The Leighton Township Planni
ng Commission has recommended against approval of an air park near the corner of Kalamazoo Avenue and 144th Avenue.
John Hooker, who represents the Township Board on the commission told his colleagues Thursday night that Township Attorney Cliff Bloom will present a written resolution next month. The board eventually must vote to accept the resolution or overturn the decision.
Leighton Township Supervisor Steve Deer, who is a partner with developer Clark Galloway in the proposed project, will not be voting on the matter. He has steadfastly excused himself to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
The rejection has come after Galloway first presented his proposal more than a year ago and since then has revised his plans scaled down from the original. His first revision reduced the size of the air strip and the most recent one, Dec. 14, was an attempt to avoid having planes disturb nearby residents, particularly a horse farm.
Neighbors of the former air strip, owned by Bill and Rita Martin, have been persistent and vocal in their opposition for safety and noise reasons. They also have contended the old Martin property had been abandoned for some time and wasn’t used for private planes any more,
Some Planning Commission meetings have drawn as many as 100 citizens, though not all of them opposed to the project.
Many at the Dec. 14 Planning Commission meeting said they still believed plane engines’ noise from 6 a.m. to about 10:30 p.m. seven days a week during warmer weather is excessive.
Kate Scheltema, owner of the nearby horse farm, has disputed the promise that planes will be as much as 800 feet above the ground.
The first plan submitted about a year ago included 15 home sites on a 3,000-foot airstrip for use by as many as 25 planes. Galloway’s second proposal scaled it back to four housing lots and a 2,100-foot grass airstrip, with a maximum of five planes on site.
The most recent proposal scaled the strip down to 1,800 feet and an attempt to avoid Scheltema’s horse farm.
Mark Ouwinga, a neighbor opposing the project, suggested Thursday night the Township Board consider changing its legal representation, Cliff Bloom, whom he said gave incorrect information last month at meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals. ZBA alternate Steve Shoemaker clarified Bloom’s comments, which he said actually were not false, but misunderstood.
Treasurer Char Troost said it wouldn’t be wise to make that change because Bloom has been handling the issue from the start. Clerk Mary Lou Niewenhuis said most recently two different attorneys have been present with an eye toward taking over for Bloom.
