All decisions of the planning commission must be made at an open meeting, according to the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Outside of a meeting contact is considered “ex parte” and must be reported to the PC. As such, we do not publish information on how to access individual PC members. If you wish to provide correspondence to the Planning Commission, you are welcome to submit it for consideration at a meeting.
A property owner can request a piece of property be rezoned with certain limits/conditions for the use or development of the property. For example, an ice cream store rather than all the possible land uses in a commercial district. If the zoning amendment is approved, something like a deed restriction is placed on the parcel so that only the restricted uses of the parcel are possible.
A property owner can request a piece of property be rezoned by the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission would need to determine if the request is a proper and legal use for the land.
A site plan is a process where documents and drawings specified in the zoning ordinance are reviewed to ensure that a development proposal complies with local, state, and federal regulations. The Planning Commission must review and approve a Site Plan before the Zoning Administrator can issue a zoning compliance permit for any principal use: site condominiums, special uses in any district; and expansions, alterations, and additions to permitted uses and special land uses, unless otherwise accepted.
Special land uses are those uses of land which are not essentially incompatible with uses permitted in a district, but possess characteristics or location qualities which require individual review and discretion in order to avoid incompatibility with the character of the surrounding area, public services and facilities, and adjacent uses of land. For example: golf courses, campgrounds, funeral homes, hotel/motels, theaters, food truck park, commercial storage, junk yard, marinas, sexually oriented businesses, rental homes, etc.