by Joseph Schultz
After two months of delays, McDonald’s representatives finally brought their site plan to the Dorr Township Planning Commission Tuesday night, but the project remains on hold.
The plan is for a McDonald’s restaurant to be built on the lot just west of the Leppinks shopping center on 142nd Avenue.
Dan Olson, an engineer with Upstream Design Group, represented McDonald’s remotely via a Teams Meeting hookup. Olson explained that traffic would access McDonald’s by coming in the Leppinks driveway and going west down the service road, driving past the Bigby Coffee location.
McDonald’s would need a parking variance, as the code would require it to have 72 spaces, and their plan has only 52. Olson explained that the additional parking was not necessary, because 70% of McDonald’s business goes through the drive-thru.
That traffic going into and out of McDonald’s was a major concern for the planning board members. Chairman Dan Beute went so far as to sit across the street from the Leppinks shopping center one day, and count the cars going in and out. He said he was concerned that if two vehicles got stacked up, it would cause a traffic problem.
Commissioners asked McDonald’s to check with the Allegan County Road Commission to see if they could get a second driveway that would access 142nd Avenue directly. Olson said that McDonald’s would do that, but that they wanted an approval of the site plan that night.
Members of the Planning Commission said they did not want to get stuck with the current plan if the Road Commission denied the driveway request. They wanted to table the matter until McDonald’s could find out about the second driveway.
Larry Crowder, another McDonald’s representative on the Teams hookup pressed for a decision Tuesday night, maintaining that the clock continues to tick for the sale agreement, and the seller may walk away from the deal.
Beute reminded Crowder that the Planning Commission had tabled at McDonald’s request for two months. The commission voted to table the matter until McDonald’s can find out about the driveway. They also requested that a McDonald’s representative be at the next meeting in person.
In other business before the commission:
- Received a plan for a gas station and convenience store from Market Express on 142nd Avenue,near Division. The only major concern from Professional Code Inspections was that the underground fuel storage was 1,700 feet away from the water wells. The code calls for a distance of at least 2,000 feet away. Market Express had a study done, and won a variance from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The site plan was approved by the commission.
- Gave a recommendation of approval for Walnut Farms to rezone a couple of lots on 14th Street, between 146th and 144th Avenues to mixed use.
- Granted a special use permit to Nolan Helmholdt to put in a private road on his property on 21st Street.
