Public Hearing Scheduled for ‘The 81’ Development

The Peninsula Township Board will hold a public hearing for ‘The 81 On East Bay’ development at a special meeting on November 17, 2016 at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, located at 12675 Center Road on the Old Mission Peninsula.

The public hearing will cover limited issues related to an application for a special use permit for property as a planned unit development (PUD) under the Peninsula Township Zoning Ordinance.

The application, SUP#123, is by The 81 Development Company, LLC for property owned by the same company. The hearing will take place in order to re-consider issues remanded back to the Township Board by the Grand Traverse County Circuit Court as follows:

“SUP #123 – By order of the Circuit Court for the County of Grand Traverse dated 01/15/2016, “The issues delegated to the Peninsula Township Fire Department and the Township Engineer for review and approval including the location and functionality of the emergency access road, and whether the standards for soil erosion, grading and storm water have been met, are remanded to the Board for further proceedings consistent with this decision and order.”

The property is located on the north side of Boursaw Road on the Old Mission Peninsula, Section 29, Peninsula Township, PARCEL ID #28-11-114-001-00, 28-11-114-002-00.

A copy of all documents related to this application may be examined at 13235 Center Road, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Written comments regarding this item may be submitted to the Peninsula Township Clerk, 13235 Center Rd. Traverse City, Michigan 49686, no later than 12 p.m. on November 17, 2016.

This public hearing follows on the heels of a public hearing on August 23, 2016. More than 100 people crowded into St. Joseph Catholic Church only to learn that the hearing would be postponed after the Township Board learned that one of the development’s roads didn’t meet the international fire code. Read more about that meeting here.

The Township Board approved “The 81” PUD in August 2015; however, following that decision, legal action was brought by neighboring Old Mission Peninsula resident Jim Komendera and his group “Preserve Old Mission,” noting that the character, density and environmental impact of the project was inconsistent with the Peninsula and the standards of the Zoning Ordinance.

In January 2016, Judge Philip Rogers of the 13th Circuit Court remanded the project back to the Township, as noted above, to resolve issues involving fire access, soil erosion and engineering.

The 81 Development Company currently has two plans for this property under review with Peninsula Township. The first – the PUD approved in August 2015 – includes 41 single-family lots, new paved roads, and up to 40 boat docking spaces.

The second – a plat subdivision plan, which is a use by right – includes 53 units/lots, each with individual wells and septic. Average lot size is approximately one acre, with 150 feet of frontage on a private road. Thirteen of the lots would be located along the eastern boundary of the property and have private water access on East Grand Traverse Bay. The remaining 40 lots would not have water access.

Read all news about The 81 development here. Here’s a map for St. Joseph Catholic Church, where the Nov. 17 public hearing will take place.