Brandon Twp – The 94 homes of Long Lake Village are quickly moving toward ground breaking.
In terms of design and approval, the project is in the final stages, but Brandon Township Building Department Director Tim Palulian says Silverman Development has a few more steps before the earth moves.
The project site plan was approved on Aug. 24, which means the planning portion of the project has been OK’d.
‘We’ve done a lot of homework before it got here,? Palulian said referring to the commission’s final approval of the proposed 64 acre development off of M-15, northwest of Seymour Lake Road.
‘It took a lot of discussion from the developer, the planning commission, and the township,? Palulian said.
‘That meeting was a final preliminary approval, which does not require public input.?
Silverman Development first approached the township more than two years ago proposing a multiple dwelling development, but because there are no sewers the project was reduced to single family homes with plans for a contained waste water treatment facility.
Details for the proposal include plans for an independent commercial grade water supply system and a sewage treatment facility that would service both the development and a future development on an adjacent property, owned by Silverman.
‘This has really gone through one heck of a screening process from the engineering to wetlands protection and regulation on the treatment facility,? Palulian said.
Because the project was approved, the commission will now look at rezoning 20 acres of the property from commercial to single family residential.
The rezoning review, which does not require a public hearing, will be held by the planning commission on Sept. 24.
At that time, however, Palulian said the chairperson, Joe Rohovsky, will most likely take comments from residents because so many attended the site plan review.
‘By ordinance the commission does not have to have a public hearing, but they may hear from the public,? Palulian said.
‘Rezoning is a side-bar issue (to the project) but I would expect public comment at the rezoning.?
Once the rezoning is approved, both the development plan and the rezoning recommendation will be sent to the township board for a minimum of two reviews, or readings.
The board will then make a motion on the rezoning only. The board will not have the opportunity to rule on the development, according to Palulian.
In addition Silverman has received approval from the Department of Environmental Quality on the development plan, the placement and engineering plan for a waste water treatment facility, which is designed with a capacity to accommodate future plans for a plaza type development on adjacent property, and approval of the potable water supply source system.
‘This issue is complex in terms of what happened in the approval process in terms of the treatment facility,? said Palulian.
‘We’ve done a lot of hard work to ensure the wetlands are protected and so has the developer.?
You have a development that does not touch wetlands and every area has accommodations for run off with filtration areas for sediment control filtration and detention. ‘From the onset of this proposal the zoning has been to protect the wetlands.?
While the DEQ has jurisdiction for final approval of the waste treatment system, Palulian said the township engineers will retain a degree of oversight before the system is up and running.