A huge new warehouse is expected to begin construction at the northwest corner of 12th Street and 142nd Avenue after site plan approval for the building project was approved Tuesday night by the Dorr Township Planning Commission.
The commission also agreed to recommend a rezoning request for two contiguous parcels near the Exxon gas station on 142nd Avenue from agricultural to mixed planned use development.
The new warehouse is supposed to be a temperature-controlled facility for cold storage of food. Plans call for it to be 123,386-square-foot building that will accommodate 18 employees per shift and be the site of and average of 30 trucks from the west coming in an put each day. The size of the parcel is 97.5 acres.
Three men involved in the project, Jim Pietrowski, engineer Zack Boeve and Dan Tyler, spoke to the commission about their plans.
Boeve acknowledged that the Allegan County Drain Commission’s blessing is still needed for the project and a requirement of 103 parking spaces will be met by a deferred parking plan. He added that the warehouse will be hooked up to Dorr Township water and sewer.
Tyler, when asked about noise potential, said, “If you move 20 to 30 feet away (from the building), you probably won’t hear anything.”
He said the warehouse construction likely will begin next spring by a company that specializes in building and designing refrigerators and freezers. After Eric Thompson of Professional Code Inspections assured local officials the warehouse is a permitted use on the property, commissioners voted 7-0 to approve the site plan.
The rezoning request from Award Enterprises also won unanimous approval.
John Scholten, property owner, told the commission the parcels are surrounded already by sites zoned industrial.
“Our piece of property is landlocked,” he said, and he already has an interested buyer for one of the parcels if the rezoning goes through.
Commission Vice Chairman Robert Traxler commented on the rezoning as “It looks like a good fit.”
Thompson added, “All of the uses in industrial zoning are permitted in a mixed use PUD. They’re nearly synonymous… It’s a little more flexible, but less intensive for a very broad range of uses.”
Commissioner Dan Beute noted, “It fits the master plan as intended.”
The recommendation for rezoning now goes to the Dorr Township Board for final approval.
COVER PHOTO: Engineer Zack Boeve explains the finer points of the site plan for a new warehouse at 12th Street and 142nd Avenue.
