The Beaumont proposal for a hospital at M-15 and I-75 is back on the table, as the Independence Township Planning Commission set June 14 to discuss its traffic study.
Recommended changes include reconstructing the corner of Clarkston Road and M-15 in three phases.
Phases I and II would include adding a northbound right-turn lane and adjusting signal timing at the corner of Clarkston Road and M-15. Phase III would convert the northbound right-turn lane into a shared through/right lane, and adjust signal timing.
These changes have Cranberry Lake Road resident Randy Golab concerned this would cut into yards of many homes along Main Street.
‘We will fight to not allow arrogant developers to come into our neighborhoods and spot zone commercial property in the middle of a subdivision; buy up entire second phases of other subs or widen our main street and destroy the historic look and feel of our town,? said Golab in a letter to The Clarkston News.
He is encouraging residents to be at the Township Library for the meeting tomorrow.
‘It’s quite possible that our community could be changed forever, and not for the better,? he said.
‘We already have one hospital approved for our community; let’s not accept a second hospital, especially when that second hospital/corporation wants to destroy so many parts of our community for a development that is not needed.?
Eric Hunt, vice president of operations for Beaumont’s Hospital Ambulatory Services Division, said the suggested right lane would improve northbound flow of traffic.
‘I know every road has easments for widening, just what those easments include for that section I do not know,? said Hunt.
The hospital had a neighborhood meeting back in February and they listened to many requests of those present.
As a result, Beamont is building a two-story, 100-bed hospital, instead of the 200 beds they were planning initially.
The building will be overall 25 percent smaller than originally planned. The hospital will be built closer to M-15 and I-75, increasing its distance from surrounding neighborhoods.
The hospital has also preserved an 18-acre parcel on the western part of the site that will be developed into nature trails, which would also be open to the public.
The access road to the hospital that was going to be available from Cranberry Lake Road is no longer in the plans.
‘We want to be a good neighbor,? said Hunt. ‘It’s important that we are respectful to our neighbors wherever we build.?