By Christiane Daily
Staff Writer
Goodrich-When communities grow larger, the need for businesses to expand is common.
The BP Service Station in Goodrich is no different, and Jack Parker can’t understand why he’s faced a brick wall now.
Parker is the Vice President of Quick Save stores, a company with a chain of more than 25 convenient stores statewide. Parker wants to expand the BP on M-15 and Hegel Road west from 2,400 square feet to 5,000 square feet, making it more of a gateway to the community. The concept for the corner is accounted for in the Master Plan.
Parker said the intent of expanding the service station is to provide a better store for customers and to improve the corner of M-15 and Hegel Road.
His partner, Robert Eastman, went before the Goodrich Planning Commission on Aug. 25 to request rezoning for two parcels south of the Quick Save, (BP) from Village Center Residential to Central Business District. However, his request was denied not once, but twice, the first on June 23, and the second on Aug. 25 after he made the appropriate changes to his proposal and presented them again to the Commission.
The parcel closest to the BP Station is 85’ by 85’ and the lot next to it and south is 149’ by 85’, roughly equaling one and a half acres for all three parcels. When a parcel is zoned as Village Center Residential, as the two lots south of the BP are, village guidelines state that it cannot be used for retail services, which essentially is why Parker and Eastman found the need for the rezoning request.
Parker said he received guidelines from Goodrich Village Administrator Jakki Sidge and said he was surprised at that point when the request was denied by the Planning Commission. Parker is now planning on taking the request to the Goodrich Village Council on Sept. 15 to seek further solutions to what he thought would be an improvement to the village.
“We have probably put about $20,000 into the initial stages of this, and I can’t understand why they don’t see a need for us to improve our business to better benefit the community,” said Parker.
Eastman told the Planning Commission that he would like to build a small parking lot to accommodate customers to reduce overflow parking in the street and design the new structure with an old, historic downtown feeling, as many of the offices in the village resemble now. He said he would like to focus on hiring young Goodrich and Atlas Township residents interested in employment opportunities there, and Eastman also offered to put a “Welcome to Goodrich” monument on the corner to enhance the look of the store and the village. Eastman also told the Planning Commission he would install a leak detector, which would shut down the pumps in case of a leak.
“We want to renovate both the inside and out. We want to make it easier for customers to get gas, and provide more selections like our store in Flushing has for Goodrich and Atlas Township.”
Parker even had customers sign a petition stating the need for a bigger building with better access to the fuel pumping area, and Parker is prepared to equip the station with state of the art pumps.
“We want it to be renovated inside and out, revised to make the accessibility easier. We just got proactive. In all, we received nearly 1,000 signatures supporting the expansion.”
The Planning Commission was essentially a split table in the voting on Aug. 25. Members of the Planning Commission, such as Bill Tappen, whose vote was to deny the request, said he thought it was a good idea, but didn’t like the proposed area. Tappen is also a resident directly on the Mill Pond.
“I really don’t know how the idea would work considering M-DOT has plans to eventually widen the road. I think it’s good to offer an improved store, but I would want to see more literature on the idea before really making a decision.”
Tappen said years ago a survey was done and the residents of the village said they wanted to keep the look of the Mill Pond the same. Perhaps their ideas have changed considering nearly 1,000 signatures showed their support for the expansion on the petition.
Other Planning Commission members, such as Adam Kline, said he voted in favor of the store doubling in size.
“I simply thought it would benefit the village. I see no reason to deny the rezoning request.”
The Goodrich Village Council will make a decision concerning the request on Sept. 15 at the regularly scheduled council meeting.