Garfield Township planning commissioners have approved a new 149-unit workforce apartment complex to be built on the Gauthier property on US-31 just north of McRae Hill Road. Planning commissioners also scheduled a June 11 public hearing for a proposed 24-unit expansion of Lake Pointe Village on Boardman Lake. However, the board tabled an application for a new nightclub, sports bar, and restaurant center at the Cherryland Center called High Tops, citing a need to better address noise concerns.

Gauthier Housing Development
Developer Keel Capital has received township approval to construct three buildings with 149 rental apartments on US-31. The development will include a mix of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units. Planned amenities include a fitness center, club room, pavilion, playground structure, community fire pit, grills, and picnic tables. The property is home to several wetlands and wooded hillsides, which will be largely preserved. The development will be accessed from an existing driveway on US-31.

Developers estimated they could invest $35 million into the property, including removing existing buildings, conducting site preparation, and construction. Keel Capital previously received township and county approval to be reimbursed nearly $10 million in expenses over a 20-year period through brownfield tax increment finance (TIF) capture in exchange for building below-market housing. Rents for all apartments at the Gauthier site will be capped at 100 percent of the area median income (AMI). If rents – which are verified annually with the state – go higher than 100 percent AMI, the developers won’t be eligible for reimbursement.

Planning commissioners have been reviewing the project for several months. As part of their approval, commissioners attached several conditions. One is verification of wetland delineation on the property by the state, which the development team said was recently completed and will be verified with the township shortly. Planning commissioners also wrestled with how to address a standard to have a shared-use pathway along the property. The presence of the wetlands and a creek prevent “any locations for construction of a pathway, particularly along the north side of the driveway entrance,” staff noted in a report.

Developers said it was possible to eventually construct a boardwalk over the wetlands but asked the township not to impose that requirement now since neighboring properties don’t have a connection – meaning it would essentially be a path to nowhere. Keel Capital and planning commissioners reached a compromise in which the developers agreed to provide an easement for a future pathway connection and to construct one when a suitable design can be configured in conjunction with adjacent properties.

Lake Pointe Village Expansion
Planning commissioners have set a June 11 public hearing for a major amendment to the Lake Pointe Village planned unit development (PUD). A PUD is a zoning plan tailored to a specific property – usually to accommodate unique site conditions or a mix of uses – and requires board approval for any significant changes.

Owner SPPEC Holdings LLC is planning to expand Lake Pointe Village off Oak Hollow Drive, a site originally proposed to host commercial buildings. The developers want to amend the PUD to instead allow two three-story residential buildings with multi-family units to be constructed (pictured, rendering). The larger building would be over 12,000 square feet and hold 14 units, including 10 two-bedroom units and 4 three-bedroom units. The second building would be over 9,000 square feet and have 10 units, including 6 two-bedroom units and 4 three-bedroom units. The ground floor of each building would be used for covered parking.

The site is “one of the last undeveloped parcels within the Lake Pointe PUD,” applicants wrote. “The proposed residential use maintains the same site planning and potentially less intensity (population and traffic) than the commercial use approved in the original Lake Pointe Village PUD.”

Before setting the hearing, planning commissioners briefly discussed a letter from the Watershed Center requesting more details on the riparian buffer. Staff noted that most of the site’s extensive tree coverage will be preserved, while applicants wrote that setbacks “will allow for ample natural buffers and barriers between the built area and the public amenities.” The site plan also includes a proposed trail connector to the Boardman Lake Loop Trail from Oak Hollow Drive. Email documents show that TART Trails and SPPEC Holdings LLC are collaborating on trail easements.

High Tops
Planning commissioners continue to express concerns about potential impacts on neighbors from a nightclub, sports bar, and restaurant center proposed for the Cherryland Center. After dropping plans to open High Tops at the Grand Traverse Mall, owner Philip Beehler initially planned to open in the former Sears building at the Cherryland Center. However, he changed course and targeted the former Younkers building after planning commissioners worried that the rear-facing main entrance and parking area at Sears – combined with plans for late hours and music – would be disruptive to neighbors on Woodward Avenue.

Beehler tried to address those concerns in the Younkers space, noting the business would be oriented toward the front entrance and have sound-dampening walls and ceilings. However, multiple neighbors still worried that noise from both the nightclub inside and patrons and vehicles outside – including in the rear parking area – would be disruptive at night. Beehler said he would do his best to discourage traffic from the rear area but noted he only had so much control since the back lot is accessible by a shared corridor used by multiple tenants in the building. Township Deputy Planning Director Steve Hannon encouraged Beehler to consult with the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office to get a law enforcement perspective on the best operational design to discourage disruptive behavior, while several planning commissioners asked Beehler to consult with a sound engineer or another similar professional on noise mitigation.

“You need to add some credibility to your presentation, because there are a great deal of concerns in the public that we have to be responsive to,” said Planning Commission Chair Chris DeGood. Beehler agreed to pursue professional sound assistance, with the planning commission tabling the application in the meantime.