Rogers City land owner?s rezoning request is denied
A request to rezone business district property along US-23 to light industrial was voted down at Monday?s Rogers City Council meeting. It was a meeting filled with speeches, close votes, and tense moments. A motion to approve the second reading of the rezoning request for businessman Dick Bennett, which upon publication in The Advance would have been put into effect, was made by councilman Gary Nowak and seconded by Patrick Lamb, but was defeated on a 3-2 vote.
Councilmen Karl Heidemann and Jim Sinclair voted ?no? when clerk/treasurer Theresa Heinzel called out their names during the roll call. With the vote split at 2-2, mayor Beach Hall, after a slight pause, provided the final decision. There were concerns that there were no buyers for Bennett?s property and that the change didn?t follow the master plan. Nowak expressed the need for more jobs in the community, and if a business owner has a chance of selling property to improve the economic conditions in Rogers City, he would approve it. Early in the discussion Hall posed a question to Bennett: if the rezoning request were approved, and a motel chain wanted to purchase the land, which would require it being rezoned back to B-3, what was he going to do? ?Come back and see you guys,? Bennett said.
THE ISSUE was debated at the Rogers City Planning Commission in October, and with the strong endorsement of neighboring businesses, it was recommended for approval and forwarded to the city council. Bennett formally asked that the issue be tabled until he could appear at a future meeting. The request was approved for a first reading January 19. Heidemann voted ?no? to the first reading and urged fellow council members to turn down the request and support Rogers City?s master plan. Heidemann said the master plan is a ?vision of the community that has a place for every type of activity that we could conceive of, and we have done that. ?I ask you to share that vision with me,? he said, ?to have the guts to stick to it. I ask you Jim, and Beach, and Gary, and Pat, to share this vision of a wonderful community that we have in Rogers City and to preserve that community for future generations.?
Former councilwoman Deb Greene, who was allowed to comment on the issue at the podium, said she was disappointed in the council?s decision at the January meeting. ?The matter of controlled growth is taken all too lightly by this decision,? she said, reading from four pages of prepared notes.
ACCORDING TO the Rogers City zoning ordinance, a B-3 general business district is designed to provide sites for diversified business types and is often located to serve passerby traffic. I-1, meanwhile, is designed to primarily accommodate wholesale activities, warehouses, and industrial operations. ?Planned development is not for today, but is intended to provide assurance of sufficient space for future improvements,? Greene said. ?Good planning does not mean to me putting an industrial site in the middle of Main Street.? Both Greene and Heidemann said there is enough industrial property available in Rogers City.
?The considerable investment in the Renaissance Zones by our citizens alone is enough to justify your rejection of this proposal at this time,? Greene said. ?It?s sad that the city spends so much time on making ordinances and regulations just to ignore them on a whim.? Heidemann thanked Greene for her comments. ?I lost sleep over it,? Greene responded. ?This is something that is really important.?
When Hall turned to city attorney Mike Vogler for an opinion on a temporary permit, Bennett interrupted him. ?Mr. Mayor, I?m not interested in coming back here every other week,? Bennett said. ?Let?s just get it resolved tonight. There has been a lot of time and a lot of issues involved here.? Following the vote, as Bennett left council chambers, Hall encouraged him to come before council again when he has a ?live buyer.?