Following action last week by the Suttons Bay Township Board, the owner of 7.9 acres just south of the Village of Suttons Bay may finally be able to do what he first asked to do on his property three years ago – build a small office building.

Property owner Chris Branson’s agriculturally zoned parcel between Peck Road and M-22 is in close proximity to several commercial and residential properties just outside the village limits. More than three years ago, Branson asked township planners to rezone his property so he could put a small office building. He planned to expand his business, the Bonek Insurance Agency, currently located in downtown Suttons Bay.

Branson’s request led the Suttons Bay Township Planning Commission on a more than two-year quest to draft and adopt a zoning ordinance amendment describing a unique new “Office Transition District” which, initially, would be applied only to Branson’s 7.9 acres. The new district was intended to provide a buffer between residential and commercial properties at the outskirts of the village.

Although the township planning commission and the township board approved the changes, some homeowners in the Peck Road area objected. They petitioned for a township-wide referendum to overturn enactment of the zoning ordinance amendment that created the new district and the rezoning of Branson’s parcel into the new district.

In February, a majority of voters in Suttons Bay Township overturned the amendment and the rezoning. Branson then applied to rezone the northern 3.2 acres of his agriculturally zoned parcel for residential use and “conditionally” rezone the southern 4.7 acres for commercial use. When Branson originally applied for the rezoning three years ago, there were no zoning ordinance provisions for “conditional” rezoning.

Conditions applied to the southern 4.7-acre portion of Branson’s parcel stipulate that its use must be limited to small office buildings – “business and professional offices, business services and health clinics” as defined elsewhere in the zoning ordinance.

Township zoning administrator Steve Patmore reported that both the Suttons Bay Township and Leelanau County planning commissions had voted unanimously to recommend approval of Branson’s rezoning changes – having earlier supported the “office transition district” rezoning.

At its regular monthly meeting last Wednesday, June 13, the Suttons Bay Township Board voted 4-0 in favor of rezoning Branson’s northern 3.2 acres from agricultural to residential use. Clerk Sandra VanHuystee was absent.

The township board then voted 3-1 to conditionally rezone Branson’s southern 4.7 acres for commercial use, with trustee Dick Catton opposed.

“I’ve been opposed to this all along,” said Catton. He said that traffic access to any new commercial building on Branson’s 4.7-acre parcel would be from Peck Road rather than M-22.

“That’s too much traffic entering into a residential area,” Catton said. “If the entrance to this property were off M-22 instead of Peck Road, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

Patmore noted that the Michigan Department of Transportation has dictated that access to Branson’s parcel must be off Peck Road even though the property fronts M-22 as well.

In other business at last week’s meeting the Suttons Bay Township Board:

• Heard concerns from a member of the public about maintenance of the tennis court on township-owned property in the Village of Suttons Bay. Township supervisor Rich Bahle said it was up to the village to maintain the tennis court and other amenities at the park, but agreed to refer the issue to the township’s Parks and Recreation Committee for discussion.

• Adopted a resolution to endorse an application for a state “small wine maker license” for the owner of Forty-Five North, a new winery located on the former Robb property on Horn Road. Patmore noted that the license will allow the manufacture of wine at the facility but not operation of a tasting room or retail outlet. He explained that the owner will be required to apply for a special land use permit for those uses later.

Forty-Five North winemaker Shawn Walters said he hoped to be producing wines from locally grown fruit beginning this summer. He has no immediate plans to open a tasting room or retail outlet.