Planners approve phase 1 of Meijer plan

Region

February 1, 2012

Concept next goes to township board

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Wed Feb 01, 2012, 07:28 AM EST

ACME — A lengthy, arduous planning process left developers and Acme Township officials satisfied with the final design for a proposed Meijer store.

Even project critics said they accept a store concept that Acme planners approved this week. Developers especially were pleased by approval of phase 1 of the proposed Village at Grand Traverse development — after almost six years of litigation and two years of updating plans.

"We feel great; we were very happy," said Terry Boyd, a local engineer who is a development consultant. "It's a good feeling that the planners have finally reached the point that they are all comfortable with what we've submitted."

Phase I consists of a 214,000-square-foot Meijer store that would anchor what could evolve into more than 1 million square feet of retail space on a 184-acre parcel at the corner of M-72 and Lautner Road.

The decision goes next to the township board and will be on its Feb. 7 agenda, though it's unclear if the board will have time to take final action then.

"We have a huge agenda that night," said township Clerk Dorothy Dunville. "We want to give them the best possible showing. We may want to have a special meeting so they are the only subject on the agenda and we can vote on it then."

Boyd said developers are willing to anchor themselves in the township board meeting until midnight if that would guarantee a decision, but they realize it could take a bit longer.

Dunville said she expects the township board to have questions about the project, but said members appreciate the planning commission's time and effort.

"We have to have a lot of confidence in what they did. They worked hard and put a lot of time into it," she said. "We've got to respect that and do our best to do the right thing ourselves."

Concerned Citizens of Acme Township, the group that filed suit in 2004 to stop the project, won't petition the board to alter the planning commission's recommendation, a group leader said.

"CCAT will always feel this was a poorly designed project and too large for our township, but it is what we were left with," said Denny Rohn, CCAT president. "I think the planning commission did the best that they could to protect the pieces of the township that were threatened by it."

Meijer's effort to build in Acme included secretly funding front groups to harass township officials. Meijer illegally paid those groups more than $100,000 to influence township elections in 2005 and 2007. Meijer paid the state nearly $200,000 to settle campaign finance violations, and the Grand Rapids-area retail giant and Village at Grand Traverse LLC developers together paid more than $4 million to settle several lawsuits related to their actions.

The developers will wait until they receive final board approval to move to the next phase that includes drawing construction documents and developing a construction time line, Boyd said.