight lost in discarding the County Stormwater Ordinance per Michigan AG ruling. The county now has a site plan review process with simplified rules that covers stormwater issues (Section 2405, paragraph 2g and 4f). No Emmet townships have adopted their own ordinances. Enforcement would be an issue. The rules now in place cover developments that require a site plan review. There may be situations that are not covered, but they have not yet appeared. Individual homes are not covered. MOTION: Regarding the status of stormwater regulations in the county, unless further requested by the trustees, we’ll take no further action. Unanimous in favor (Simon/Donahey)
IV. Minutes of 7/23/07 – approved as written
V. New Business
A. Case  #23A-07 A request by Emmet County Planning Commission to amend the Zoning Ordinance, Article XXII, Section 2207 as follows:
    Add to paragraph 3, SIGNS NOT REQUIRING A ZONING PERMIT, sub-paragraph 1) to read: “Seasonal commodity signs (such as for garden produce or landscape products) shall not have a total sign face greater than thirty-two (32) square feet. Such signs shall not be set in place for use until one (1) week before the beginning of the season and shall be removed within one (1) week of the close of the season and may not remain hanging for more than ninety (90) days. Three (3) off-premise seasonal commodity directional signs, not to exceed four (4) square feet in sign face area, may be permitted upon review by the Zoning Administrator. Additional off-premise signs may be permitted subject to finding by the Advisory Sign Review Committee that the signs are the minimum necessary for safe travel to the site. A SEASONAL COMMODITY SIGN means an on- or off-premise sign which indicates the name of the farm, the sale of farm products produced seasonally on the premises, the location of the premises, and/or the hours open to the public.”
MOTION: 1) 90 days seems too short for many seasonal operations.
    2) We don’t see a reason to limit the primary sign beyond the current regulations in the zoning ordinance. Eg. See 2207, 1, c.
    3) Should the time limit perhaps only pertain to the off-premise signs where one (1) week in advance of season seems too short? One (1) week at the end seems reasonable.
Passed unanimously (Donahey/Kurburski)
B. Getting information for cases: in order to improve communication with county and ensure applicants get information to us early enough to allow review of case, site visit, and notification of neighbors if necessary, the following action items were identified:
1. Simon to verify that current Zoning Administrative Assistant has FTPC’s Applicant Requirement – yes, they do.  She will also confirm what types of cases in addition to variances and zoning changes that require public notice – all cases except text amendments. 
2. We confirmed, by looking at a sample letter, that the county’s advance notice of cases to be added to their agenda covers the time frame in which we need information. We will request from county that our planning chair receive a copy of notice letters when sent.
3. After reviewing the above information, we determined that we need to follow our own process as currently set out, which would include requiring the ten (10) days lead time before our meeting.
C. Case #23-07- Amendment to Section 2207 of Ordinance – ECPC voted to eliminate the second hearing and pass the case.
D. Master Plan – adopted in spring of 2003. Needs to be evaluated every 5 years. We will take the next few months to review different sections and be ready with recommended updates by next spring. 
E. Emmet County Comprehensive Plan – Simon invited to be a member of the Land Use and Housing PES group board. 
VI. Old Business: None
VI. Report of Trustee: none
VII. Public comment:  none
VIII. Adjourn 8:30 PM.  The next regularly scheduled meeting is September 24. 

Cynthia Donahey 9/4/07