SPRING LAKE, Mich. — A steady stream of Spring Lake residents made their case to the city’s planning commission that a proposed rezoning would negatively impact the area, effectively causing the commission to postpone any decisions on the matter until next month.
The proposal intends to rezone 250 acres of agricultural and rural residential land into a medium-density residential space. A portion of the property that would be affected includes Poel's Blueberry Farm near West Spring Lake Road.
Previous reports clarify that no property development is currently under consideration – just the rezoning. However, if the property were to be rezoned, P5 Land Investments does have plans for development if the rezoning were to move forward.
At least 100 community members attended the meeting Wednesday evening at Spring Lake Middle School.
During the public comment period, speakers said that moving forward with the rezoning would lead to a condensed housing development that would hurt the small township’s community and their environment.
One woman who spoke out said the rezoning points out a possible double-standard that sends a confusing message to the community.
“At the last meeting, we had to hear about the nesting of the cycle of the birds in an area for the new Dollar General on M-104,” she said. “What about all the wildlife that you're going to totally destroy by developing this rich person's trailer park?”
The proposal has even caused the creation of a Change.org campaign.
Though it was said the township is currently facing a lack of housing, another resident said moving forward with the rezoning would be “intentional overkill” and take a heavy toll on their quality of life.
Others voiced concerns that the rezoning would create an influx of traffic while adding there hasn’t been enough studies to demonstrate how a large housing development would impact their community.
“I think it was fair, and people were respectful,” said Community Development Director Lukas Hill. “Our planning commission heard our community and they tabled action on this tonight, because they wanted to think about what all the comments that were received… Community engagement is important.”
Planning commissioner Greg Latsch moved to table any decision-making until their June 21 meeting and thanked the community for speaking out.
“I know this is very emotional for everyone and it's your home, your castle – totally get that. We heard a tremendous amount of passion but you did a fantastic job of putting that into context,” Latsch said. “I would like to ask you to come back next month where we won't have a public hearing, but we will be going through every single item – we’ll have all of the information summarized for us so that we have a chance to digest it. We have some research to do based upon some information that that we received.”
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