by Austin Marsman

After granting initial planned unit development approval in February, the Barry County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Monday will discuss further specifics for the proposed Bay Pointe development on Oarie Drive.

The meeting will be at the Tyden Building (121 S. Church St.) in Hastings, it will begin at 6 p.m and is open to the public.

The commission had voted 5-1 in February to grant initial approval for the PUD expansion. The project called for a 9,000-square-foot conference center, outdoor wedding venue and five cottages. Bay Pointe owner Mike Powers has often called the project a “Garden of Eden.”

Neighbors live on and surround private Oarie Drive; however, don’t see this project as anything but a bad idea. They see Bay Pointe Woods as increasing the amount of trespassing, drunk and disorderly guests, noise, and property damage.

Joe and Diane Farley live right next to the entrance of Oarie Drive, their driveway and home are just feet from the private drive. Perhaps the most outspoken opponents, the Farleys fear that this project will ruin their quality of life and quiet property.

At the meeting in April, MLive.com reported that the board decided Mike Powers and Bay Pointe would have to meet a list of conditions and place those into the drawings, then submit them to the board for review. He will likely unveil those plans to the board Monday.

Planning and Zoning Administrator Jim McManus said, “Those conditions include: requirement of a fence along the east line of the proposed property adjacent to Oarie Drive; a noise chart verifying the decibel readings along the edges of the property; a verification from Powers of the purchase agreement of the Johnson property, 5075 Oarie Drive; an agreement between Joe and Diane Farley and Powers with documentation of that agreement on what type of screening would be put in place on the Farley property on Marsh Road – possibly a fence or berm; and a hand rail for a proposed sidewalk to keep pedestrians from walking on neighbors’ lawns, especially the Farley property.”