The process to establish a Montessori daycare at Clark Lake took a step forward at last night’s Columbia Charter Township Planning Commission meeting.  The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of Diane and Brad Smith’s site plan and special use proposal.  From here, the plan goes before the Township Board on June 17th for the final decision.  The Planning Commission’s motion to approve was made by Mike McKay who added two caveats – that any added lighting be pointed down so as not to shine into nearby structures and that the parking lot on the north side of North Street be closed during days the daycare is operating.

Mike believed boaters maneuvering trailers in the north parking lot would create a safety hazard as kids are dropped off or picked up.   He pointed to comments made by Police Chief Jay Niles as recorded in the planning document assembled by Brittany Stein, building/planning/zoning manager:  “…the biggest concerns would be vehicle traffic during drop-off and pick-up times. He [Chief Niles] indicated that the busiest times may be the pick-up on Fridays when vehicles may line up to turn off of North Street onto Hyde Road. When the weather is nice there tends to be increased traffic on Hyde Road, including vehicles with trailers with boats accessing the public Clark Lake boat launch across the street.”

When asked after the meeting about the future of the parking lot north of the building, Diane Smith said they would follow Mike McKay’s lead and the parking area would be closed to boater use during days of operation.  Further, “we would put some ‘punch’ behind it,” meaning Montessori would speak to violators or have vehicles towed if the parking restriction were not respected.   She added, “we hope to have the cooperation” of those involved.  She also looks forward with working with Vining Street neighbors.  Some have opposed the former church building being used as a Montessori daycare because they believe it will increase traffic on Hyde Road.  Several appeared last night, and at a previous meeting where written statements were also submitted.

Diane Smith described to the planning commission how drop offs and pick ups will work, and daycare hours.

 

In May, the Smiths saw their months of planning and multiple revisions to establish the daycare in the former church in peril.  At the May 2nd Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting, their request to expand the north parking lot for Montessori use was denied by a 3-2 vote.  Though the building is zoned commercial, the north parking lot, used for years by the former church and by boaters with trailers, is zoned residential.  As reported in a previous article on this website, “We went through 48 hours of sadness,” said Diane Smith.  The denial of a waiver, in combination with required setbacks, “shrunk the parking lot to about five spaces.”  The Smith’s concluded they couldn’t operate the daycare without adequate parking.

The story of the denial first appeared on this website the next morning.  Starting immediately, and throughout the weekend, it generated 37 comments on the website, and 12 on the Clark Lake Spirit Facebook page.  Diane says “that encouraged us to move forward.”  She added “the comments on the website felt like the real spirit of the community.  We’re grateful for the support.”

What happened next?  “There was a lot to making a decision,” according to Brad Smith, who is also an attorney.  “We were left with 3 options: sell, go to court, which would take too long and create hard feelings, or the third which we decided to take.” They plan to use the existing parking lot, west of the building for staff and drop off.  In order to do that, they reduced the proposed student load and number of employees.

This report set the stage for last night’s planning commission meeting.

 

Below, zoning of the immediate area is defined.

 

Here’s a peek at plans for internal modifications.