Garfield Township Approves Meijer Expansion, New Retail/Restaurant Center With Chipotle

Garfield Township planning commissioners Wednesday unanimously approved plans for Meijer to complete a major revamp of its US-31 store, including a completely remodeled interior and exterior, an expanded pharmacy drive-thru, a possible redesigned US-31 intersection, and a project with The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay to install green infrastructure as part of parking lot renovations to reduce stormwater runoff into Kids Creek.

According to documents submitted to the township, Meijer is planning to “completely remodel the store interior” and “upgrade building facades” (pictured, renderings). Meijer will also reconfigure and expand the pharmacy drive-thru and repave the entry drives and main parking lot, which has 706 parking spaces. As part of the parking lot project, Meijer is partnering with The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay to install green infrastructure, including a series of underground filtration chambers and bioswale. Meijer is also looking at redesigning its main entrance intersection at the US-31 traffic signal near the store’s gas station. That includes a potential new second left-turn lane heading north out of Meijer onto the highway. As part of the conditions attached to Meijer's approval, the retailer will need to complete a study of the intersection in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) by January 2023 and complete any recommended improvements to the intersection by January 2025.

Garfield Township planning commissioners also unanimously approved another project in the US-31 corridor Wednesday. Garfield Retail Management LLC sought permission to build a new mixed-used restaurant and retail center at 3566 North US-31 South near the intersection with Franke Road. The site is currently vacant and was formerly part of the Bill Marsh auto dealership. The two-acre property is proposed to house a multi-tenant building with a Chipotle restaurant and drive-thru - the company's first Traverse City location - as well as a retail store and another restaurant. The specific businesses that would occupy those two latter spaces have not yet been identified. Planning commissioners talked through some concerns with the applicant regarding turning radiuses, vehicle queuing, landscaping, and pedestrian crosswalks before approving the site plan application with conditions attached to address those issues.