The Wayland City Planning Commission Tuesday evening voted 4-1 to recommend rezoning property with four buildings in the 600 block of North Main Street from business to light industrial.

The commission had a public hearing on the issue and two neighboring residents, Jeff Salisbury and Bonnie Johnson Miller, made comments. Both said they weren’t necessarily against the move, but were seeking more information and wanted to make sure nearby residents didn’t pay dearly for the rezoning with drawbacks such as added noise and traffic.

The property, owned by Rita Martin and Dave Hager, has been zoned B-1 business, but both insist it is much better suited to light industrial because of the size and style of the buildings. The four buildings include overhanging doors and they maintained it isn’t likely anybody would be interested in bring a retail business to the site.

Hager told commission members a man who wants to open a small tool and die shop is very interested in buying.

“We’ve got a buyer who is just waiting for your decision,” he said. “He’s from Wayland and he wants to open up a shop that’s closer to home, but he doesn’t want to move into a big building like they have at Midway Tool and Die.”

“This site is just not conducive to small retail” Martin said.

Hager added, “The site cannot handle big industry. People come here and they want to lease 3,000 square feet, but under current zoning, they can’t do that.”

Planning consultant Janice Johnson noted that if the rezoning is approved, the commission still will have opportunities to conduct site plan review.

Martin said the property now is being used essentially for storage.

Mayor Tim Bala, who was in the audience, said the site in bygones days was home to Kaiser & Kaiser, Stan Batson Ford, Storey Ford, was vacant and most recently was being used by Quality Pools & Supply.

Johnson acknowledged the site, though zoned business in the master plan, has “a history of non-conforming uses.”

Planning Commission Chairman John Frigmanski said, “Mistakes that were made in the past have nothing to do with today.”

The Wayland post of the Michigan State Police is located across the street from the site and it was reported overtures were made to have the buildings and site used by troopers, but there was no money for the project. State police are looking to get out of the cramped quarters and eventually move to a new police facility to be shared with the city on Reno Drive in the industrial park.

Johnson said once the state police vacate the premises, its zoning will revert back to residential.

The idea of conditional zoning was discussed as an option, but finally Vice Chairman J.D. Gonzales moved to recommend the rezoning request.

“The rezoning is consistent with having an industrial site on the north end of town, as well as the south side,” he explained.

He also said he couldn’t see any evidence that nearby residents were put under hardships when the site was used inappropriately for industrial purposes in the past.

Virgil Gleason agreed and said, “It is more consistent with the historical uses and has been shown not to be a detriment.”

Gary Ragan said, “For lack of a better option, I voted for it.”

Frigmanski cast the dissenting vote, saying, “I’m not going to vote to change it (the zoning) without knowing what’s going to go in there.”

The recommendation now will go before the City Council for a final vote.

PHOTO: The four buildings and site on North Main that just might be rezoned from business to light industrial.