January 11, 2023
Call to order: 6 p.m.
Roll Call: Nancy Strohschein, Chair; Linnea Barron, Secretary; Joe Bollech, Trustee; Bob Janda, Township Board Representative; Robert Lindert, Trustee; Jay Loman, Board of Appeals Representative. Absent: Donna Preston, absent with notice; Ken Andersen.
Recognition of visitors: None.
Pledge of Allegiance: Recited
Comments on agenda: Nancy walked us through what was on the agenda and if we had anything to add.
Approval of agenda: Robert made a motion to accept the agenda, seconded by Bob. Motion carried.
Approval of minutes from October 19, 2022 quarterly meeting: In the minutes the names of Jay Fish and Linda Keohane needed to be added as receiving letters from FEMA or DEQ. Joe made a motion to accept the minutes with the addition of the names, seconded by Jay. Motion carried.
Public comments: None.
Chairman Comments: Location and Format of Planning Commission Documents.
Nancy explained her concern of where Planning Commission documents are stored, i.e., paper, electronic, etc. She researched MTA for some answers and was able to get on the community forum site where she asked this question and received various replies with the same concerns. Consequently, she will be meeting via Zoom with some of these people to address this issue.
Old Business:
1. Planning commission comments/concerns: Joe had a concern with the recent house fire in the community regarding the cleanup of the debris left over from the fire. There are a couple cases in this community where the cleanup of fire debris took a couple of years to get cleaned up. Insurance sometimes dictates the cleanup. The question was if there should be something in our zoning ordinance on this.
2. Bob Janda: Report form Township Board Rep: Bob thanked this board for their work.
3. Jay Loman: Report from Zoning Board of Appeals Rep: None.
4. Ken Andersen: No report.
5. Flood Insurance: We have all reviewed the information provided from FEMA and the DEQ concerning the areas designated as a floodplain. Nancy brought up a map for us to look at showing the area off of Collins Road. We have a copy of Eagle Harbor Township and how they address this in their ordinance. We made a decision to put this on hold until we can review this further.
6. Recreation Plan: We have a meeting tomorrow night with Jason McCarthy who is assisting us with our plan. We have been approved by the board to have a mailing of a survey to all residents of Arvon Township. We feel this is the best way to reach everyone. This will be discussed further tomorrow night.
7. Zoning Ordinance update: We all have an electronic copy of Arvon Township’s ordinance. We have discussed adding definitions to our ordinance. Nancy will put the completed ordinance on the website.
8. Fee Schedule update: We reviewed the present fee schedule concerning building permits, that has not changed since 2015. We felt this should be addressed by the building inspector as it was quite confusing. Jay mentioned that he would investigate other townships on how they handle fee schedules.
New Business:
1. Review of By-Laws and select officers: Nancy brought up a few issues with our by-laws that we are not doing. We reviewed that appointed positions are done yearly. We also need a vice chairperson. Robert made a motion for Nancy to be chairperson, Linnea as secretary, seconded by Bob. Nancy made a motion to have Robert be our vice chairperson, seconded by Linnea. All approved. Nancy gave us all an assignment to read the by-laws before the next quarterly meeting in April for any changes we may want to consider.
2. Quarterly meetings: We set up the following planning commission meeting schedule:
January 11, 2023, April 12, 2023, July 12, 2023, and October 11, 2023.
3. Training for members: Nancy mentioned that she and Robert received training when they joined the planning commission. She wondered if there was any other training available for us. This will be followed up with a possible check with MTA, and sometimes our township board receives this information.
4. Budget for 2023: The Township Board sets our budget from the information we give them. Training costs, ordinance publication, master plan hard copies, recreation plan hard copies, and grant monies.
Next Quarterly Meeting: April 12, 2023, 6 p.m. at the firehall.
Adjourn: Bob made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Robert. All approved. Adjourned at 7:10 p.m.