The former Smith Lumber & Coal business that was started in 1898 and closed in 2005, now will become a venue for banquets, wedding receptions and and reunions, including a dance hall.
Marty and Mark Shepard, owners of the Lumberyard Event Center, appeared before the Wayland City Planning Commission Tuesday night to seek approval for a special use permit at that location, at 710 W. Maple St., just one block north of Wes Superior Street. The Planning Commission, after a public hearing, granted the request and only had problems with parking. The owners said they would take care of the matter.
Neighboring resident Gary Annable said he’s in favor of the project, but noted a problem with visibility for traffic on West Maple when pulling onto Railroad Street.
“You have to almost go into the intersection to see if traffic coming from the north.”
Part of the problem is caused by off street parking in front of the old Smith Lumber building on Railroad Street.
The Shepards indicated that the cars are parked on old abandoned railroad property because Smith Lumber many years ago had a coal loading directly from the railroad.
Interestingly, virtually no one knows who owns the property used for parking since it was abandoned.
Which led Planning Commission Chairman J.D. Gonzales to ask, “How can we enforce parking rules if we don’t know who owns it.”
Mark Shephard said of the property, “It’s sat there on rough idle for about 80 years,” but added he believes it’s in the public right of way.
The Shepards said they would move up four of five pillar in front of the building and they said they’d be willing, if necessary, to provide additional parking in back of building further east on Maple.
City Planner Kirk Scharphorn Jr. of Professional Code Inspections said, They’ve (the Shepard brothers) been renovating the inside of the building to bring it up to code. I think it’s a positive development for the city.”
Commissioner Ryan Martin added, “I love the idea. I’ve been driving past this building for many years watched it deteriorate.”
The Shepards said they do not have any plans to seek a liquor license.
Smith Lumber & Coal was run by the Smith family for three generations over more than a century in Wayuland. It was most recently managed by Jay Leonard Smith, who created a sort of museum of local history with photos and artifacts after he closed the business a dozen years ago. The Shepards bought it at the beginning of this year.
Jay L. spent a lot of time on the premises weekdays in recent years repairing screens and glass and mostly tinkering with what many would call Wayland’s closest thing to a museum. Jay L., in an interview in 2014, explained it was “for three reasons: Lowe’s, Menards and Home Depot.” He said nowadays people in the Wayland area do their shopping in Grand Rapids at the big box stores for one reason and one reason only — price.
Yet there was one more reason: The fourth generation of the Smith family, seeing the handwriting on the wall about future prospects, just wasn’t interested in keeping it going.
PHOTOS: There apparently is some progress on renovations at the old Smith Lumber & Coal building near the corner of West Maple and Railroad streets.
The brothers Shepard, Mark (left) and Marty, new owners of the Lumberyard Event Center.