By Lisa Carolin
At its March 21 meeting, the Chelsea Planning Commission voted 6 to 2 (Jamie Lane, Marcia White against) to table the revised final site plans for SP23-02 for Phase 1 of the Heritage Farms development located on an approximately 105-acre site along the north side of Dexter-Chelsea Road.
Several commission members stated that they did not think the plans were ready for approval and should be tabled until they receive a more complete package.
Also at the meeting, a combined preliminary and final site plan for Gestamp, located at 5800 Sibley Road, to expand its existing metal stamping facility for the manufacture of automotive supplies, was approved unanimously by the planning commission.
The planning commission also approved two waivers with regard to the expansion: A storage of materials screening waiver to move the materials storage screening requirements due to the building orientation and the presence of existing natural vegetation and wetlands that provides screening in accordance with Section 6.14 of the Zoning Ordinance Section; also approved was a trash compactor screening waiver for the same reason.
The expansion project consists of a 35,393 square foot addition on the south side of the existing 232,904 square foot facility with a maximum height of 35 feet. Gestamp currently has 272 employees and plans to add 62 more employees by 2025.
In other action, the Planning Commission approved proposed landscaping text amendments that were a result of work sessions. The major changes to Article 7 include:
Clarification of site landscaping requirements;
Easing the multi-family landscaping requirements for buildings more than two stories tall;
Cleaning up language regarding parking lot island groundcover;
Moving buffer types in Section 7.08 into a table format for ease of use;
Indicating invasive species in the prohibited species list;
Adding the scientific names to the prohibited species list;
Adding Flowering Pear (Pyrus) to the list of prohibited species;
Deleting the “Modification of Site Landscaping” waiver added as an amendment in 2022; and
Adding a new waiver for trees that conflict with utilities or public service facilities.
