By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com

A rezoning request has been granted in Genoa Township, paving the way for a potential church and residential development.

Bible Baptist Church is looking to relocate to a parcel that spans approximately 46.5 acres at the southwest corner of Golf Club Road and Latson Road in Genoa Township. At the township Board of Trustees regular meeting this week, officials considered a request to rezone the parcel from Rural Residential to Low Density Residential. Also on the agenda and related to the site, were the considerations for the recommended approvals of dispositions on Environmental Impact Assessments and disposition of a preliminary site plan. Supervisor Bill Rogers said this request was for a 10-unit condominium development on the property, and that the church was not part and parcel to this, specifically. The church, itself, will still require its own site plan and review. Rogers speculated that this residential portion could be the methodology for being able to afford a church or to help with funding the structure. Based on that, he said it’s not that different from other developments in the township that are part subdivision, part business. Rogers said this rezoning is all within the township’s Master Plan, so this isn’t much of a stretch.

During the call to the public, Rogers said there was one resident who spoke a concern that the township took and folded into the resolution. There is a body of water on the property that Rogers said was dug by a relative of the speaker. The resident expressed concern with a dam on the site and there being access to it for maintenance and the protection of pond levels. Rogers said this was accepted by the Board as an addition to other conditions just to make sure this was “clear and straight.”

The Board of Trustees unanimously approved all items following unanimous recommendations for approval from both the Genoa Township Planning Commission and the Livingston County Department of Planning.