Access road to condos need changes to improve chances of approval

An easement request for the Vogelheim condominium project on the lakefront appears to need some revamping if the city council is to approve it. The request from John Vogelheim is for a 50-foot wide access and utility easement over a city parcel. The access road would connect First Street to Vogelheim?s proposed ?Monroe/Whiteley? condominium project, which was introduced early in the summer.

Questions regarding the amount of traffic, how close the road would be to a neighboring house, and other alternatives were discussed at Tuesday evening?s council meeting.

VOGELHEIM IS president of the Rogers City Developers Inc., which requested the property easement in May. City manager John Bruning said he was waiting for Vogelheim to formalize his request so he could work with city attorney Mike Vogler to draw up the easement for the next meeting. Councilmember Deb Greene doesn?t like the way the road encircles Mary Patzer?s home at the north end of First Street. The access road would come out between Patzer?s home and the wastewater treatment plant.

?If I was a homeowner, I certainly would not like this being there,? Greene said. ?Their patio comes right out by that tree and there will be quite a bit of traffic there.

?I don?t understand why it couldn?t be in an area that?s a little wider than that.? Greene also is concerned about sight distances at the curve in the road. She believes there could be safety problems if the access road were to be constructed.

?If you?re coming from the wastewater treatment plant, you would just clear that corner and then you would be stopped and then people couldn?t see very well around that corner,? she said.

GREENE SUGGESTED Vogelheim look at another location for the access road entrance.

?Like, say, if he bought the piece of property that?s between Patzer?s and Neil Claus,? Greene said, ?It looks like there is property there. I think even on the other side of Neil?s house, there?s a vacant piece of property.

?He (Vogelheim) also could come off of Huron Street. There are many different areas that he can come off of instead of going over the top of our trail system.? Bruning said alternatives have been discussed, including a route Greene favors, and that would be off Huron, near the front of the former Vogelheim Lumber building.

?I believe… along that frontage, would stay,? Bruning said. ?But he?s had access forever from Huron Street, to his property back there,? said Greene.

?CAN HE GET access to that property somehow, because he?s been using it for how many years? Fifty years now? So why does he think it?s going to cease all of a sudden?? Bruning could not answer on behalf of Vogelheim who was not at the meeting.

?Given this is a residential area, it just seems that Huron Street is more viable,? said Greene.

?I?m looking for input,? Bruning said. ?I?m not go

ing to pursue something that?s not going to be agreeable to council, because council has to grant the easement.? Bruning will discuss the issues with Vogelheim. Attempts to reach him on the phone for a comment were not successful Wednesday morning.

MOST OF the old Vogelheim Lumber Company property along Lake Huron was originally slated for a 38-unit condominium development. The project was to include eight one-and-a-half story townhouses, close to the water?s edge, and some three-story structures, behind the lakefront buildings. Each condo would have a view of Lake Huron from the living room and dining room.

?My understanding is that the original investors didn?t materialize and he has some other participants who are looking into this with him,? Bruning said.