Zoning request granted with restrictions

by Angie Asam – Staff Writer

Don Grainger, who owns the former Booth?s Body Shop building at 20635 Shaw Street, approached the city commission at its Nov. 4 meeting to ask it to consider a zoning variance that would allow him to lease the building to Onaway Auto and Finance to run a detailing/light repair shop.

On Monday evening at the city commission meeting a public hearing was held on the issue. In order for the commission to approve the non-conforming use it had to legally determine that the business would be less intrusive than the body shop was when it was in operation.

The public hearing lasted almost an hour as Tom Peacock of Onaway Auto asked the commission to consider hours of operation to be 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday.

A rental property owner down the road from the building in question was present at the meeting and expressed support of the project. A written comment received from a citizen, not in favor or against the project, communicated the opinion the city doesn?t do a good job enforcing restrictions already put in place, so why bother.

After hearing all of the public comment the commission voted four-to-one to approve the request with the following restrictions; no more than ten vehicles can be parked outside the building at any time, all vehicles stored outdoors must be in operable condition at all times, no vehicles may be stored on the property for more than a week, all vehicles, including employee vehicles, must be parked in the gravel parking lot fronting Shaw Street, all repairs and detailing must be done within the building, no materials or equipment other than vehicles may be stored outside and hours of operation be set at 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Mel Perkins was the lone commissioner to vote no on the motion, however, he was not against the project, he simply felt that the commission should have allowed the hours of operation as requested by Peacock.

IN OTHER CITY COMMISSION NEWS: ? The commissioners reviewed a copy of the architectural plans for the court

house stairway/lift unit from Wigen, Tincknell, Meyer and Associates. The plans are 95 percent complete and the architects asked the city to review them before they are submitted to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) for review and approval. The commissioners were happy with the design but questioned the lack of a heating system in the lift unit.

? The backhoe the city purchased through a USDA Rural Development grant is expected to be delivered by/on Nov. 30 and the city approved payment for the broom, compactor and hammer for the backhoe.

? The meeting regularly scheduled for Dec. 21 at 5:30 p.m. was rescheduled for Dec. 14 at 5:30 p.m.