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STERLING HEIGHTS — Despite concerns voiced by residents, the Sterling Heights City Council voted unanimously to move forward with plans for a proposed storage facility.
At its Sept. 15 meeting, the council held a public hearing and voted on plans for a proposed storage facility on the north side of 14 Mile Road, between Maple Lane Drive and Red Run Street. The property is bordered on the north side by the Red Run floodplain, and the Macomb County Drain easement and the ITC Corridor to the east.
The plans for the proposed facility would include 167 storage units in 10 buildings on about 6.2 acres of land, or two parcels, located at 12555 14 Mile. They also include privacy fencing and new trees being planted along the southern end of the property facing 14 Mile.
The site is currently zoned O2 - Planned Office District, but due to the constraints and the property being used as a former landfill, Assistant City Planner Shawn Keenan said the applicant has requested a planned unit development Agreement which would require modifying the zoning ordinance.
Modifications would include things such as reducing the front yard setback from 95 feet to 85 feet and allowing for a reduction of building setbacks on the eastern border, along the ITC Corridor.
“There really isn’t going to be any residential houses being built on that property,” Keenan said.
Ryan Fox, who works in the city’s planning department, said the PUD allows for a more collaborative process between the applicant and the city, and it can grant more flexibility than conditional rezoning.
“If you did a conventional rezoning of this at least two properties to C3, it does create a little bit of an island of commercial (land) that’s surrounded by office and residential, so that’s not necessarily best practice when it comes to zoning,” he said.
Due to limitations on the property, Fox said the storage facility was a good option.
“It’s definitely the kind of challenging parcel that we recommend a PUD so that developers can get creative with their designs and whatnot,” he said. “So am I going to say that it’s impossible? I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t tell you for sure if it was impossible, but this does seem like a very reasonable proposal for the site.”
The plans were approved by the planning commission in July.
However, while some council members praised the applicant for the creative use of the property, residents have voiced concerns over possible environmental hazards that may be caused by building on top of the landfill, which is now vacant.
During the hearing, Tony Saco, who filed the application, said the site had mostly been used for dumping industrial waste, and that a report done by the state didn’t show any methane being produced.
“This wasn’t a facility where they dumped regular trash in there to create the methane,” he said.
Saco also said the original plans for the property were for an apartment complex, but they had to change the plans when they found out it was a former landfill.
However, despite the environmental concerns, the storage facility was met with support from the City Council.
Mayor Pro Tem Liz Sierawski said she appreciated that the designers are preserving the floodplains. Councilman Michael Radtke, who said he generally opposes storage facilities, was in favor of this one.
“I, in the past, have not been a huge fan of storage facilities. That being said, I think that this is a very unique parcel, and I appreciate the property owner working with the office of planning,” he said.
Both Sierawski and Radtke raised the question of whether or not the concrete slab the facility would be built on would help prevent petroleum and other chemicals in the soil from penetrating the ground any deeper.
Fox said the concrete slab would also help prevent storm water from mixing with any chemicals that may be left from the landfill.
“It also creates a separate stormwater system,” he said. “When the water hits the pavement, that then is separated from that pollution and then flows into the Red Run Drain in a cleaner form.”
Radtke did ask that the developers plant several trees in the city right-of-way in front of the building, which Saco said they could accommodate.
Councilwoman Deanna Koski asked Fox if he could think of any better use for the property.
“If I had an unlimited budget, I could make you a palace, but realistically, just looking at the economic realities of the market that we’re in, I think that this use, as stated before, it’s a move in the right direction,” he said.
