APPROVED
Minutes of a Joint Work Session
Pittsfield Charter Township Board of Trustees and
Planning Commission, October 28, 2002
E.A. Jackson Morris Hall, The Robert A. LillieServiceCenter
6201 W. Michigan Avenue, Ann
Arbor, Michigan48108
Board of Trustees Members Present: Brostrom,Burhop, Lirones, Marine, Skrobola, Walter
Board of Trustees Members Absent: Conner
Planning Commission Members Present: Banush, Griess, Lirones, Luna, Resha, Ward
Planning Commission Members Absent: Schneyer
Others Present: Nicole Hlavka (Recording Clerk)
___________________________________________________________________________________
1.0 Call Meeting to Order
Supervisor Walter called the
meeting to order at 7:30 p.m., a quorum was present.
2.0 Pledge of Allegiance led bySupervisor Walter.
3.0 Roll Call-Trustee Conner and Norman Schneyer were absent.
4.0 Open Meetings Act/Public Comment I-none.
5.0 Public Hearings/Presentations
6.0 Approval of Minutes
7.0 Consent Agenda
8.0 Items from the Treasurer
9.0 Items from the Clerk
10.0 Items from the Supervisor/Assessor
11.0 Items from the Office of Public Safety
12.0 Items from the Office of Municipal Services/Planning and Zoning
Supervisor Walter explained that this meeting is not about the US-12 improvement study, but rather that it is about access to Michigan Avenue. He introduced Matt Webb from the Michigan Department of Transportation.
12.1 Discussion on Access Management Plan and Overlay Zoning District.
Mr. Webb said in the packets of information, the exhibits are going from the east township lines towards the east end of Saline. He said this study addresses the access to and from both existing and future planned development on Michigan Ave. He said access management refers to improving traffic engineering techniques that can preserve the traffic flow, improve safety and preserve investment. He said there are two key opportunities to manage growth and access to that development along a roadway: when a future development is proposed and the road agency reviews it, or when the township is reviewing future developments or redevelopments. He showed an exhibit of the US-12 corridor about ten to fifteen years ago. He said over time, as the area develops, flares and right turn lanes are required. That minor improvement can then spur on additional development, until eventually there is an arterial improvement needed to provide capacity. He said the primary benefit of the access management plan is safety. He said back in the early 1990’s MDOT studied crash data and found that 68% of non-freeway crashes were related to access movements. He said 50% of these crashes were related to “left in” movements where there are four potential crossings. He said every new driveway adds at least nine potential conflict points. He said another study was done doubling the access density from 10 to 20 access points per mile, which increased crashes. He said it is important to look at different concepts to manage the access to a roadway. He said access management also provides opportunity to implement aesthetic improvements, and the reduction in crashes and improved aesthetics preserves land owners’ investment along the corridor. He added that studies by the National Highway Institute show that as speeds decrease and congestion increases, businesses are negatively impacted on the corridor. He said most access management techniques are very cost effective. He said additional benefits for retail businesses are: more room for parking, lower maintenance costs, and multiple shopping stops. He said the township controls everything outside of the right of way and MDOT controls everything inside of the right of way; MDOT is required to provide reasonable access and it is up to the township and MDOT jointly to decide what that is.
Brad Strader, from Langworthy Strader LeBlanc (LSL), consultants for the project, said it does take a partnership between the township and the state. He said it is a good problem solving technique to have everyone gathered at this meeting for direct communication. He said a lot of the data already collected for the improvement study was reviewed, along with national research and regulations other townships have used successfully or unsuccessfully. He said it is important in this ordinance to list all of the findings. He said the goal is for the township to adopt this plan as a supplement to the Comprehensive Plan, and this would be adopted by the Planning Commission like an element of the Comprehensive Plan. He said without access management, each residential land split or commercial property gets an individual driveway, causing numerous conflict points, and if that happens on both sides of the road, there is a lot of potential for crashes. He said for US-12 there is a potential need for acquisition of additional right of way; another option is to allow clustering of units to preserve the right of way. He stated that a member of the public from a previous meeting asked why the US-12 widening project was taking so long when M-59 in Livingston County is well underway; the reason is that ten or twelve years ago the right of way was preserved at the local level and funding was available. He added that each project is different, but working together with MDOT and the land owners to preserve the right of way might help to expedite the improvement project. He said MDOT, the Washtenaw County Road Commission and the township will all look at certain things in regard to driveways, and if everyone works together, problems can be worked out. He said this plan is relatively simple and easy to apply, when combined with ordinance amendments based on the plan. He said as it is drafted now, the standards would apply to everyone with frontage on US-12, but there is some possibility that the Board might want these regulations to apply township wide. He said he has talked to Senior Planner Mark Spencer about whether this should be in the zoning ordinance, and that his preference is to have this in the zoning ordinance as an overlay. He addressed Commissioner Julie Griess’s question raised at the workshop, about how this would be applied if there is an existing development. He replied that the idea would be to implement this site by site, and if there is an existing driveway that does not meet the standards try to encourage them to work together to close the existing driveway and build a new driveway that meets the standards. He said sometimes this can take a long time so you might need some short term solutions. He said when new development comes in the township can get it to meet the regulations. He suggested getting easements or performance guarantees. He said when a vacant land owner comes in for development, or existing development comes in and wants to redevelop, expand or change its use, the standards can be implemented gradually. He said at the workshop, a couple of land owners asked how they could prove that additional driveways are needed. He replied that if they can prove through a traffic study that there is an advantage to everyone for an additional driveway or variance from the standards, the township has the right to vary from the standards without going to the Zoning Board of Appeals. He said it gives the township an ability to negotiate from a stronger stand point with developers to get short term improvements to US-12 in addition to the driveway issue. He thought implementation suggestions should be added with these drawings. He also thought that a definition could be developed for reasonable access.
Trustee Burhop asked why the focus was on US-12 because there are situations where access design is needed on other roads.
Mr. Strader said the study was funded by MDOT to focus on US-12, but he felt some of these principals could work on some of the other roads. He said MDOT could still do a US-12 overlay and the township could have a separate set of township wide standards outside of US-12.
Commissioner Griess clarified this process with Mr. Strader.
Mr. Strader said this is really just refining what is in the Comprehensive Plan. He said the Comprehensive Plan has enough information to apply these principals township wide without a detailed plan.
Clerk Lirones referred to the maps at the meeting and asked if they would be attached to the ordinance or not attached to anything.
Mr. Strader said the maps will be referenced as part of the Comprehensive Plan or could be incorporated into the plan but would not be part of the ordinance.
Clerk Lirones asked if these maps would appear in the Comprehensive Plan.
Mr. Strader said typically it is a separate small publication. He said there may be one page of changes in the Comprehensive Plan that says there is a separate access management plan for US-12 and to refer to a separate study.
Clerk Lirones suggested including the maps just for US-12 for a specific access management plan, but with the concepts in use township wide.
Mr. Strader said there was already a good foundation to do this township wide.
Commissioner Ward said an overlay zone would be the appropriate method of action to take as an amendment of the Comprehensive Plan. He said it was interesting that under Section 100 –Findings it states that a high percentage of the traffic on US-12 has an origin or destination in the township. He wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention, that it is the citizens that are really affected by whatever is done.
Supervisor Walter said the number that was given was 90% but there are certain situations where there is a lot of through traffic.
Mr. Webb said it was 90%, and that station were set up east of US-23 and by Industrial Drive to determine whether people were going on through trips or within the study area.
Supervisor Walter asked if this was done by observing license plates.
Mr. Webb said that video cameras were set up to capture license plates and were then plugged into a computer database to track the number of trips and destinations of vehicles.
Trustee Marine said the state has been looking at this as a major highway running from one side of the state to the other. He remarked on finding out now that data suggests it is a local road. He said this has to have a major impact on the thinking about the improvement process for this road, because there is a difference between a highway and a local road.
Mr. Webb said that MDOT is still required to plan for a minimum threshold level based on the amount of traffic regardless of where it is coming from. He said US-12 is an east west corridor, but it is more of a historic corridor and it is probably not a top statewide priority.
Trustee Marine said it is clear that the state has come in numerous times and talked about wanting to make this into a large five lane road before the township discussed access management. He said now the township is discussing access management which is a way to treat it more locally, for the local traffic to get on and off.
Supervisor Walter said the 90% figure indicates that the township needs to look at access management independent of and regardless of whatever the final configuration of the road is. He said the township needs to protect the capacity of this road to serve both in the short and long term, and funding sources must be sought. He said if the township focuses on access management, there are useful tools for preserving the serviceability of whatever road the township has or will end up with.
Leonard Bronsberg, audience member, said if the concept for access management would not be included into the Comprehensive Plan, what would happen if a developer comes in and challenges the access management guidelines in court.
Mr. Strader said when the Comprehensive Plan was done, it was not known if this study would happen. He felt there was enough language in the plan to apply the access management regulation township wide.
Commissioner Ward said he thought the township was going to add an access management plan for US-12 to the Comprehensive Plan, not a separate attachment. He said he thinks that there should be the US-12 access management plan in the Comprehensive Plan, with standards applied township wide.
Mr. Srader said the text for the plan is very short and that will be part of the Comprehensive Plan.
Senior Planner Mark Spencer said it could be just an addendum to the plan.
Mr. Strader said it is an addendum to the plan and it can be published as part of the plan or separate.
Commissioner Ward said it is important that the township publishes an addendum to the plan, with graphics, along with the text.
Supervisor Walter said physically there may be things that are referenced to in the plan that are separate documents.
Senior Planner Spencer said 90% of this is going to apply township wide with specifics about US-12.
Trustee Burhop asked who would pay for driveway changes.
Mr. Strader said if there is an existing business with three driveways and the plan shows to close two of them, the closure will only happen if the Road Commission, township or MDOT pays to close them. However, if someone comes in with a new site plan, they would have to meet the new standards and pay.
Supervisor Walter said this plan is not something the township is going to go out and command people to do; this is what people will be asked or allowed to do.
Clerk Lirones asked if the maps would be discussed tonight.
Mr. Strader said yes.
Clerk Lirones said she likes it all but is concerned with being too literal with the island between Old State and New State, where the road is drawn in. She wondered if the connector road could be eliminated showing the points of egress and ingress instead. She said she is concerned with showing this road as it is because someone could come in and say, “it is right there in the ordinance, you have to let me put this road in,” without the necessary stop signs or curves to slow the traffic down. She said there have been proposals in the past that go through the site below Avis Farms South that line up with Fosdick Rd. and people could go straight up Fosdick Rd. crossing through that site, and driving through Walmart and using Community Drive as an alternative to Michigan Avenue to get to the commercial areas on Industrial. She suggested just showing arrows as in other spots where potential ingress and egress could be. She said the township is being set up for a problem with this drawn in.
Supervisor Walter said language is needed that indicates that these are designed to be ingress and egress to the site and must be designed and executed in a way to prevent any sort of cut through traffic. He said the text should indicate that this is not designed to be a roadway to facilitate traffic to have an alternative to Michigan Avenue.
Commissioner Ward referred to the third map showing the US-23 interchange. He said it showed specific changes to two of the four ramps on the interchange and asked if the changes would be occurring at the access points shown and felt the ramp on the east side could affect some of the discussion going on with Sam’s Club.
Mr. Webb said one of the alternatives being looked at is lining the ramps up.
Commissioner Ward asked if it is prudent to show a specific ramp concept, in light of what was just discussed.
Supervisor Walter said the Steering Committee has urged MDOT to consider an urban point interchange there, and the ramps and lights must line up no matter what type is chosen.
Mr. Webb explained the concept of a single point interchange. He said the benefit is that it does not require as much right of way layout but drawbacks are the cost and geometric operations of getting everything to line up, and the bridge structures.
Supervisor Walter said the key thing for this township is a more compact interchange so the ramps on the east side will be closer to the current US-23 right of way.
Mr. Strader said the single point interchange is like taking a four way intersection and turning it 45 degrees. He said it pulls everything together in a tight location.
Trustee Marine asked where one is being built.
Mr. Webb said one is being planned at M-59 and US-23, and on the south belt line in Grand Rapids at M-10 one is being built.
Trustee Brostrom asked if the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Platt Road would be addressed.
Mr. Webb said MDOT did a signal study last summer and it did not meet the need for a left turn phasing. He said with the amount of growth and development, MDOT will continue to look at this intersection.
Supervisor Walter asked if some cleanup could be done on northbound Platt Rd. between Textile Rd. and Michigan Avenue.
Mr. Webb said MDOT met with the Road Commission and one recommendation was a one way for the segment of Textile Rd. between Platt and Michigan Ave. He said there could be more capacity for Platt Rd. to stack more vehicles in that short area but that cannot be done until MDOT has an environmental clearance to purchase property.
Supervisor Walter asked if some verbiage could be included that would require that wide driveways have stripping and painting so ingress and egress would be clear.
Mr. Strader said that is something that can be added especially for nonconforming sites. He said some communities have used transportation enhancement funds for streetscape enhancements. The owner can get two driveways that are clearly defined, attractive streetside landscaping, and an easily identified access point.
Commissioner Ward said the intersection of Michigan Ave. and Platt Rd. is a mess.
Clerk Lirones asked if the section of Textile identified was changed to one way, how would those people get to their houses?
Mr. Strader said this had been proposed by the Road Commission, and was not really part of the access management plan.
Leonard Bronsberg asked if the study MDOT did on the intersection of Michigan Ave. and Platt Rd. was done over an 8 hour or 24 hour period.
Mr. Webb said it was an 8 hour period.
Mr. Bronsberg said some cities perform these studies at peak hours. He said if there was an arrow it would help people to make turns and eliminate accidents.
Mr. Webb asked if there was any timeline for development in the area.
Supervisor Walter said the Rosewood development and Rolling Meadows Phase III are coming soon.
Commissioner Banush said these studies don’t reflect reality. He said if a signal saves one life then what does the cost of the signal matter?
Mr. Webb said on the other hand if a signal is placed at every intersection it could actually lessen safety.
Supervisor Walter said the geometry of the Michigan Ave. and Platt Rd. intersection is a problem and causes an extra factor of danger.
Mr. Strader said sometimes a signal is put in and the number of accidents go up.
Commissioner Resha said the biggest problem about the Michigan Ave. and Platt Rd. intersection is that there are no left turn arrows.
Mr. Strader said when developers do a traffic study they run all the numbers and may say a left turn arrow is warranted now. The township can show the study to MDOT. He said requiring studies from developers also gives the township gets more up to date information and improvements. He said sometimes the developer will even help pay for improvements.
Commissioner Griess said a turn arrow can make an intersection worse.
Commissioner Banush said some of the traffic studies go back to 1995 and wondered how often a traffic study was done.
Mr. Webb said he would take a look and see if MDOT has a more current information.
Commissioner Banush asked about adjustment factors that could be incorporated in this or if actual counts are used.
Mr. Webb said typically MDOT likes to use real counts. He said there is an adjustment factor of about 2% for growth each year.
Senior Planner Spencer asked if the township would be getting copies of the traffic studies going on.
Mr. Webb said all of that information will be provided in the environmental document but MDOT can provide a technical appendix for the township as well.
Senior Planner Spencer said he thought it would help.
Clerk Lirones said there are parcels throughout this plan where there is no indication put in for a service drive between two parcels. She asked if the township finds in the future we would like to have access between parcels that we simply did not foresee can they be added in later?
Mr. Strader said the ordinance policies can allow the township to make those decisions later.
Mr. Bronsberg asked about Sam’s Club.
Supervisor Walter said the township is insisting on moving the Carpenter Rd. entrance to the north.
Treasurer Skrobola said the most active intersection in the township is Carpenter Rd. and Michigan Ave. and in the future a lot of this traffic can be avoided with the paving of Morgan Rd. but that does not make sense if the issue of Crane Rd. and Morgan Rd. is not addressed. He said if Morgan Rd. is used to alleviate the intersection of Carpenter Rd. and Michigan Ave. it will create another Platt Rd. type intersection problem at the Crane/Morgan alignment intersection. He said this makes sense to do but needed to be done in a more reasonable fashion than shown. He said there is some concern about a historical structure in this area, but he thought it needed to be looked at more closely. He recommended a good 90 degree intersection with the appropriate light and ample turning lanes on westbound Michigan Ave. He said this is already a great safety difficulty as it currently stands. He suggested that Morgan Rd. be turned so it comes in perpendicular to Michigan Ave., and Crane Rd. should be done the same way. He said it would call for some fill on the west side of the intersection of Crane Rd. and Michigan Ave. so that it could become perpendicular, and it would call for some additional consideration of the historical structure that is in the way or close to being in the way of making Morgan Rd. perpendicular to Michigan Ave.
Mr. Webb said on the southwest quadrant of Crane Rd. there are wetlands and some other issues as well as historic resources and soils but MDOT can take a look at it.
Treasurer Skrobola said there is great potential for a lot of activity at this intersection and good consideration not only to realignment is a concern, as well as a turning lane, especially on westbound Michigan Ave.
Commissioner Ward said at this intersection people are going on the shoulder and it is getting torn up.
Supervisor Walter said access management deals mostly with driveways but intersections should also be considered, given some of the dangerous access at some of the intersections.
Mr. Strader said the Comprehensive Plan text should have enough language for access management township wide in the guidelines and sub areas. He suggested an amendment if needed with new plan text along with these maps. He said there will be an amendment to the plan specific to US-12, ordinance standards for a US-12 overlay district for access management, and either as part of that article or separate, there will be township wide access management standards, all of which will be open for discussion at the public hearing on December 5th. He said Mr. Webb would forward the information discussed on Morgan Rd., Platt Rd. and so forth to the other consulting team to consider this part of the improvement study and order another study of Platt Rd.
Supervisor Walter said the Public Hearing would be at the Planning Commission, which then makes a recommendation to the Board. He said normally amendments to a plan and zoning ordinance changes would go to the Washtenaw County Planning Commission.
Commissioner Resha said the county has appointed an advisory committee.
Senior Planner Spencer said the county will review plan amendments.
Supervisor Walter said the ordinances will then come to the Board.
Mr. Strader said if the Planning Commission holds a Public Hearing and adopts this access management plan, the Board can then adopt it at any time. He said the Planning Commission would need to adopt it before the end of the year.
Clerk Lirones asked if it could be adopted the same night as the Public Hearing.
Mr. Strader said yes.
Senior Planner Spencer said otherwise the County has a 90 day review period.
Supervisor Walter said that is one of the problems with the new Planning Act.
Mr. Strader said it is not critical or urgent like the Comprehensive Plan was. He said if there is public comment at the Planning Commission Meeting, the township can adopt it and amend the plan in 2003.
Mr. Bronsberg asked what input the Washtenaw County Road Commission has on some of the thoughts about Morgan Rd., Crane Rd. and the Textile segment being one way, and wanted to know who had the last word in this.
Supervisor Walter said the Road Commission is not a planning agency but an action agency and typically ideas are brought to them and negotiations go on and they either say yes or no. He said the local unit of government is the one that will do the thinking and planning. He said in the past the township has shared plans with the Road Commission and it has been a good working relationship. He said in a situation like MDOT where they are looking at a big road improvement the planning they do is very different in nature than what the township does.
Mr. Webb said the Road Commission participated as part of the Steering Committee and have been actively involved, and he did not think they would have a problem with any of the standards.
Supervisor Walter said when the representatives of the Road Commission came to the Steering Committee they participated fully, but they do not do the planning that you see here.
Senior Planner Spencer said typically the Road Commission and MDOT must be working together on these projects to make them work. He said the Road Commission has looked specifically at some of these intersections for improvements and kicked around some ideas.
Supervisor Walter said the Road Commission will look at things from an engineering standpoint rather than a planning standpoint. He said the township is hoping this will set the pattern for the future and local governments won’t go their own way without working with the other agencies that, ultimately, the township must depend on.
13.0 Items from the Parks & Recreation Department
14.0 Unfinished Business
15.0 New Business
16.0 Public Comment II-none.
17.0 Adjournment by Supervisor Walter at 9:06 p.m.
__________________________________
Nicole Hlavka, Department Assistant
Recording Clerk
Pittsfield Charter Township
_________________________
Christina L. Lirones, Clerk
Pittsfield Charter Township
__________________________
James R. Walter, Supervisor
Pittsfield Charter Township
MINUTES ARE APPROVED, AS CORRECTED, AT THE PITTSFIELD CHARTER TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING HELD ON NOVEMBER 12, 2002.
