Suttons Bay Township will be home to a new winery as well as a new "cidery" – an operation which produces hard apple cider – following action last week by the township planning commission.

Following a public hearing, township planners approved a site plan for Patricia and Mark Carlson who plan to establish a small winery on their 21 acres on Silver Leaf Farm Road, a private drive off Peshawbestown Road.

Township zoning administrator Steve Patmore reported that the planning commission approved the Carlsons’ site plan with three conditions. The applicants must improve their private road, apply for a permit for a sign for their winery, and comply with a list of rules set down for wineries specifying the amount of wine they can produce and where grapes are grown.

Following a second public hearing, the Suttons Bay Township Planning Commission also approved a site plan for Nikki Rothwell and Danny Young, who plan to establish a “cidery” on 10 acres along N. Setterbo Road.

Rothwell is director of Michigan State University’s Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station in Bingham Township; Young is her husband.

Patmore explained that there is no specific zoning ordinance language for “cideries,” this one being unique in the county. He said zoning ordinance requirements for wineries were applied to the request from “Tandem Ciders,” the company formed by Rothwell and Young.

One condition imposed on approval of a site plan for the cidery was the relocation of a parking area from the front to the rear or side of an existing building on the property. Rothwell and Young own five acres and will lease an additional five acres to grow apple trees from neighboring Cherry Bay Orchards, Patmore said.

In other business at its regular monthly meeting on June 6, the Suttons Bay Township Planning Commission:

• Heard from representatives of the Lake Leelanau Lake Association regarding a proposed zoning ordinance change that would establish a 100-foot maximum on the length of docks. Current rules specify only that docks must end when a water depth of five feet is reached. The new rules would maintain the same depth requirement, but cut off length at 100 feet regardless of depth.

• Also discussed with lake association representatives some possible revisions to “keyholing” provisions of the zoning ordinance. “Keyholing” is the practice of multiple, inland property owners sharing a small area of lakefront. Patmore said both the dock issue and the “keyholing” issue were referred to a subcommittee for further consideration.

• Set a public hearing next month on three new zoning definitions to clarify allowable uses in commercial zoning districts: “personal service,” “business service,” and “professional service.”