It appears that the Dorr Township water tower site near the intersection of 142nd Avenue and the U.S.-131 expressway will be getting some company.
The Dorr Township Planning Commission Tuesday evening recommended rezoning a 77.64-acre parcel and approved, with conditions, a special use permit and site plan for Copart, a combination salvage yard and on-line vehicle auction business.
The site plan and special use permit are contingent on then Township Board giving its blessing to rezoning from agricultural/industrial to MXPUD, mixed use. Approval also depends on the project winning approval fro the Allegan County Health Department, Road Commission and Drain Commission and successful hookup to the Dorr-Leighton sewer system.
As can be expected some neighboring residents said they weren’t too keen on the proposed project.
Robert Parker said, “My wife and I are not happy about looking out our front yard window to see a salvage yard.”
He added he is concerned about property values and “further industrialization of the area.”
But Ross Wood, legal counsel for Copart, said, “This will look a lot like a used car lot except the vehicles are damaged, surrounded by a an eight-foot (steel) fence.”
Therefore, he claimed it will not present an eyesore.
Chandler Stanton, a member of the Township Board, expressed concerns about the potential for water contamination.
However, Matt Strother. Another Copart representative, said the company will adhere to environmental guidelines, cleaning up any vehicle, which will be on the lot for only an average of 50 to 60 days before being sold in an on-line auction or removed entirely.
There also were concerns about added traffic in the area, especially because it’s to the immediate east of the expressway at the Dorr exit.
Strother insisted an average of 10 to 12 trucks will be in an out of the facility each day.
And Plan Commission Chairman Bob Wagner pointed out that traffic issues are “not in our hands to do something about (instead by the Michigan Department of Transporation).”
“We‘re going minimize the effect on the neighborhood,” Wood promised, noting the business will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday though Friday and will not produce lighting at night.
Copart asked for the site plan and special use permit to be able to sell the vehicles on line. Though the current zoning at that location permits salvage yards, additional permission is needed to do the e-commerce part of the business.
The firm plans to demolish the house currently occupying the space on top of the hill and it will give way to a parking lot.
Strother said Copart, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has 240 locations all over the country, including one at Lansing.
Lori Castello, zoning administrator from Professional Code Inspections, said the matter probably won’t be brought before the Township Board until April because its next meeting is only two days away. The board will make the final decision, yea or nay, on the extensive project.
In the Planning Commission’s other business for the evening, members approved special use permits for Steve Chachulski, 1653 140th Ave., and a duplex area in Moline for building private roads.
COVER PHOTO: The Copart facility in Lansing.
I’m not sure if this information would make it back to the zoning board for additional information to consider. I believe the COPART folks are providing half-truths. While I am happy to see a COPART facility built nearby it is solely because I know people close to me that use it and have given me to opportunity to purchase from them as well. COPART may have 10-15 trucks per day coming in and out of the facility but that does not include employee traffic, tow truck traffic, buyers traffic, inspection traffic, and likely others that I’m not thinking of at this time.
Like any auction facility, they are most busy after an auction, with hundreds of buyers descending on the facility to collect their purchases. Additionally, for liability reasons, COPART does not allow any vehicle to be driven off of their lot (assuming it is driveable). That means that every buyer must have a tow truck or rigging company assist with the removal of the vehicle from their property. In some cases, I have seen cars towed to the road for customers, released, and then driven away by the buyer.
Also, it’s disturbing to hear Mr. Wagner say that the traffic is out of their hands. No sir, in fact, it is directly in your hands. As the planning commision you directly have a say in whether or not this facility can be built which directly affects the traffic in that area. If traffic IS a concern, it is the right of the board to raise those concerns to the potential developer and ensure they adequately assuage those concerns by making guarantees. Trust me, Mr. Wagner, you should be concerned about traffic. In the minimum, I would not be surprised if an additional 4-way stop will need to be installed on the overpass to deal with the additional, albeit occasional, traffic volume.
I’ll note one last thing. If you paid attention to what I mentioned before about the heavy use of tow trucks, you’ll recognize that this may result is some good business for Fifelski’s towing service in addition to other towing services in the immediate area.
I would gladly look forward to a local COPART knowing that I am likely to use it. However, I believe the answers the representatives are giving are not entirely true statements and the board should have a better understanding of how their operation works. Perhaps my comments will find their way to the them.
It would be prudent for the board and commission members to visit the Lansing site to view for themselves how the operation appears and operates. I wouldn’t vote for or against the project without investigating.
It will only assist Fifelski’s in collecting more junk cars. Go look at the tow yard almost next door to the Copart Ionia location. Copart doesn’t help local towing companies at all, they financialy starve them, and unless you’re local and buying a wrecked vehicle, they will not get any more business from this, except maybe tire changes from running over debris.
And as for the 10/15 vehicles a day, “not including” that is hilarious once again. Look at the Ionia location — 10/15 vehicles an hour!
And as for driving off a vehicle, that’s a crock as well. People sit there for hours making the vehicles good enough to drive or connecting trains of vehicles to drag down the road! There are not enough employees to monitor or even care if these activities take place.
And this yard is going to one of the larger ones. So they might be closing a different yard to alleviate another yard that is over its capacity