By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Plans for a renovation project at a large industrial property in Marion Township are moving forward.

Businessman Vern Brockway owns approximately 100 acres at 1388 Lucy Road, where site renovations are being proposed. Brockway sold his former business Regal Recycling, also on Lucy Road, to PADNOS Iron & Metal in the City of Howell in 2019.

For the current plans, a building would be removed and replaced with a larger 6,000-square-foot repair shop and office building. The property is said to have storage containers, mature trees, gravel parking and a building in poor condition on site. Plans call for a new drive on Lucy Road and stormwater basins to be constructed with a drain field for septic service would be installed. A memo noted that the latest revisions don’t significantly change the building and parking layout of the site.

The stormwater facilities and septic locations would switch and planners noted that the new locations were actually preferred as it allows a better natural greenbelt between the site and I-96.

The applicant and his engineer were not present during Thursday night’s virtual meeting so Zoning Administrator Dave Hamann provided an update. He said the item has been before the Planning Commission, which recommended approval, and has been reviewed by the planner and engineer. He noted the applicants are currently working with the county. Hamann commented that there are no open issues and the applicant is actually ahead of the game because the project is only in the preliminary site plan phase. He said that many of the county items will be addressed during the final site plan review.

As the existing parcel and lot frontage were legally non-conforming, eight variances were granted in January by the Zoning Board of Appeals to allow the site to be developed – four for setbacks and four for landscape buffers.

The board voted unanimously to grant preliminary site plan approval.

Photo: Google Maps.