By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com

The City of Fenton Planning Commission has approved a planned unit development for new office and warehouse space.

D&W Development was before the commission, last week, seeking a rezoning of parcels at 1117 and 1111 Poplar Street, and 2457 North Road from office space/high density residential to a general business district PUD. Developers approached city officials a couple of months ago about building quality office and retail space with warehousing, but that’s not permitted under the current zoning.

Planner Justin Sprague said that those uses don’t fit the current master plan and that typically he wouldn’t recommend rezoning for that reason. However, the planning commission is drafting a new master plan and a condition has changed, encompassing other businesses in the area into the proposed PUD. Sprague said this brings in some benefits, and he now recommends approval. He said, “By bringing other properties in, you’ll get some consistencies. Given that, and that we’re currently updating the master plan, while I didn’t find it consistent with the current master plan, it’d be a relatively easy change on the draft to bring it into commercial compliance with the development patterns that have occurred. “

There are natural features that need to be accounted for and a house on one of the parcels will likely come down to create a second egress. The developer said they approached the owners of a neighboring party store about coming into the PUD, but then implied that they will not participate in it. As for tenants, D&W said they don’t have any in particular in mind, but can see it being a good space for a small electrician or an office area that doesn’t have a lot of foot traffic.

The planning commission voted to recommend approval of the rezoning to City Council.