For Special Land Uses & Other Considerations
EMPIRE TOWNSHIP
APPLICATION CHECKLIST
FOR SPECIAL LAND USES & OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
APPLICANT / OWNERS (Identify All):
OWNER: JOHN & EVELYN KOWAL
ADDRESS: 16127 SOUTHAMPTON
LIVONIA, MI 48154
PHONES: BUSINESS: 734-425-8245 [ Kowal Collectibles & Creative ]
PETITIONER: ERIK FLORIP
COMPANY NAME: [DBA] FLORIP TOOLWORKS
ADDRESS: 320 W 11th ST
TRAVERSE CITY, MI 49684
PHONES: HOME (231)-218-8163 [C]
CELL: (231)-218-8163 [C]
E-MAIL:
AGENT / REPRESENTATIVE:
NAME: SELF
COMPANY NAME: FLORIP TOOLWORKS
6865 N REYNOLDS ROAD
LAKE ANN, MI 49650
PHONES: SAME AS ABOVE
AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE
------[ SEE ORIGINAL APPLICATION ]------
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PROPERTY
LAND USE PERMIT REQUEST NUMBER: 16-1370
LATE FEE: $ 100.00 DATE PAID : 5/24/16 CHK # : 2013
LOCATION ADDRESS: 4700 W EMPIRE HWY [M-72]
EMPIRE, MICHIGAN 49630
LEGAL DESCRIPTION:
L319 P168/90 L349 P127/92 PT SE1/4 OF SW ¼ COM S1/4 COR SEC 24 TH ALG S SEC LN N 88 DEG 51’ 00” W 523 FT FOR POB THCONT N 88DEG 51’ 00”297.01 FT THN 00 DEG 57’ 15”E 846.60FT TH S 88 DEG 51’ 00” E293.86 FT TH S 00 DEG 57’ 15” W 846.60 FT TO POB SEC 24 T28N R14W 5.71AC
TAX I.D. NUMBER(S) 45-005-024-013-00
ZONING DISTRICT: □ RESIDENTIAL □ PUBLIC RECREATION
✔GATEWAY/MIXED USE □ AGRICULTURE/CONSERVATION
□COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
EXISTING / PROPOSED USE:USE: STORAGE TO ARTISAN SHOP [building artisan woodworking tools and gauges] / FARMING [Black Locust and Shiitake Mushrooms] / ROADSIDE STAND. Use Change Only✔
PREV LUP #: N/A HEALTH PERMIT #: L - ____ - __N/A_____
IN FLOOD PLAIN OR HIGH RISK EROSION AREA? YES NO✔
EROSION CONTROL PERMIT REQUIRED? YES ✔ NO # _NA_
SETBACKS GATEWAY MIXED [Req’d / ACTUAL]
FRONT: 250,’ 75’or 50’ ___220’___
SIDES: 25’ to 75’ ea _183’_/_39’_
REAR / EASM’T: 40’/50’ _523’_/_N/A_
RESIDENTAL: 40’/25’/40’ __N/A__/____/____
NEW FLOOR AREA -- 0 –sq ft
IMPERVIOUS SURFACES 4500 sq ft
EXISTING FLOOR AREA 2760 sq ft
TOTAL 7260 sq ft
LOT AREA: 5.71 AC 248727.6 sq ft
LOT COVERAGE 2.919%
APPLICANTS REASONS FOR THIS REQUEST [JUSTIFICATION]
As requested, here is a description of what I do at my shop. Included will be my year outlook as far as my plans for the property.
Current Use
Tools
I make woodworking hand tools (handsaws and marking gauges). Each tool is made from scratch, I don't order in any completed parts for assembly. That said, I'm not doing mass production. None of my tools are made using a computer controlled machine. I am careful to keep my tools in the "handmade" category, this is necessary to operate in my market. All sales are done online.
website: www.floriptoolworks.com
Furniture
I build handcrafted hardwood furniture. Each piece is built by hand and will take up to three months to complete. I use locally sourced trees and select the projects starting with the log. I'll then have the log cut, dried, and stacked before using it to build furniture.
Storage
Outside of this location I have other operations. I salvage trees- this is a broad range but it mostly consists of:
-storm damaged trees
-dead trees
-trees being cleared for construction purposes
My use of the trees varies greatly due to my needs, the type/value of the trees, and the amount of trees. I currently have a few stacks of logs on the property (black locust, sugar maple, and cherry). I am going to have a guy saws these trees into boards to use for my tools, furniture making, and for general construction use on my building.
In order to recover these trees I have a few pieces of equipment that I use. These machines are sometimes onsite for maintenance or if I need them to accomplish something at the property.
I have a truckload worth of cherry lumber staged outside of my building and I know this has been a point of complaint with my neighbor. This wood is where it is because it is destined for a location on the west coast. It was supposed to ship in January but the receiver is having issues with his storage building, the issues need to be fixed before he can receive the lumber.
Future Use
I am going to farm the property. My equipment used to salvage trees will also be used to maintain the land and transform it into a working property for the production of crops. Here is what I intend to grow.
Shiitake mushrooms- I have an experienced mushroom grower guiding me through the processes necessary to produce the mushroom.
Black locust- not a traditional crop in the US but it is grown in Europe as a cash crop. I have written a collegiate report on it's benefits and also created a PowerPoint presentation to summarize it's crop cycle.
I plan to have a roadside stand to sell produce and firewood.
Thanks, Erik
ORDINANCE LANGUAGE CHECKLISTP✔□
ZONING ADMINISTRATOR’S SUMMARY, COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
COMMENTS
» This parcel is not in a Residential Zone or the Commercial Development Zone. It is in the Gateway Mixed Use District - and those uses and restrictions are the only ones that apply.
» The only way you get to control a “Pristine” view is to own it!
» Mr Florip is very talented and inovative in many areas (woodworking, mechanical) and an energetic young man, and I’m told,fresh out of the military, trying to use those talents to his advantage. The real question is whether what he proposes for this parcel is ‘appropriate’ for this location and zoning district.
STRUCTURES:
A single blue Metal sided pole barn and paved drive way.
Existing Pole Barn: 46’x 60’=2760 sq ft [Max = 5000sq ft]
Impervious Surfaces: 250’x 18’=4500 sq ft
Lot Coverage: 2.919% [7260 sq ft] [Max=25%]
Setbacks: Front [250’] is pre-existing non-conforming by roughly 45’. All others are easily met.
DETERMINE which is the ‘principal / primary’ use OR are the ‘principal / primary’ uses. This will determine whether Erosion Control and Road Commission Permits are required and whether standard farming practice rules are or are not applicable.
USES PROPOSED ARE All are acceptable except possibly:
1. Portable sawmill and sale of excess lumber. Use of a portable sawmill on-site might be acceptable if the timber being cut was grown on-site. But it appears that this ‘source material’ is being trucked in, and the excess material, not used for in-house projects, is being sold on-line. Using a small (hobby?) farm site as a collection, staging, and short term storage of ‘salvaged’ lumber is closer to the Special Use category I
2. Repair and resale? of large machinery, other than that owned and used on-site is, closer to the Special Use category C.
3. 1 & 2 above are really closer to, and would be more acceptable if approved as a Special Uses [Section 10.3]
C. Automotive Repair Garage
H. Commercial Sales of Agricultural Equipment (maximum 5000 sq ft building)
I. Contractors Yard [collection, storage, cutting, and staging, of material and equipment]
ARTISAN SHOP - Handcrafted Hardwood Furniture, Hand Saws and Marking Gauges All fit into the Artisan, custom made for retail sale requirement. One of the MAIN bones of contention are the terms ‘ARTISAN ‘and ‘ARTISAN SHOP’. Since there is no definition for either term, my thinking is as follows:
1. The term ‘Artisan’ applies both to the individual doing the work and to the multitude of product types being produced [i.e. arts and crafts of every kind…furniture, paintings, jewelry, coffee, chocolate delicacies, food, craft beers, wines, and spirits to plasma-cut steel works of art.] Additionally, the word is often used In this vicinity to evoke a sense one-of-a-kind, costly, high-end, and/or non mass-produced items of an astounding variety. The township could not and, for that reason, probably should not try to enumerate all of the possibilities
2. The term ‘shop’ also has a variety of meanings, from the place something is produced to the place that it is sold. Think Gipetto the woodcarver versus craft beer and wine, the production facilities run the gamut of possibilities.---OR--- Think urban mom and pop stand alone storefronts, rural crossroads convenience stores, mini-malls, shopping centers, vacation tourist destinations, and now electronic media settings, each of which has its own version of a ‘shop’ where artisan products are sold.
3. It appears our definitions [or lack thereof on this particular subject] are woefully inadequate. So for the time being in this situation I will employ the following definition:
Artisan Shop shall mean a store, workshop and/or studio owned or operated by an artist, craftsman, or a small group of same, where hand-crafted arts and crafts items can be created in a smaller, non mass-production setting and sold. Uses Include, but are not limited to, furniture, paintings, jewelry, blown-glass, pottery and candles. It is intended for shops that engage in smaller-scale production that still may create noise, dust, heat or other impacts, but on a scale and frequency that reduces such impacts on the operation of neighboring businesses or residences.
I suggest that in the near future the Planning Commission review and establish an actual definition for an Artisan Shop,,,or,,,if they feel it necessary, for separate definitions differentiating between ‘Artisan Shop,’ ‘Artisan Manufacturing’ and/or ‘Mass Production’ (such as commercial ceramics).
FARM - Under the terms of this Ordinance, anything over 5 Acres [5.71] qualifies as a Farm (together with all the equipment and functions that come with one).
ROADSIDE STAND for sale of produce and/or firewood meets use requirements of a farm.
STORAGE of the raw source materials required for artisan production, heating, and building maintenance is currently permitted by the Ordinance
PARKING, shown located beside, not behind the building, could probably be in both places to minimize visual impact from the road.
ISSUES:
1. Storage and sale of excess wood ‘source’ material brought in for cutting.
2. Should such working source materials be required to be stored inside a building?
3. Does the volume of lumber created on-site exceed the volume needed for artisan products created and sold? How much is too much?
4. Purchase, repair, and resale of large engines, mechanical equipment, etc.
5. Noise and disruption generated by work activities on this site.
6. Whether work presently carried out should be classified as Special Use or Commercial Delopment
RECOMMENDATIONS:
A. That the Planning Commission adopt a definition for Artisan Shop similar to the one I have used to interpret the Ordinance in this situation OR if they feel it necessary, for separate definitions differentiating between ‘Artisan Shop,’ ‘Artisan Manufacturing’ and/or ‘Mass Production’ (such as commercial ceramics).
B. That the Planning Commission review and adopt Ordinance language involving inside and outside storage for each district and for specific and special uses as in this situation.
C. Approve as a uses-by-right, the requested designations of Farming, and Roadside Stand for this property.
D. Using the definition above, and to bring the site into compliance with the Ordinance, I recommend approval of the Florip request for an Artisan Shop, with the following conditions:
1. No ‘source material’ (lumber / logs) will be created or stored outside, on-site,. In the interim, Mr Florip will either acquire his source material from another off-site supplier or create it himself inside the building.
2. No Purchase, repair, and resale of large engines, mechanical equipment, etc., unless and until such a time as a Special Use Designation of Approval for an ‘Automotive Repair Garage’ or something comparable, is requested and granted by the Planning Commission. Maintenance and repair work on existing company equipment will be allowed.
3. Since it seems apparent that the Artisan operation, rather than the Farm and Roadside Stand, has become the ‘principle’ use on this site, that Mr Florip apply for a Soil Erosion Control Permit for the berm work already underway , a Driveway Approval from the County Road Commission, and check with the County Health Department as to their requirements for his operation as it now functions. A letter or approved permit will be required in each case to fulfill this condition.
4. Identified landscaping work will be undertaken in the southeast and northwest corners of the property to protect and screen adjacent residential neighbors and highway appropriately and the berms will be ‘finished (polished / manicured) and stabilized’ so they do not just become unsightly piles of erodible dirt hastily thrown up to obscure a view. I expect the same skill, energy, love of detail and artistry shown in Mr Florip’s tools and gauges to be evident in the landscaping care and keeping of his property.
5. Make a concerted effort to be aware that although located in a mixed use district, 3 out of 4 of the neighborhood cluster are low density residential
E. Suggest that 2 of the 4 identified parking spaces be moved to the rear of the building for employees and staff with the remaining 2 to the west behind the berm for customers and guests. This also creates more maneuvering room for the truck loading zone at the front door(s).
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GENE A PERFECT – EMPIRE TWP ZONING ADMINISTRATOR
FROM EMPIRE TOWNSHIP ZONING ORDINANCE
[ORIGINALLY ADOPTED JUNE 8, 1999]
ADOPTED: MARCH 11, 2008 – EFFECTIVE: APRIL 19, 2008
SUBSEQUENTLY AMENDED:
SEPTEMBER 25, 2009
DECEMBER 3, 2010
MARCH 2, 2012
OCTOBER 26, 2012
MARCH 29, 2013
DECEMBER 25, 2015
□ARTICLE 2 DEFINITIONS
□SECTION 2.1 – RULES APPLYING TO THE TEXT
For the purpose of this Ordinance, certain terms or words shall be interpreted as follows:
□1. The word “person” includes an individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental entity, or other legal entity.
□2. The present tense includes the future tense; the singular number includes the plural and the plural number includes the singular.
□3. The word "shall" is mandatory; the word "may" is permissive.
□4. The words "used" or "occupied" include the words "intended, designed, or arranged to be used or occupied."
✔5. Any word or term not defined herein shall have the meaning of common or standard use that is reasonable for the context in which used herein.
✔6. Questions of interpretation arising hereunder shall be decided by the Zoning Administrator whose decision may be appealed to the Zoning Board of Appeals.