About 20 people were in attendance for the May 18 monthly Lima Township Planning Commission meeting, many of which were residents who live adjacent to Camp Woodbury on Steinbach Road, between Dexter-Chelsea Road and Trinkle Road.
Camp Woodbury owner Janet Muhleman has applied for a special land use as a campground for the nearly 150-acre property which includes Nordman Lake at 1991 Steinbach Road (see story).
During opening public comment, Camp Woodbury neighbor Susan Filipiak said that there was a noise complaint filed on Saturday, May 16, during a wedding at the Camp Woodbury site.
According to a letter from Filipiak to the Planning Commission, “In the past years, neighbors have been repeatedly disturbed by amplified noise and announcements, crowd yelling and cheering, fireworks, traffic noise, and dust from event traffic on our dirt (Steinbach) road. And so now again, on May 16, even after promises given at the April 27 public hearing and planning commission meeting, neighbors have been disturbed.”
Filipiak said, “Lima Township does not allow “party barns”, but yet Nordman Lake Lodge has, and wants to continue to operate as such. Nordman Lake Lodge is a “party lodge” not a “campground”.
Muhleman said, “I would like to apologize to the neighbors for the music that went to 11 o’clock. This was our first situation where we were trying to demonstrate that we can be responsive to your (neighbors) concerns. We had a situation where they (the wedding party) didn’t get the message, or ignored the message (about the 10 p.m. noise deadline), but we promise you we will be absolutely diligent in monitoring this going forward.”
The Planning Commission tabled the special land use application, and established a subcommittee composed of Planning Chairwoman Marlene Consiglio, Vice Chairman Ed Greenleaf, and Planning Commissioner Bill Coury. The purpose of the subcommittee will be to compose a comprehensive list of limitations and restrictions for the special use application before the matter will be addressed again at next month’s planning commission meeting.
There are two more weddings scheduled before the next planning commission meeting on June 22, and noise levels will be monitored closely by both the camp owners and neighbors.
In other news, St. Vladimir Russian Orthodox Church will be moving ahead with their construction of a new parking lot, complete with new lighting.
The Planning Commission unanimously approved the church’s preliminary and final site plan, with 15 contingencies, including moving the church driveway, satisfying county drainage requirements, and appropriate township lighting recommendations. The new parking lot will have 13 elevated lights, and both the planning commission and church officials want to make sure no neighbors are disturbed by the lights.
Also, as part of the motion for final site plan approval, the planning commission waved the zoning requirement to pave the parking lot, and the church will instead be allowed to use asphalt millings.
