Plans for a sustainable business park in Dorr Township took a step forward Tuesday night when the Planning Commission approved a preliminary request for a planned unit development for the project.
The park, which will be located in the northeast section of the township, promises economic development, 130 jobs and local tax revenue from its proposed 250-acre site. There, anchor tenant Continuus Materials plans to manufacture siding, roofing and ceiling parts from discarded plastic glass and other so-called recycling items that still otherwise wind up in landfills.
The project eventually includes closing the Kent County landfill by 2029 and opening the business park to provide a place to make things that can be useful rather than wasteful. Representatives of the project told Planning Commission members that if things continue to proceed apace, the first shovelfuls could be turned as early as June of July next year.
Township Zoning Administrator Lori Castello of Professional Code Inspections, said, “This is a very new technology. The intent is to reduce solid waste by as much as 95 percent.”
The project is advancing as it appears the Kent County Landfill, which was installed in 1986, winds down its usefulness and approaches closure. But instead of putting in another landfill, the idea now is instead to create a sustainable business park that recycles the waste.
Castello told the commission preliminary approval paves the way for the project to proceed further and particulars can be be worked out by project managers and engineers and township officials as needed.
She said approving the PUD, “is like creating a custom zoning district” for the 200-acre plot just off 14th Street.
Besides housing an anchor tenant, the property will include a manufacturing and processing facility, the Kent County Bioenergy facility, that can be seen by passing traffic along the U.S.-131 corridor.
The project is a collaboration of retail customer Dorr Township, the City of Wyoming and Byron and Gaines townships. Sewer and water extension from Kent County already has been approved.
The vote to approve the preliminary PUD was 7-0.
In another matter, the commission granted conditional approval with stipulations to a special use request from Will O’Brien to build a private road off 16th Street from Charles and Tamara Tjepkema to serve split parcels for two houses.
