Planning Agenda: 2024-03-14

The municipal agenda for the Planning Commission meeting on 2024-03-14 is 👉here👈

916 Benjamin Ave NE

This project was previously on the 2023-12-14 agenda but was withdrawn by the applicant. According to an article in Crains Grand Rapids this was due to escalating costs. That original proposal was to construct three (3) sixteen (16) unit apartment buildings and a ~50 space surface parking lot. The current proposal is still for three (3) structures, but totaling 39 units, a reduction of nine (9) units. Two (2) structures will have sixteen (16) units, and the third structure has been reduced to seven (7) units.

Existing

Elevation

Site

The project will provide six (6) bicycle parking spaces within each structure as well as an exterior bike rack for a total of thirty (30) bicycle parking spaces.

The arbitrary parking requirement of the current ordinance is 1.5 spaces per unit, so fifty nine (59) spaces are required [the math for parking always rounds up - of course]. The proposed surface parking lot is fifty (50) spaces; so a minor parking waiver is required.

Aerial

Zoning

3300 Burton St SE

This project is student family housing for Calvin University on a SD-IC zoned property. The existing site, including a 110 space parking lot, will be demolished. The redeveloped site will have a forty six (46) unit apartment building, a sixty two (62) space parking lot, and a 120 space indoor bicycle parking facility. Is B.O.D. [Bike Oriented Development] a thing?

Existing	Proposed
Zoning	Aerial
Floorplan	Elevation

The current zoning ordinances arbitrary requirement is for seventy four (74) parking spaces, as this project provides a mere sixty two (62) spaces a parking waiver is required. A plan review is also requested, principally due to the grade of the site a portion of the structure is five (5) stories and only four (4) stories are permitted in the SD-IC zone. Even though the building is five (5) stories it still one (1) foot lower than the 55ft height limit set by the ordinance.

The redevelopment of the site will reduce an existing wetland encroachment, yet still be within the fifty (50) feet required by the ordinance. The redevelopment will also increase the site's green space.

2431 Eastern Ave SE

This is a request to operate a 24-hour child care center, in an existing commercial building, within a TN-TBA [Traditional Business Area] zone. There are no other child care facilities withing a five (5) mile radius of the site.

To the rear of the single story structure is a forty two (42) space parking lot. A total of eight (8) parking spaces are required by the city's current ordinance: one (1) parking space per eight clients and one (1) per employee. The facility will be renovated to support twenty four (24) clients and have five (5) employees, thus eight (8) parking spaces [(24/8) + 5]. The parking lot is shared between the adjacent businesses.

Aerial

Zoning

Operation of a childcare facility within TBA zones can be approved by the Planning Director, however the site does not provide a fenced outdoor play area required by the ordinance for a "Child Care Center". The outdoor play area is 755ft away, across three streets, on the property of the Alger Middle School.

Alcohol sales require Special Land Use, this is another of those. More interesting than most as this facility is a laundromat. People spend awhile at a laundromat so it has always made sense to have amenities at laundromats, yet most laundromats are sad places representing minimum investment. As cited in the application this would be the first establishment of its kind in the Grand Rapids area:

THIS WOULD BE A FIRST OF IT'S KIND BUSINESS IN THE GRAND RAPIDS AREA. ALSO THE FIRST IN MICHIGAN THIS IS A ESTABLISHED LAUNDROMAT WHICH IS STAFFED AND ATTENDED. WILL BE ADDING THE SALE OF BEER AND WINE FROM BOTTLES AND CANS.

I feel the desire to take a load of towels down there to have a beer. What commentary Planning Commissioners will have about this project may also prove interesting... the perspective on persons from lower income households consuming alcohol relative to the perception of higher income households consuming alcohol is one that often leaks past the civility filters.

Aerial

Zoning

The hours of operation of the laundromat are 8:00am - 10:00pm seven (7) days a week. The facility can serve twelve (12) to twenty (20) people at any given time. The requested permit is only for sale of packaged [cans & bottles] beer for on-site consumption.