Thursday evening, the Lapeer Planning Commission approved a rezoning request for a four-parcel development plan that includes the current site of Westside Market where a convenience store and gas station is proposed. Photo by Jeff Hogan
LAPEER — A new gas station and convenience store are proposed for the northeast corner of West Genesee and Millville Road in Lapeer.
Thursday evening, the Lapeer Planning Commission approved a rezoning request for four parcels sought by local businessman Andy Shango who seeks to redevelop the site to include a gas station. Because it complies with the intent of the city’s master plan and its future land use for the area, officials voted 8-1 to approve the rezoning request.
A site plan for the site must be submitted for review and approval by the Planning Commission and city building staff at a later date. During site plan review, planning officials will get the specifics to the project including exact building location, driveway locations, where fuel pumps are proposed and can also address landscaping and buffering concerns to minimize disturbance to area homes and St. Paul Lutheran Church and school to the north of the site.
Currently Shango’s Westside Market stands on the corner. It’s not clear yet whether the market will get an addition or be rebuilt. Hunter Galbraith, architect for the project, said he expects the site to accommodate four gas pump islands under a canopy.
To make way for the proposed project, two rental homes immediately east of Westside Market would be demolished. Shango owns the homes. A third house, the furthest east on the proposed project site, would be left standing to serve as a buffer.
Commissioner Anne Shenck, the lone opposition vote on the rezoning request, expressed concern that the redevelopment may create traffic issues in the area. Attorney Tim Denney during a public hearing on the rezoning request expressed the same concern that the proposed development may create traffic issues if not addressed at the site plan level, while a representative from St. Paul church and school sought assurance that there would be fencing or other screening to separate the properties.
Those sort of issues and concerns can be addressed by the Planning Commission and Shango when formal site plans are submitted. There was no timeline offered on when the project will proceed.
In the City of Lapeer, upon approval of a site plan a developer has one calendar year to break ground or make other administrative progress or the applicant has the option to ask for a one-year extension on the site plan. If the applicant does not request an extension and the year lapsed with no construction, the applicant must resubmit a site plan.
The four parcels on West Genesee Street were rezoned from B-1 Neighborhood Business to B-2 General Commercial.
Several planning officials expressed concern that Shango, who owns a marijuana dispensary and grow facility in Lapeer, might change his announced intention for the property and open a marijuana facility on the property. Galbraith said his involvement and knowledge of project plans sought by his client, Andy Shango, are to design a convenience store and gas station for the property.
In other business:
• A site plan was approved for a three-story mixed-use building to be developed by Patrick Hingst, owner of Woodchips BBQ and Lighting Rounds restaurants, at the northeast corner of West Nepessing and Mason streets in down Lapeer — currently a vacant lot.
Hingst plans to include retail/ restaurant on the ground floor, professional offices on the second floor and four apartments on the third floor. Small balconies are proposed for the residential units, one facing West Nepessing and three on the Mason Street side of the building.
A site plan for the development was first approved in June 2022, but the project failed to break ground that year and a site plan extension was sought and granted.
Site plan approval was granted Thursday, contingent Hingst is able to come to terms with the city’s Dept. of Public Works and city staff regarding a two-foot overhang of balconies on the third floor over the city right-of-way (city sidewalk) below.
Plans drawn by Auburn Hills-based Designhaus Architecture LLC indicate each floor will include approximately 4,400 square feet for a total of 13,188 square feet for the entire building. Parking will be in a city-owned parking lot on the north side of the building.
Construction on the building and estimated $2-million project may begin this year.
• A site plan was also approved Thursday evening by planning officials for the construction of a 4,550-square-foot Tommy’s Express Car Wash on a vacant lot south of Belle Tire on S. Main Street (M-24). The car wash proposal was first granted site plan approval in February 2022, but it never materialized and a new site plan had to be resubmitted.
Tommy’s will utilize a private road, Wakkott Road, that connects M-24 to Baldwin Road to the west.
The project plan includes 13 vacuums on the north side of the automatic car wash that will include three pay lanes.
The car wash will feature the company’s corporate “cardinal red” color on the building as accents, while the other main colors on the building will be variations of gray.
Planning Commissioner Mike Womack, also the Lapeer City Manager, sought assurance from the property owner that drying fan noise will not be an irritant to Lapeer KinderCare located immediately south of the proposed car wash location.
A sidebar issue to the development plans introduced by commissioners and Womack was the condition of the private road. The owner of the Planned Unit Development business subdivision acreage never had a final asphalt layer applied to Wakkott Road which has cracked and deteriorated over the years.
A bond requirement was never placed on the original developer of the site who put in the road to provide access to Belle Tire that opened in November 2013. Approval of the site plan stipulated that an occupancy permit will not be issued by the City of Lapeer to Tommy’s Express Car Wash until the final application of asphalt is applied to Wakkott Road.
Tommy’s Express Car Wash is expected to break ground on the project in spring 2025.
• The Planning Commission granted a one-year site plan extension to developer Brian Scott who proposes to build 32 new multi-family residential housing units on Carriage Hill Circle, located north of West Genesee Street — accessed from Village West Drive. Scott has until Aug. 10, 2025 to break ground on the project.
• A one-year site plan extension, until July 13, 2025, was granted to the owners of the Sunoco gas station at the southeast corner of M-24 and DeMille Road who plan an expansion and rebuild of the gas station located immediately north of a Burger King restaurant.
A building permit has been applied for with the Lapeer Building Dept., but has not been approved yet. The project architect stated in the site plan extension request, “The owner/builder are intending to start the construction as soon as they get the building permit, which is expected soon.”
The gas station, that includes Buscemi’s pizza and submarine sandwich products, currently is 2,135 square feet. The addition, mostly to accommodate greater storage space, will be constructed on the east side of the building that faces the Holiday Inn Express.
• At the conclusion of Thursday’s meeting, Planning Commissioner Joshua Atwood, also a Lapeer City Commissioner, addressed a recent flurry of criticism voiced on social media following the announcement that Blain’s Farm & Fleet has decided against building a 84,500-square-foot store at the southeast corner of Turrill Road and M-24 in Lapeer.
“We have building standards in Lapeer. Don’t feel bad about sticking to our standards. We want to have nice looking buildings in Lapeer,” said Atwood to Planning Commission members and city staff. The Planning Commission turned down a request by Blain’s to use metal siding as the predominant building material on the store’s exterior, a violation of city ordinance.
Womack said, “I think the board did an excellent job tonight to be business friendly. Quite frankly, we bent over backwards to work with Blain’s. We gave them other options, but they changed their mind at no fault of the City.”
