Acme planners recommend Kmart reuse
Aug. 23—ACME — Plans to repurpose a vacant retail space in Acme, plus build dozens of apartments nearby, are headed for a final vote.
Acme Township planning commissioners unanimously agreed to recommend approval for the controversial plans at their meeting Monday. They did so after months of reviewing an East Lansing development company's submission, and imposing various conditions aimed at balancing the different uses.
Strathmore Real Estate Group, of East Lansing, proposes building 186 apartments in nine buildings outside the former Kmart and Tom's Food Market on U.S. 31 north of M-72. The company also plans to reuse the former stores, and is leasing the former Tom's to an online retailer of eco-friendly cleaners, Truly Free Home.
The company also plans six pickleball courts, a fitness center, office space and a workshop for Grand Traverse Men's Shed inside the former Kmart, as previously reported.
But it's the plans for tens of thousands of square feet of self-storage and warehouse space in the former store that prompted neighbors and other township residents' opposition. And Planning Commission Chairwoman Karly Wentzloff had her own concerns about how traffic to warehouse space in the back of the former Kmart would affect nearby residents, both neighbors and on the site itself.
Ultimately, though, she and the rest of the board recommended the plans for a final vote.
"I voted yes because it met the standards of the PUD ordinance based on our planner's review, and I think with reasonable conditions it's something that will help a pretty blighted property in our township," she said, referring to the acronym for planned unit developments.
Conditions included imposing operating hours on the warehouse space to minimize traffic noise concerns. Planners discussed them at some length, ultimately settling on 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday with no Sunday deliveries.
Jacob Chappelle, Strathmore Real Estate Group's principal and attorney, said he would rather allow earlier hours to accommodate businesses that get early starts to the day. But the board ultimately settled on the 12-hour, six-day window.
"Because if it's that intense that it needs to be operating outside of those hours, I think it's not compatible with being right next to residential, is my personal opinion," Wentzloff said.
John Iacoangeli, the township's planning consultant, told the board the hours need to strike a balance among different uses. Same goes for asking the developer to reduce the 35,800 square feet of self-storage, he said — replacing that with retail would require far more parking spots, likely in place of one of the planned apartment buildings.
More self-storage in exchange for more green space and residential units struck Planning Commissioner and township Trustee Jean Aukerman as positive, she said. She originally wanted to see as little as possible but started to view storage "more kindly."
Sarah Keever, a planning consultant working with the developer, assured the planning commission that the project isn't a "bait-and-switch" aiming to pack the former big-box retailer full of self-storage and nothing else. Strathmore Real Estate Group already has tenants lined up for several of the proposed uses, including pickleball courts — Dave Sexton told the board he'll be the proprietor.
Several commenters saw self-storage and warehousing as contrary to township zoning and a bad fit for a well-placed commercial property.
Jim Goran told planning commissioners he was disappointed by their decision to recommend approval. The project allowed light industrial uses into the township's commercial district and the conditions proposed didn't go far enough for him.
A few others also raised questions and concerns about criminal charges against the developer's one-time president, Scott Chappelle, who in April pleaded guilty to tax evasion — Jacob Chappelle previously said he's Scott's son and that Scott Chappelle is retired, has no vested interest in nor authority over the project, something he expanded on in an email to the township Monday.
Township resident Richard Nuffer told the board they should at least hold off until they could be sure that's the case.
Township Attorney Jeff Jocks said planners have to treat an application the same, regardless of the background of who submits it.
"The question of whether even an applicant who was very clearly at the forefront was ... I guess, an admitted felon, if that were the case, you review the application under the same standards as everything else," he said, pausing mid-sentence.
Truly Free Home owner Steve Ezell told the board he gave his endorsement to Strathmore Real Estate Group, adding there is a risk the project doesn't come to fruition, as some commenters pointed out. There's also a risk in leaving the buildings to deteriorate further, so he suggested the township give the developer the chance.
Next, the township board of trustees will have the final say over the plans at a future meeting, according to Jocks.
Jacob Chappelle said afterward that if all goes to plan, the developer is hoping to start building the first four apartment buildings in October and be leasing by April or May. He added he appreciates the planning commission's work.
"This is the seventh meeting that we've come to, and every meeting that we've narrowed this down, we've made this a stronger project with them," he said.
