On June 23 representatives of Country Resort at Brookside will appear before the Howell Zoning Board of Adjustment with a proposal to operate a swim club, summer camp and day care facility on Fort Plains Road, Howell.
According to a report prepared by zoning board engineer John Mallon, the property is on the west side of Fort Plains Road, about 640 feet north of Arrowwood Court. The 17-acre parcel is in an Agricultural Rural Estate-2 zone. Bannen Meadow Brook traverses the middle portion of the property in a west to east direction.
The application submitted by Country Resort at Brookside was deemed complete by Mallon on June 28, 2007. The applicant is seeking a use variance from the zoning board.
In making its case for the use variance, the applicant will be required to “demonstrate to the board that the use variance can be granted without a substantial detriment to the public good and that the intent and purpose of the Howell Land Use Ordinance and master plan will not be substantially impaired,” according to Mallon.
A swim club with a clubhouse already exists on the site. The facility includes three swimming pools, two accessory buildings, a basketball court and two tennis courts. Those uses will continue, according to Mallon’s report. There are also seven one-story cottages south of Bannen Meadow Brook that are a pre-existing nonconforming use.
The applicant is proposing to redevelop the portion of the property north of Bannen Meadow Brook as a summer camp, swim club and child care center. The applicant wants to demolish the existing clubhouse, which is about 4,000 square feet, and construct the following buildings:
• A 13,475-square-foot swim club/summer camp building. A 12-foot-wide bus drop-off/pickup lane is proposed in front of the new building.
• A 10,000-square-foot multipurpose building (storage and indoor recreation) to be constructed.
• A 9,600-square-foot day care building to be constructed.
• A 25-foot-wide paved entrance/exit driveway from Fort Plains Road to be constructed.
•Anew paved surface/curbed parking lot for 33 vehicles is to be constructed.
• Sanitary sewer is to be extended into the site from an existing main on Fort Plains Road. Potable water is to be provided by an existing public system.
• The use of the existing seven one-story cottages (a multifamily use) south of Bannen Meadow Brook will continue. No construction such as improved site access, improved parking facilities, improved storm-water facilities, improved lighting/landscaping are proposed. According to Mallon, this use of the property “appears to be a pre-existing nonconforming use, as cottages (a multifamily use) are not permitted in the ARE-2 zone.
Mallon said, “The applicant has requested a use variance to develop this property with the combined uses of summer camp, swim club, child care center and, with those uses, the continuing use of the seven existing cottages. None of the uses are permitted in the ARE-2 zone.”
Mallon said the applicant is seeking a waiver from submitting an environmental impact report.