At their upcoming meeting on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 7 p.m., the Peninsula Township Board will hold a public hearing on a proposed redevelopment on Seven Hills Road. The meeting will be held in-person at the Township Hall, and also streamed live on the Township website (bottom of the home page).
Under Special Use Permit #139, developers Jordan Valdmanis, Brian Peace, Troy Daily and Jay Milliken, operating as OMP Seven Hills, LLC, are seeking to redevelop the 2.05-acre commercially-zoned space located at 13795 Seven Hills Road, north of Devils Dive Road.
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In addition to the existing art gallery (Tinker Studio) and massage studio, plans include mixed retail, a coffee shop, alcoholic beverage tasting room, quick service restaurant, yoga and fitness studios, farmer’s market, and rentals of bikes, stand-up paddleboards, kayaks, ice skates, snowshoes and cross-country skis. The application also incorporates on-site ice-skating and hiking, and self-accessible storage units.
When the developers presented the project at the December meeting of the Planning Commission, plans included a two-story, 10-unit motel on the west side of the parcel. However, as they did not have the required five acres necessary to move forward with the motel, that component has since been removed.
In addition to the new uses, the developers will also be utilizing the existing uses approved under Special Use Permit #35. At one time, the property was owned by Arnold White and used as an engineering and manufacturing facility, specializing in cherry sprayers and cherry shakers. For many years, it’s housed a handful of occupants, including Tinker Art Studio, Old Mission Massage Therapy, John Wunsch’s Strings by Mail and others.
The project includes building removal to allow for more green space, as well as updates to interior and exterior elements of existing structures. Exterior facade renovations are aimed at replicating the farmhouse style of Peninsula Community Library, following a pattern of clean exterior elements and white/neutral colors. The existing driveway from Seven Hills Road would remain the same.
The developers are currently under a purchase contract with the existing owner. For more info about the project, check out the meeting packet on the Township’s website here.
Public comments may be made in person at the board meeting, or you may also email comments to Peninsula Township Planner Randy Mielnik, [email protected].
The meeting agenda also includes a public hearing for the Proposed General Funds and Special Funds Budget for Fiscal Year 2021–2022, a second public hearing for Fire Special Assessment District for Fiscal Year 2021–2022, discussion of the updated Scenic Viewsheds Map and List of Parcels in Viewshed, and an update on various township legal matters.
Thoughts on the Seven Hills development or other items on the agenda? Sound off in the comments section at the bottom of this story.
A NOTE FROM JANE: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers like the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, and magazines like Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So of course, I started my own newspaper. Because the Gazette is mainly reader-supported, I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks my way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the Old Mission Peninsula. Check out the donation page here. Thank you so much for your support. -jb
Thanks for this update. We would hope to see an elevation/ landscape design plan before arriving at an opinion. Most of the business described doesn’t concern us in the development, if it is tastefully executed. The individual storage units raise a definite red flag. Are they really necessary? Especially since they certainly don’t add to a beautiful rural/peninsula community within that two acre parcel. Also- security?
We have the Pennisula market complex for food and drink where are the public access for the proposed rentals this doesn’t bring anything we need in the area accept more traffic why would this get approved
Very exciting! We need a coffee shop!