Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Uh would like to call the village of Holly Planning Commission meeting to order for February 25th, 2026. If we all stand for the pledge of allegiance, please to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Can we have roll call, please? Cross here. Christian here. Hero here. Hopper.

Everly? Yes. Okaski here. Need to make a motion to uh excuse Mr. police. He messaged me saying he has the plague at the house. My words. Okay. Also, I have a note here uh that Mr. Hopper also would like to be. I will include that in my motion as well. Second. All in favor?

Any opposed? So, excused. All right. Moving on. Uh the approval of the agenda. We're We also have one addition that uh Jeremy would like to add that was some uh training pamphlet that he wants to go over. Cool. So, anybody I guess make a motion to amend the agenda? Yes, sir. Okay. Look at that. It's gonna be a presentation. Just a presentation. All right. Sounds good. All right, then I guess moving on. Can I get a volunteer to or get a

I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Second. All in favor? I any opposed? Agenda uh approved. Approve of the uh minutes from November 19th, 2025. I move to approve the minutes of November 19th, 2025 is presented. All in favor?

Any opposed? Hearing none. Can I get the volunteer to read our statement of purpose, please? The mission of the Holly Village government is to enhance our community's quality of life. Our organization strives for quality services, responsive action to citizen requests and a coste effective government. We promote citizen participation, proactive decision making and environmental quality. Most importantly, we shall always serve the citizens of Holly. The village of Holly will be a prestigious historical village that is a green residential oasis for the city and the center of commerce and activity for the region.

Thank you. Uh move on to item number six, public comments. Seeing no one here whatsoever from the public, we will move on to uh old business. Number seven, update on the short-term rentals.

All forms have been created.

Anybody have any questions? Thank you, sir. Do we have we had any um people have been approved? Okay.

That's good. I noticed the fees did go into We voted.

Okay. All right. Uh going on to item number eight, new business. Item 8A is election of officers. So the officers to be elected would be the chair, vice chair, and secretary. Mr. Kimman, last year you expressed an interest to become chair. If uh you still would like to do that, I would be more than willing to relinquish if I got voted in. Anybody have any ideas or suggestions or want to step up and do some things?

They were looking this way, so I kept looking.

That's true. Walked in with that Robert's rules of order in your pocket. I personally have no desire to do anything so other than be here. Anybody else? I'm happy to be secretary again if Carol will have me. I haven't done anything yet. You sign the important documents. I will gladly support anybody to move up. to be. I I guess I would then possibly suggest since we don't have some members here that um Richard and I would change roles and Cheryl would be the secretary.

Need a motion. Mr. Kimman's okay with this. Oh, perfect. All right. Make a motion. I'll make a motion that are we going to do them all in one shot or we Mr. Kimman for chair Mr. Vice and M. Everly for secretary. I will second that motion. Can we have roll call, please? Cascal. Yes. Cross. Yes. Yes. Kinnan, yes. Yes. Okatsky.

Yes. All right. Short and sweet.

We don't have to move chairs evicted. All right. Moving on, I guess, to item number nine, the training. We have one more, sir. Oh, excuse me. report. Yes,

that was submitted in your packets. Everything looked fine to me.

I didn't see any amendments that uh stood out that uh needed to be changed. Um one thing we also uh did talk about in November, I believe it was in November regarding uh updating and everybody looking over the zoning Great.

I brought in from basically the ledger that was sent out. All right. a I guess a list of possible changes. That's fantastic. Thank you, chair. Would you be willing to share that? Well, yeah, I brought a copy for you. Is that what you want us all to do is just

Yeah. If you see something, please do understand my chicken tracks. A lot of them are probably um not knowing really what the lot is classified as versus what the color says. Uh for instance, we had the uh additions of the uh either duplexes or you know condos that would be like in the RM residential area, you know, classification. They're listed underneath NOC, which is still allows that, but I wanted to make sure we had it clear on the map what the property really is assigned as.

I would recommend that we get all of the input from everyone and then discuss them, have a longer meeting where we discuss them all, make sure we send them to changes and I did notice some things that were in 2019 or 2016. They were supposed to be res and it was denied but somehow it still got changed over the zoning map. And so I've submitted some of those corrections that I'll

you know then I want everybody to know when they when and if they do look at the uh zoning map the uh original which is 2019. All right. It is not reading the same as the individual sheets that was printed as the areas. Okay. There are differences there. So you can't just look at one or the other. You need to compare the two. So, we may need to also make notes that there's a discrepancy between the two as

well. My guess is the zoning map that's 2019 has never been updated and the ones that are dated 2025 have the updates but never got to the master is my assumption. Thank you, sir. Okay. I guess anybody have any other questions about the report? Thank you, Jeremy, for that. Do we need to do an approval of that or

I don't think I don't think so. Um I'll review it and I'll wait for we'll say next month if everybody can also do the homework. Uh and then the following month, April or May, we'll come back to the board with an updated uh map based off of Our recommendation report Oh, we're approving the report. You can Yeah, I think we usually at least send you with Thank you, sir. So, I'll make a motion to

I'll make a motion to um send Jeremy's report to council um subject to the revision for November. I would ask that any any corrections that you guys have for this zoning map that we you send it in advance, not bring them to the meeting. That way that um Jeremy and your staff have time to put it up on the screen so that we can all see them together and review them at once. Um I don't know if you chair chair want to put any kind of deadline for those submissions if it's you know obviously hopefully before the packet goes out um so that people can review any of those in advance.

So do you think we want to look at that in March or you're saying April? I think April would be the final. So if you want to submit to us in March, then we have a month to get it to review their actually submit it before the March meeting so that we can all go over it and agree that or listen to why what we thought might need changing why it doesn't need to be changed. the March meeting. I'll take everybody's notes compile and we'll talk about each parcel. Make sure we all agree and we'll find it to you by like 13th or something.

Yeah. 12th. The 12th would be the Thursday, end of the work week for that week. So, it's about two weeks out. March 13th is a Friday. How about the 12th because staff is off on the 13th? Yeah, that's what I was saying. 12. Okay. Thank you. So, Does everybody understand that? I say that email that was sent that have that those uh items in there you can look at was back in uh right around the November time frame that were sent out to everybody. All right. Uh let's we need a second for the report. Richard made a motion. Okay. I'll second. Thank you. Accepting.

All in favor of accepting the report. Any opposed? Hearing none. All right, moving on to reports. Uh, ZBA. No, sir. Training training. I'm sorry. I keep on skipping, don't I? I only have 74 slides. It shouldn't take me long. I figured about four minutes of slides. Oh, you just want to show your slides. Can we go maybe have it? I want to sit out there. Absolutely. That makes total sense.

So, thank you. Uh in front of you, you will all see uh the Michigan Municipal League Planning Commissioners Handbook. And this is a basic 101. I know we have a couple new members uh on the board and a couple of them are here tonight.

Uh but we're just going to kind of go through we're I expect I would hope that you would all read this at a later date. Um and then today we're just going to go over some highlights. Uh and we're going to go through the packet. So, we're going to start out um on page six as the introduction. So, some of the things we're going to talk about are hints on how to be an effective planner, what you may expect to encounter, the need for patience tagged and to be diplomatic, and encourage others to seek sources of learning. Uh one great source you see there listed, uh mml.org. you go to that website, there's all kinds of information available to you. Uh let's talk about a couple of these expectations in the introduction, things that you may expect to encounter. More importantly, the need for patience tact and be diplomatic. Uh we all have personal opinions. Uh but when we go through this packet, you'll see that we all have tools in the toolbox to make a professional judgment on the site plan. Next page. What was I thinking? So for this privilege, you get to listen to individuals and groups complain, plead, bargain, shout, criticize, and lecture. Yet many commissioners wouldn't trade the job for anything. The planning commissioner wears many hats from mediator, interpreter, visionary, researcher, teacher to community builder. Uh developing an becoming an effective commissioner begins with clear philosophy and an approach to the task. One member has allowed for a variety of a variety of opinions. Even though every commissioner has the best interest of the community at heart, their approaches may differ uh from yours since each is based on their own philosophy. Over time, you'll become under uh you will come to understand some of the

motivations of other planning commissioners and may find yourself appreciating their views. Developing your own philosophy and style is an important step to becoming an effective planning commissioner. And I just took some bullet points out of each one of these pages. So page eight uh is going to be talking about the job. And in here we really talk about the land use challenges, right? Uh in Holly, we only have a handful of green spaces left. So, a lot of the projects that we'll be seeing come through uh will be properties that are already um developed and they're either going to be torn down and redeveloped. So, carry out policies in the development of the community. Treat each applicant property fair and consistent. I think that's a big takeaway. Uh you know, we have to we have to go by the zoning ordinance. That's what we base a lot of our judgment on. But more importantly, we have a row that provides us a very detailed review um with bullet points of things to look for. But as a commissioner, you should be also doing your due diligence, apply policy to specific facts, and some of the tools that you're going to be using are the master plan and the zoning ordinance. Those are the two biggest um tools in your toolbox. As we go through this PowerPoint, you'll find other tools that are mentioned. And here we are. I like to look at uh this as a jigsaw puzzle. And as a commissioner to dissect that jigsaw puzzle, you look at the master plan. And that is the

actual top of the box of the puzzle. The master plan is just kind of a picture, right? It's not any rules. Uh it doesn't basically tell you how to enforce it. It just tells you what we would like to see in the future. It goes on forever. It's the vision of the future. We update it every five years. It's approved by council. But it the master plan isn't what you do your review off of. The master plan is a guide as we develop new ordinances and um time pieces of how we would like our community to look in the future. Each development that comes in front of you is a piece of the puzzle. Future land use classifications too uh are another big part of that. But your corner pieces are the policies. Encourage growth. Allow growth to take course. Allow development adequate. Some of the things when you're looking at for allowing a development is there adequate utilities, roads, schools, fire, police, public services, plans for new developments reviewed to ensure consistency. So we don't want to spot zone, right? Uh a lot of that comes up in my tenure here. I know in the beginning we seem to done more spot zoning than we do now. I think we've grown and matured as a commission to where we really uh I know Gary's been very seasoned, but a lot of us were new in the beginning. So spot zoning uh is very frowned upon, but your corner pieces are very important with that jigsaw puzzle. They're the anchor uh that really help with the community development and allow for order development, which your zoning ordinance. This is your

number one tool in the toolbox. If you're not familiar, it is on the website. Uh please become familiar with where it is on the website, how to how to have it, access to it, maybe even download it right to your PC or your desktop so that you don't have to go to the website every time. But the primary difference between the future uh land use and zoning is really just a matter of timing. So with the master plan, you have future land use maps and you have uh your zoning map. The difference between future land use and uh your zoning map is that the future land use is like the master plan. It's not set in stone. This is just how you perceive that piece of property to be used in the future. It's not that's not maybe how it is being used today, but as we grow, as the community grows, you may planning commission that this section of town should be more industrial use uh rather than a commercial use. Uh those are how you guys would uh differentiate between the two. Future land use is like I said a guide. It shows the use of the land at the end of the planning period and that really is you got to think of your planning period as years. Uh your planning period is creation of the master plan, creation of the future land use map. Those are your how you would like to see the community for future commissioners to adopt and and use the zoning map. Uh the zoning map is intended to be used today. The two maps are not identical as you will see and as we're doing an update to our zoning map. Uh our two versions are different. So, as our homework, we're trying to get our zoning map to be up to date so that it it is uh your main tool for finding out what the property is zoned as. Does it conform with the the area and have uniformity?

We are due uh for a master plan update. I didn't even have to raise my hand. Last was 2021. Do we have a future land use plan that is in the master plan? Okay. So that is developed at the same time.

Uh so this year technically 2026 uh that is how we would start to try it to 2027 we would like to have a updated or in the progress of updating the master plan. So as you're looking at the future land use now obviously like we said there's a lot of changes in it but you know when we're looking at that um the rest of the the master plan should inform like how are we taking our zoning map and how how is this informing us so that as we move forward through this plan that we'll end up eventually at this future land use that we would like like to. So, as we're approving things and moving forward, it it should hopefully lead us in that direction. Um, yeah, take a look at if you haven't looked at the future land use. It's interesting. I think a lot of people would, oh yeah, that's a better use than we are currently using in our like our spot zone version that we've had from decades. Both the master plan and the zoning ordinance should be used consistently. Sorry. sensitive. There we go. Both master plan and the zoning order should be used consistently and accurately uh to make sure that they applied fairly consistently. Right? That is a big takeaway you're going to hear tonight. Try to be fair. Try to be consistent with your your decisions. Together, these two tools are valuable in building the kind of community that you guys foresee. So, the next one is my favorite. Actually, I got myself some of your greatest responsibilities. Provide guidance for land use and development. That'll be in the master plan uh stages. Provide that guidance of how you want to see that land use and development in the future. That'll be translated into the future land use map uh which will stay into the master plan. So, every five years you look back at that, you may say

the northwest corner of the community, we envisioned it be industrial. Now that we've had five years, multiple that's coming in front of us. Maybe we look at that maybe as a more high density commercial area versus industrial as an example. So very key documents. Again, I put this in here. I probably be very redundant with it. Consistent and fairness is super important. But as I mentioned earlier, some of the other documents that you would use, land divisions, the big one, CIP, I know I've been promising that for a while, but I can tell you it is is on the burner. It's simmering. We are working on it. Unfortunately, when we do dedicate time to it, uh bigger, more drastic problem needs to be addressed and it takes time away from that.

I I will say that we've had using municipal analytics, we We're closer now than we've ever had. We actually have some pretty good drafts that we're working on that we've already been working with John and his team on. So, it's problem is we can make a wish list, but part of that is a plan where you're assigning years to projects. Well, when you've been living in a deficit budget historically and you haven't strategically planned, you can't plan out years. And so, we're getting to the point we're like, hey, we can actually see, you know, if we follow our plan, we can actually infrastructure improvements. That's was my biggest hurdle as well. It's hard to formulate a plan when there's no money. So, uh the other one is a recreation plan. Uh we don't have that, but you know, it may be something that we look forward into the future. Uh but keeping current on these types of uh tools in the toolbox ultimately provide a healthy community for everybody. We do have a parks plan and I think that parks plan is similar. I thought about that when I was typing that up. Uh parks plan is something that we should incorporate in our toolbox as commissioners uh just to see the vision of the parks and what they want to see. Um because that's important tool for you guys as you move up.

Well, you have to have a lot of those things to go after grants too, right? State grants will require a certain require

Yeah, they require a lot of require you to have a CIP. They may require you to at least also makes it more attractive for it, right? So, um you know, redevelopment ready communities is another thing that we are working towards that will allow us some more grand opportunities. It just shows that you know we are we are uh we have a concerted effort moving in one direction uh that we're not just you know we have an actual plan that's going to get us there. So yeah the CI RC3 all those things. So this is one of the biggest uh most important slides I think and in my 10 plus years of being the liazison for this board, one of the most frustrating things for me and Carol and Ro is not necessarily this commission but previous commissions is uh you show up to meeting, you put all this work into preparing you the commissioner for the meeting and you come in and the first thing you're doing is immediately flipping through your trying to figure out what we're doing tonight. And I see it. Staff sees it. It's very frustrating. I ask, please just spend a couple minutes before you come to the meeting. Be prepared. Uh it makes everybody look professional, especially when we have an applicant that's looking to spend thousands, tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars in our community and you're not prepared as a commissioner to one have questions written down. be able to engage with the applicant with professional questions that are within our scope, right? We don't want to waste time for not only the commissioners, the public or the applicant with questions that don't even are not even in our scope. So, please and if you need help, reach out. One of us would be more than willing to help with, you know, what what are some good recommendations on how to prepare for a meeting. Uh, but I think having this guide in front of you tonight Once you

read through it, I'm just giving you little teasers of the packet uh tonight, but as you read through it, you'll say, "Oh, this will be a good tool for me and help me prepare for the meetings that are coming."

So, we're going to do that next. My next slide is going to talk about site visits because we have to be very, very careful with site visits. But, thank you for bringing that up. So, before we get to that, And actually it's on a little bit on this slide. So preparing for meetings. Number one, you have to have you have to be familiar with your zoning ordinance, right? You have to know that in section 157 is the zoning ordinance. Well, where is the light? Where is the phototric plan? Where is the landscape plan? Where is the parking lot plan? You should be familiar with that so that you know we have an applicant that's going to be coming in the next uh probably 30 to 60 days. You should know maybe a parking lot plan, maybe a landscape, right? Uh glass coverage is a big one for us, right? Uh just become familiar with that because when we all act as a team, we look extremely professional and it goes a long ways with the applicants because then they We were at Holly the planning commission spot on administration's great to work with. They have these properties and businesses moving. They're going to come and they're going to spend their money in our community. Examine the agenda and the materials tonight. There wasn't much to examine. Uh but normally there is, right? So please just make sure and and Tim and I I know I'm a little bit more available than him. He's way more busier than me. But shoot me an email, shoot me a text, give me a call if you have a question. Gary, Jim, I know Richard, we've all you've all asked questions, right? And I appreciate those questions because it tells me that you are trying to prepare for the meeting. So, um, you know, the only question you don't ask is the dumbest one, right? So, please write down come to prepare, write down questions that you may have for the applicant. Now we get into that site visit that chairs our co-chair

he likes that right there. Uh please make sure he's moving closer and closer to the door.

I see uh site visit. The biggest thing there's two really big takeaways here. We cannot trespass right? So always make sure that if you're on the property, we have permission to be on the property. The second most equally important thing is we cannot be talking amongst ourselves. If the group were to go out there and meet, we can't have discussion uh because now we violated open meetings acts. Uh we've question we have a forum, right? So be very very careful with site visits. I highly recommend them. But nothing says that you can't drive by, right? Or park out on the side and take some books or, you know, there's multiple ways. There's Google Maps, right? There's there's all kinds of tools in your toolbox to actually see what that site is and how it looks. Uh, also, you want to be very, very careful with if you are out on site and you come across an applicant, a neighbor or a property owner,

it's not the time for conversation, right? Why not? Well, you could violate open meetings act more importantly though if you have a question for that applicant that's not the set your setting is here okay I'm saying what if a neighbor calls me up and says you're on the planning commission and I want to talk to you about this so I think that would be okay within reason or I'm looking at the property and the neighbor comes over and says oh Cherylyn you're on the planning commission can I talk to you about this I think the best answer for you would be to say we're a meeting We would love No, I don't think that's the best answer. Okay.

And and I I would like to know what legal thing says that as my representation on the planning commission says I can't talk to a neighbor who's concerned there. There's no there's no legal reason. Okay. Well, no. If you're talking to a neighbor, you know, as long as it's not you and Richard and Kirk, you know, going to the neighbor. But yeah, if an indiv I'm thinking Jack and Kathy Bacon living next door over there on Railroad Street. They came, they talked to me, asked me about it before the meeting and everything. And

if I can't talk to the the community, then why am I here? No, I think that's it's actually I would say that you like you should you should be encouraged to reach out to the community like because they should know that the planning the importance of the planning commission and all that except for what you probably what you have to be careful of is um you just have to let them know don't make promises and don't uh and make sure they understand that you know your your purview there is you can't be influenced in what you're doing because you're just following the ordinance on it. But I'm listening and I'm gonna welcome you to the meeting and no, but I'm not gonna say la I can't talk to you yet.

Biggest thing I found with site and someone asking you questions or concerns is you should always avoid giving them a specific answer, right? I'll look into it because engage in answering questions. Now you're set up for I don't know it well enough that I would do that.

It also talks on page 12 bullet point. It really kind of boiler boils down a little bit in that. Um, and you know, I don't want to read word for word in this packet, but I did highlight that in my packet. You know, oh, I already read it. If you're contacted, tell them that I'm required to conduct all of my discussions only when the other commissioners are present. I disagree. And as long as you're not going to arrest me, I'm not

here's what because I have been called or something all kinds of things, you know, whether it's for this some other thing I want. Um, I I usually use it more of as a listening opportunity and say, "What are your concerns? What are you thinking?" Um, and never give my opinion or how I may vote on something. Exactly. in that conversation. I know that

that that's and I usually tell them that, you know, when they start going, well, how are you going to and that's where I say, you know what, um those decisions are not fully made until I think I should not express that prior to the meeting. And Richard, I think another big component of that is if you do have those conversations, I think you share that right during your opportunity to speak to the chair, let the other commissioners know. I met Susie today when I was out doing a site visit the neighbor and we had these conversations, right? Just so the other commissioners know or learn what you've learned.

Sure. I think that's an important and it also talks about that. I also think the wording on trespassing, trespassing is a very legal thing unless it's unless it's posted legally. We can go there unless there's something that says we can't. So I I don't you can go to the curage of someone's house for sure. You can't open gates and stuff. Yeah, you definitely can't open gates, but if it's just a piece of vacant property, you should be able to traverse it legally unless you've been warned or there's posted signs. Definitely posted signs are red flag, right? And I don't legalities. I think that would be a question for Chief Narules of trespassing and what could be

Yeah, I'm not I'm not my understanding gates or

as a as an official I also have boundaries too. I I you know so uh continuing on with site visit some of the things that you would look at uh are these are some big ones. traffic conditions. Uh can the infrastructure handle the proposed project that's coming there? Natural features, you know, Holl's very wet, very swampy. The water table's very high. A lot of our projects have had to do additional uh detention retention modifications to their site because we we do have so much water. Uh surrounding land uses, does it flow? Uh neighborhood characteristics. And like I said to Miss Everly, describe your findings to the commissioners to understand. I think, you know, once again, if we're all communicating what we've learned, we're making everybody else better by what we've learned. Whether it's positive or negative, you went out there and you seen, hey, there's a big wetland back here. I don't know. Uh well, now you brought that attention to commissioners and maybe we do a deep dive on that a little bit further. So, I think the site visit's super important. Uh just you guys can have an understanding of what that property what that project might look like on that property. So, now we're going to use the site plan. Uh some of the big key components are preservation of natural features and landscape. Uh as you know, uh some of the seasoned members of the commission, our landscape ordinance is one of the more strict in the area. Uh but as you see these new projects and developments come through, the beautifification of those properties are amazing, right? Uh you're going to see scooters here in the spring. It's going to look I mean just that little bit how much green uh space has been created with that and uh trees and bushes and you know I'm I think

that's a very important component. I'm thankful uh that you guys did that leg work prior to me being here uh creating that compatibility with surrounding uses uh safety of course uh pedestrian and vehicle or traffic. Big one for me is emergency eresses. Can I get is that turning radius too tight? Are we going to be able to get the ladder truck in there? Are we going to be able to get a fire engine in there? Multiple fire engines if we need to. Uh, another one uh that we seem to hit a lot is the photometrics. U seems like that one is missed a lot and you know I don't know why but it's an extremely important um component to your site plan design and we want to make sure if it is a commercial property being adjacent to a neighborhood uh we want to make sure like trespass isn't going to be flooding over uh or disturbing the piece of that residential area. drainage as we've talked ag architectural controls. I apologize looking at both screens and my glasses. Continuing on with site plan site plans uh must meet all of the standards of the zoning ordinance uh to be approved. We do have some discretions built into the zoning ordinance uh but very little. Right. We want to make sure that they're not deviating from that. That's that's a big one. So just make sure that um we're following it and most importantly row we pay a lot of money and they provide a very good document. Uh you know some planners are better than others but I am very impressed with Amy's packets. the way she puts them together, the information that she gives to you guys. And more importantly, she

in the very last page, she gives you sample motions for approval or denial. You don't have to recreate that, right? All you have to do is look at it and if it meets what you guys say, you can follow it. Obviously, there may be a couple conditions in there. Uh maybe they need to provide additional letter of support or documentation. Uh that can still be approved administratively and keep the project moving forward. So now we're at the meeting and we're meeting with the public. Most importantly is being fair. We talked about that. Allow opportunity to speak and present. Allow the applicant once they come up there. Give them that time to present their case to you. Uh be very careful with an emotional response. I know I am a very emotional person. I that on my sleeve very well. Uh sometimes it gets me in trouble. So just try to focus on that self-reflection. Uh public speaking, right? We have to be very professional. Uh these all these meetings are streamed now on YouTube. So you know, our grandkids, our kids, friends, and family can all watch this. And you know, the last thing we want is them to give us a call and say, "Wow, Jeremy, you were a jerk tonight on that meeting and you really Right. So, just please remember you're being recorded just because we're in this little bit of room. Uh it is on YouTube and it can be for anybody and everybody to see. Excuse me. Show up. Show up. Be present and listen. Some of the rules for speakers and I think uh we do deviate from this um and I would like to see now Richard as the chair um nothing I think you did a great job, but I think as commissioners,

everything needs to go to the chair. You direct your questions to the chair. The chair will allow you to communicate with the applicant. We don't want uh, you know, I don't want Mr. Cross and Mr. Hero, you know, to be bouncing questions off the applicant and the chair, you know, let's be professional. Let's delegate or uh have the the chair direct those questions um to the applicant. It all makes us look more professional and more prepared by running it through the chair. That's why that individual is there. Uh he or she has that title and it's should be limit speaking time five minutes. Uh of course you can extend that but I think you know council, the um the the co-chair of council will do the timer, right? And it's it's audible. So when the time expires, we all hear it and we'll let them finish their sentence. And then, you know, as the chair will let the individual know your time is up, if uh Mr. Costco would say, want to hear more, you can ask the chair to maybe grant them another three minutes, right? If you all agree, you can move forward with that. Limit the number of times one can speak. Uh, as you can see, sometimes people want to come up to the podium and have multiple opinions on things. Uh, that muddles up the the process, the individual that hears us presenting their case. Uh, it's a lack of professionalism. So, we want to make sure that we're giving people the opportunity, but at the same time, not being redundant uh with some of our questioning.

Spokesperson for the audience. Uh if we have a a full house and maybe you know three of the people have the same question, maybe we just send one person to the podium to ask that question for all three. Uh and then of course as we all know once that public hearing is closed, it has to remain closed by law. rules for commissioners and we kind of talked about this a little bit. Uh all comments are directed to the chair. Deliberation should be in the open. Uh you know, we don't want to see and I'm using names and please don't take offense to this. We don't want to see hero and uh Costa kind of whispering in each other's ear. Uh because you know whether you're asking him if he wants to go to the moose and play trivia tonight, you know it just doesn't look professional, right? the applicant may think you're whispering, you're whispering about, you know, their landscape and whether or not they should have that tree there or not. So, please just be conscious of those uh your expressed opinions. Be professional. Don't answer every We're not entitled to answer every question, right? Answer the ones that are most appropriate. Uh and you know, if things start to get heated or maybe we're just need to take five, it's okay. for the chair to request a recess, let everybody kind of gather their thoughts again, maybe step outside, get a breath of fresh air, uh, and come back in. But most importantly, myself as the liaison, I want you to feel comfortable with your vote. That's why if you become prepared uh to the meeting, if you do go through your packet, you guys requested that we get this put together and submitted to you two weeks prior to the meeting because you wanted make sure you had ample time to do your preparation. I would expect that reciprocation back that you would come prepared and have your questions or use that two weeks to

contact uh administrative staff with those questions if you need to have them answered prior to the meeting. So, and the reason for that is that last statement. We as staff put a lot of effort into this. We want to make sure that you're comfortable with your vote and you're not feeling pressured or rushed uh making make a couple comments. So the express opinions and don't answer question. Express opinions when they say that they're talking about your opinion on why you're voting a certain way. Not necessarily, you know, well, I don't like coffee shops, so I'm doing, you know, it's, you know, this is the reason that this is the reason that I'm voting this based on it. You don't have to just say yes. Express your opinion why you're voting it. And also, don't answer every question. That's really I mean, we want to answer questions that we are supposed to answer, but not questions because a lot of times they will ask next steps or things that are outside of our purview they'll want assistance on and we just legally cannot provide them any kind of guidance. So, it's our human nature that we want to answer questions when they're asked. Um, but we have to avoid that even even sometimes if we know the answer to it.

This is during like public comment or those scenarios. That's not a dialogue at all. That's kind later if one of those questions that they ask is something that we think we can address, then we address it. We don't enter

in your reports would be a great time if you this was mentioned. I would like to make a comment on this but then if you because if you start answering one question you're showing priority preference to one person. So, we all have very tough decisions to make, right? And we're going to talk about this again. Knowledge of the zoning ordinance is super important. And you don't have to be an expert, but you just need to be familiar where you find these particular the landscape, the parking, uh, parking and loading. There's just so many dynamics. How many of us know that we require a certain light? That's a big one. And that really gets every applicant every time, right? Uh, in our reconstruction meetings, we direct them right out of the gate. We are very specific with our light poles. Please make sure your contractor is reaching out. Uh it doesn't have to be exact, but it needs to be similar. So, uh that's a big one. Uh knowledge of the relevant case facts. Uh be be present, go through your packet. Amy does an amazing job of providing that review and you should be able to get all the case facts off of that. You may have some additional questions that you can reach out to staff for, but uh she does do an outstanding job. Use of ordinance standards. Uh with that, you're going to want to make sure that you're not deviating. You're not allowing one business to have this light, but you know what? We're going to make this one. Right? So, just just an example. You want to make sure that you're not setting a precedent for other businesses to deviate from that standard. everyone happy probably should try follow the law right trust me Tim can also say this and I'm sure everyone in this room can no matter how hard you try you're never going to make everybody happy it's just

standards right

I asked you to proofread it earlier good Sir, we'll move on. Uh, we just got a couple more slides here. Okay. Sorry. No, you're good. Two more. Actually, three more after this. Make your decision today. Meeting minutes, right? Uh, Cheryl Everly is the secretary. She'll be signing off on those minutes. I can tell you Tim and I have Tim particularly, we have deep dove minutes from 2019 and beyond. We are constantly going back to the minutes. I was in 81 today.

So, it is it is a crucial tool for administration. Uh because I'm going to be honest, we have so many projects and things going on that we will forget and I constantly catching myself back in that meeting. Can you specific? Uh again, motions samples from row take time to make sure you Uh the motion is correct. Record the conditions, documentation and record keeping. Uh a lot of that documentation and record keeping is on administration. Uh but I can tell you in my early years we were not the best at that. Uh we are still not the best but we are way better than we were. uh and most importantly uh if we strive to get better each and every day in the end show progress the future a lot of a lot of big components uh you have the internet is a huge resource obviously you don't want to believe everything in the internet uh but you do have tools in your toolbox the uh Michigan the MML right you can get on there that's a very reputable source visual tools GIS mapping uh future implications today training. Make sure that you're on me to provide you training. I know today isn't a lot, but I didn't want to sit here and be verbatim. Nobody wants me to go each paragraph through here, but I provide you the document, provide you some key takeaways that I thought were important. And I would hope that you would take this back home and use this as a tool for you uh to be a better Absolutely. Thank you.

And last, uh, you can do it. It's very easy. You can do it, right? Just make sure you come prepared. Uh, you are the people that are going to create that vision of the future. The the young kids that we see in our brand new elementary or middle school, we want to make sure we're creating a community that's fair and beautiful for them uh to raise their families in. Each decision you make is building a community. And when you leave here at the end of the day, after you approved a major site, have a sense of accomplishment. Know that you were a key part in bringing that business to town. I can tell you 20 years from now when you're rolling through town, whether you live here still or not, you may look at uh that scooters and say, "I was I was on the planning commission. It was a big component of uh getting that project through." So, uh you know, make sure you take pride in that. And even though we may not all agree, uh I still want you to know that you are all very appreciated and I appreciate the work that you guys put in and the questions you ask me, whether they're easy questions or difficult. So, thank you for your time on this quick little PowerPoint. Uh if you do go through your packet and you have additional questions or comments or you have found something that maybe I didn't bring up uh that you thought was a key takeaway, please share with the group.

Thank you J.

Thank you. Okay. Again, thank you, Jeremy. Uh, moving on to item number 10, reports. Uh, ZBA. No, I can tell you. Do we have anybody uh who is on Hopper? Uh, we are meeting Monday. Monday is not there's nothing on the agenda other than any report and election of officers. I can tell you that I did receive an email late this afternoon prior to coming here. I thought we were going to have the applicant that's going to be coming in front of you very soon uh seek out a couple variances, but they contacted me today and they are making the modifications uh needed uh that require variance. So that just shows that our ordinances are working. You don't it's not good practice to have your zoning board of appeals meeting every month. That means there is a flaw in the ordinance, right? That is then that means that myself as the leazison needs to bring it back to you and say we are meeting way too much on maybe this 10% glass coverage or this 30% glass coverage. Maybe we should look at this ordinance again and be a little bit more fair and consistent with it. Which may be just a little teaser. coming down the pip6. All right. DDA. I don't think we had anybody assigned, did we?

No, but I the DDA um I will say that they have a new director in Kevin and he has hit the ground running. Um and you know, he's working with staff. um and he has a lot of things that he wants to work on and uh that he's excited about. So, we'll see about maybe having a time to introduce him to this group as well. Thank you, sir. Um Manager Price briefly touched on it. Municipal Analytics, which I think we're going to start getting some deliverables from them pretty soon.

So, they're going to be the individuals that are doing the water rate study. So, we can see some what I think all of us would agree would be improvements in that cityood information be doing a lot of stuff for us going forward. Um I don't think it's I don't think it's been publicized that our auditing firm fired us. So that's that's fun. I heard that. Yeah, they they fired us. So I I personally believe they didn't want to answer any questions. I was going to say that meeting got shorter, didn't They they completed the audit and then they said that we are going to terminate the contract before we have to do a presentation in March. They said we're done. We're not doing anything else. Yeah. And we're done. So before two days before they fired us, I asked him a question and I never back. So

it's there was a very softball question. So if that was the reason they but uh it's all you Jim. We do well hopefully we're gonna save a lot of money for our village by going to a new we already had an part of it was probably that we also had an RFP for new audits and we've kind of expressed that we did not feel they were doing an efficient job over the last three decades they were doing our auditing. So, um I think that was part of the reason

I was speaking to another uh firm. Um I was asking questions about our audit to another firm. Um not solicit or anything like that. I was like, "So, um I think they have an RFP right now." I'm not advertising that or anything. I'm not doing that. And they're like, "Well, how much you paying right now?" "1100,000." I said, "Really? We'd like to put a bit in." Very very eager for uh for that if we're paying 100 grand. So, I think that'll be um that'll be nice if we can get someone that actually come and talk to us too. That would be nice. Um so, oh, regarding the the our firing by our accounting firm, we did get an email from Manager Price today. Council did uh they staff will be hoping that they can answer questions for council coming up. So, I was very happy to see that council is going to have that opportunity and you're making that available to us. So, thank you.

Yeah, I mean obviously the the whole like through the charter we have to do an independent audit through a third party agency. Uh neither Lisa or I are auditors or did we conduct the audit. We assisted them. So, we don't know like we we're not going to be able to do an efficient full formal presentation on the audit. Uh all of the audit documents are out there and available. They were in the last council packet if you'd like to review them. And we've just asked council in lie of us being able to do a formal presentation if there's any specific questions that they would like answered or items for us to address, give us a time to research it so we can, you know, sound a little more educated when we're trying to uh uh present that particular information.

So I don't think staff had to do that. We got fired. Uh they don't have to do that. Like you said, they're not auditors. So I was very pleased to to actually see staff wanting to try to educate us and the public on that. So good. I think that's all I have. All right. Um, parks commission, they met for the first time uh last first time since they they take a break over the winter and they met last time. I don't think they had anything um particularly um hot on their agenda. Um um yeah, they're doing it. It's April. It's Earth Day.

Yeah, it's it's right around Earth Day or Arbor Day. They they clean up and we'll make sure all of the boards and commissions have um that um I'm not thinking of anything in particular that is um specifically uh well I guess the couple things that we did talk about I brought to them uh things that you know we weren't doing in past um they are also our tree board which they weren't and they're also our cemetery board which they weren't necessarily aware of so we're kind of reinvigorating what the park's responsibility is and the things they need to do

I And so, yep. So, they are so they're going to help us out with uh some of our cemetery requirements as far as on the policy side as well as on, you know, some of our our tree ordinance needs to be updated. We have some invasive species on our approved tree list, things like that that we really need to reook at and get in the weeds on. And so, we're working on that. I've also um I asked them to kind of look at the the future use of um Cyclone Park. uh just having been been here in a year now and seeing maybe four people ever in the in it unless it's vintage baseball like how can we maybe re-engage this park and utilize it in a better manner. I know that in the past we looked at a veterans tribute, but even if it was uh I mean we have a lack of parking here, even if we did some parking on the outside and maybe brought the farmers market here because the farmers market is out growing it space and with the depot's uh being moved and it's a construction site, the the farmers market, we don't want to encourage people to be crossing the street over to that area and so um maybe some different uh utilization of this space um in which they're molding over now. Good. All right. Moving on to uh commissioner and staff comments.

Gerine, starting down there. Um I don't have any comment. I was just going to ask about um depot. I heard some rumors today. If you could update us on the depot. What were the rumors you heard? That's what who's on the new committee.

Okay. So, yeah, it's not an official committee yet. Right now it's a depot use team that we're kind of getting to uh because phases um the previous phase was we there's we're on phase we did phase four which was the uh depot um purchase of the property and actual purchase of the depot and then we were in a phase three which was the actual movement of the depot and right now it's we're we're not the the other committee hasn't dispanded yet or anything we're still have to connected utilities and all that. Right now, the next one is use. And so, what we're looking at doing is how are we going to um we had a 2006 study that we conducted and we want to make sure some of those assumptions are still valid, but even when we did that study of how we might future use the depot in the future, it was in a different location. And so, um we want to do maybe in April, um do a some kind of openhouse where we are doing a digital version of it. we're like um where we're presenting all the information to the public, getting community feedback, but also doing um like inerson things where we are engaging the public and allowing them to have their input. Maybe have like three different like slide or like slide things up there is like this is the history of our depot. This is what other communities have done with their historic depots. And then the third one being here are some proposed ideas that people have had on that. and then you know basically letting them you know either write in their comments or put a sticky note up here that says this is what I like about this or this is what I dislike. So we can get all of that information and then from that we would like to uh then perhaps take the compiled information create a more extensive RFP that we'd release to comm community and it wouldn't be a traditional RFP as in you know you know we're expecting a business to come in and do this. It's like what does, you know, different community groups, does

the chamber want to have a proposal for this space? Does the DDA, does um is there a visitors bureau? Is there a senior center that would like to, you know, do something in this? And then take all of those proposals and then bring it back to council for council to make more of an informed decision about our future plan. But what we don't want to do is we don't want to lose momentum on all the great work that's been done by the the depot committee in moving it. So, we're hoping to get this as a quick like spring project that we get through so that we can really talk the next step because steps two and one are the exterior and interior, but the use informs how we're going to do that. And so, until we can really determine uh that future use, uh we really can't determine how we're going to set up the interior. We do have some things that we're locked into. we promised a community room um or at least in name naming rights to a community room and so and things like that. So we really um

well from a planning perspective I think you know I realized that legally it doesn't have to come before the planning commission but what about a site plan? What about a lighting plan? What about all those kinds of things? Yep. That I think we could be helpful with. But

and I committed I committed that when we get to that point that we are going to bring it to the planning commission. I know in the past that just didn't happen because you know again we could we could just say we're going to do it anyways but that's not the best thing to do. And so we are we uh we want we want to be the example for everyone in the community. And so I already said that we're going to bring whatever we do to the planning commission and go through the appropriate steps on that. So

Mr. Cross Just like our response from my house. He was there before I even realized it was going on. So the fire department

Thank you, sir. Um I'd like to thank you for I don't know how many years you've been chair now. a few years. So, thank you for that. I am kind of disappointed that Mr. Kman's going to be coming on board now. He's been our motion man. So, I'm not sure what's going to happen with that situation if Mr. Kman is in the chair if we're going to have issues with motions. I can still help. You can still but no, thank you to everyone for stepping up and being officer. So, it's helps everybody. I definitely don't want to do it. So, thank you. Anything else? No, sir.

Thank you. Um, one thing in researching the zoning, all right, um, and driving around, one thing, uh, came to my attention on 430 North Sageno, which is a sub lot of the new uh, cannabis facility. Okay. they in their site plans and in our review and I guess in my neglect thereof. All right. The lot that was left which is 430 uh for they have the shed or barn in the back.

I believe that was the one that was purchased by the Dickens Festival. All right. The metal shed back there. All right. So they they bought that property. Okay. Because as it stands, it's non-conformance building. And when we approve the site plan, we did not make them tear it down at that point because that's not allowed to be there without a main structure there. It's a separate parcel, right? But there's no main building on the parcel since that was now separated. that should have been tore down

or they had the opportunity to make it a primary. Correct. But we and I can tell you those conversations are taking place with the DDA with the DDA or Dickens Festival.

I'm sorry. Uh that they need to bring that property into compiance and bring their plan to the commission. A lot of that storage was being held at the fire department which was occupying a tremendous amount of my space. I approached administration that you know we need to find an alternative and they purchased that property with kind of uh we were unaware. Right. So now that the tickets is over there is being stored there those conversations are being had on the development of that site. That doesn't mean it's a blind eye or they get special permissions. It does need to go through

the proper channels. I just it just came to my you know like hello you know so that was me. Okay. All right. Um, other than that, that was the only other thing I had um that we haven't already addressed that there still

I can tell you that uh the conversation I did have, you know, now that building funds, right? So, administration, we are working on creating timelines of expectations of when we would like to see you know some progress at bare minimum being made. However, we are going to work with them as a large community event that does bring a lot of tourism and business to the community. However, as Tim says, that doesn't give them a free pass. U it may give them a little bit more extension of time to get compliant as they are a nonprofit I believe. So

I and I will say that I do although it they have to get in compliance on it. I do appreciate I did say hey like you've kept your stuff in the in the fire bay for a while. You know when it comes out the state of the vessel it's not going back in. And they made plans in order to uh to do that. But we do need to get them right by law. I guess my last question now brain friendly work um where we agreed as a committee to give the uh place on Cogshaw I believe it was where they had the drainage issue because of their parking lot work. The emergency, right?

Oh yes. Has that all been resved? with them as well. Yes. So, because they were waiting to build a pour concrete someone that was diagnosed wanted to make sure we're staying on top of that.

Yeah. No, and you know, as we all know, we did have a beautiful last week in the 50s, but uh it's been absolutely brutalous all of January. Not a lot of physical works being done on that site, but I can tell you behind the scenes they are presenting.

I have nothing else from staff.

Uh so if you don't follow our Facebook page, U we are excited to offer free CPR classes to all village residents and I would like to extend that to all our commissions as well. Uh if you didn't have the privilege to come to council last month, please get on YouTube and watch it. Uh there was some great presentations for some phenomenal work that's being done from not only uh citizens but first responders and business owners. And it we actually had a business owner step up that was a part of a CPR save. Uh and when I say CPR save I mean that this individual now has very little deficit and can still contribute to society. Been doing this for 25 plus years. I've been involved with saves, but some of those saves are, you know, maybe not the mental status and assisted living, right? Not the quality of life that you and I appreciate. Uh, but I can tell you this was 100% his quality of life is going to be outanding forward. More importantly, it happened the day before Thanksgiving. But Mr. Thomas Kennedy who owns Broad Street. Thank you. His immediate response of just some training that he had a long time ago, he started CPR on that individual and within minutes of our arrival that was one of the key staples of keeping him alive. Please, if you do, we are offering it one night a week. Please contact the fire station, sign up. It's free. Uh you don't necessarily get certified, but you

get the awareness. You said one night a week

or one night a month, I'm sorry, one night a month. We try to try to provide it. If we see a high demand, we'll definitely offer more. Um but, you know, for my staff to be able to step up and train uh the community on this that hourly wage that paying that staff member to do this uh is nothing compared to the possibility of saving life. And if you did not hear presentation or speech, have a clean Xbox ready. Powerful powerful uh speech. So please, if you know somebody or a family member that lives in the village that may find that useful, uh please reach out to the fire department. Get on our schedule. You never know what could save a life. Sounds good.

Anything else for I' I've talked a lot. So unless anyone has any questions here has any questions glad to answer but um I don't think anything I have one question. Thank you sir. You open it to questions. So uh we were talking about enforcing ordinances and u making sure stuff is in compliance. So for instance um without naming it doesn't really matter but dumpsters for instance I can think of several dumpsters around town that are not enclosed existing non-conformities. So what if they move them around and stuff?

Uh you know I guess that's really you know we have to go back and have some sort of documentation proof that they moved it right. Do you can you give me an example? Uh I don't want to say it off the top of my head but okay maybe we meet privately and have that discussion.

Uh I can tell you anytime that a property does a improvement of 50% or more they are required to bring the entire site into compliance. So uh that's our hammer on that. If that site was developed um prior to the dumpster closure ordinance being in place uh you know that's an existing unconformity or some people uh in the community So I think the one I'm thinking of is uh North Sageno uh just past Graange in front of the smoke shop by Caesar. So there is no place for them to put that uh and that was the initial approval of that placement without an enclosure.

That building's been there a long time. Yeah. Just get an enclosure there and the grading at the welcome to Holly signs. I'd be done. I want Well, I guess we're going to let them hang out there for a long time because we don't want to stick around. Anything else? No one else has anything. Uh, next item is public comments. Again, no one being in the public. We'll move over and adjourn.