23 May. 2007 | West Bloomfield Beacon – C&G Newspapers

WEST BLOOMFIELD TAKES FIRST STEP TO DEVELOP A DOWNTOWN

DAVID WALLACE; C & G STAFF WRITER   

WEST BLOOMFIELD - The township board voted 5-1 May 14 to introduce an overlay zoning ordinance that sets standards and regulations for the Township Center District, the area around Orchard Lake and Maple roads that officials hope one day takes on the character of a traditional downtown. "This is the first step. This is sort of the fundamental thing that you have to have in place in order to start creating the vision," Jim Breuckman of community-development firm McKenna Associates told the board.

The overlay district divides property into four zones, called "downtown general," "downtown center," "special purpose" and "natural areas."

The goal of the four zones is to create mixed-use neighborhoods - businesses, offices and residences - where people can easily walk from place to place.

Assuming the board adopts the overlay ordinance at a future meeting, two zoning districts will apply to the property in the Township Center District. "The zoning district that it is right now remains in effect, but the Township Center District is overlaid on top of it," explained Breuckman.

So a use in effect today could continue in its present form.

"However, no major expansions or significant alterations to the property can occur in accordance with the zoning district that exists today," said Breuckman. "For instance, if it's (zoned) O-1, a landowner cannot come in and seek to redevelop the property in accordance with the O-1 district. It has to be developed in accordance with the Township Center District standards."

The overlay zoning ordinance allows for buildings four stories tall, at a maximum. The ordinance follows the township's master plan.

"When we spent these years working on the master plan, it was with the idea, and with the approval of the township board, that we would implement and support a downtown in West Bloomfield," said Trustee Stuart Brickner.

"In order to be able to do the master plan - in order to be able to have a downtown - we had to change our ordinances, because we had very restrictive ordinances in terms of not mixing uses, setbacks and things that went contrary to developing a downtown," said Brickner. "Basically, we have a strip-center- oriented West Bloomfield and Orchard Lake Road, and in order to change that concept, and it's not going to happen overnight, we needed to look at it totally different, which this master plan does."

Some might wonder about the attractiveness of the plan in the down economy.

"The huge, powerful economic incentive that's built into the master plan is the fact that if you allow for four times as much lease-able space on the existing land that's owned, you are providing a powerful economic incentive to quadruple the revenue on a given piece of land. And over a period of 10, 20, 30, 40 years, that is a huge amount of potential revenue," said Brickner.

"In this country, we go through business cycles, and we have put into place a mechanism whereby as the business cycles begin to turn up, which eventually they do, we will be able to take advantage of those," said Brickner.

Trustee Deborah Macon voted against the overlay ordinance's introduction. She made clear that she didn't oppose the work done preparing the ordinance, but she questioned the township's commitment to following through with a next step after putting the ordinance in place.

"I would be much more confident if I knew that somewhere the township board was going to be making a commitment, a firm commitment, to follow up on the next step," said Macon.

Breuckman gave a couple of examples of next steps that would encourage redevelopment. He said the township could create a secondary street network from Orchard Lake Road. The ordinance includes specifications for new streets.

He also said another step would be to form a central organization that could create marketing initiatives to educate landowners and potential landowners.

Copyright, 2007, West Bloomfield Beacon (MI), All Rights Reserved.