Garfield Township planning commissioners approved plans Wednesday for the new owner of the Sears building at the Cherryland Center to open a K1 Speed indoor go kart racing center – with the owner targeting an early summer 2023 opening. Planning commissioners also recommended a planned 35-home subdivision near Birmley Hills Estates for approval to the township board and moved two planned childcare centers in churches ahead to the next step in the review and approval process.

K1 Speed
Dr. Ulysses Walls, the new owner of the Sears building in the Cherryland Center, has the green light from Garfield Township to open a new K1 Speed go kart racing franchise in the building.

Walls purchased the building in October and has already begun site work on the property ahead of a targeted June opening. K1 Speed is an indoor go kart racing company with more than 60 locations worldwide, including one Michigan location in Oxford. K1 Speed specializes in 20-horsepower electric go karts that can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour for adult riders and 20 miles per hour for junior riders. Project plans also call for a video game arcade and a restaurant/bar called the Paddock Lounge in the building, with future plans to add laser tag and putt-putt golf.

Township planning commissioners reviewed and unanimously approved Walls’s site plan application Wednesday. Township Planning Director John Sych noted that the board’s approval means the entire building can be used for indoor recreation. Walls previously told The Ticker the go kart track will take up half of the building, and that he hopes to explore other uses – such as an indoor trampoline park – in the future. Any expansion plans down the road would still require township review.

Planning commissioners attached several conditions to their approval, including requiring a stormwater review by the township engineer, a lighting plan to be provided, and more bike racks and trees to be added to the site. Project representative Bob Verschaeve of engineering firm Gosling Czubak noted that the Cherryland Center is over four decades old, with original lighting still in place in some areas, so Walls was already planning to update the lighting. He will also install more curbed islands with trees to improve the parking lot and meet the requirement to plant at least 46 trees on-site.

“He wants to clean up the site,” said Verschaeve. “There’s dead trees out there. He’s going to replace them. There’s trees that are missing. He’s going to replace them. There’s a lot of overgrown weedy areas. He’s ready to clean it up and make it look nice.” Planning Commissioner Chris DeGood said it would be an improvement to see the parking lot made more visually interesting. “It kind of is a sea of asphalt right now,” he said. “That’s the way they used to do it.” Verschaeve, noting that Walls is a doctor and not a developer by trade, said Walls happened to fall in love with the K1 Speed franchise and was bringing one to Traverse City “for the community.” Verschaeve said that since the story broke about the planned go kart center, “the response that (Walls has) gotten so far has been overwhelmingly positive, so he’s excited about it.”

Sych said that with Walls opening the go kart center and the Traverse City Curling Club opening a new curling center in the Kmart building, there are now three significant property owners at the Cherryland Center. The third, V. Kumar Vemulapalli, owns the Younkers, Big Lots, and Asian Buffet building areas, as well as the retention pond behind the property. Sych said he’s had discussions with Vemulapalli about possible new uses in the Younkers building. If and when a project comes forward for township review, Sych said he wants to try and get an updated “comprehensive plan” in place for the entire Cherryland Center, as the mall property is supposed to operate as one site.

“It was always intended to be and work and function as one entity,” he said.  “Even though it looks and feel like one place, it’s actually being fragmented into these little pieces. Somehow we need to make sure it still looks and operates like a complete development.”

Also at Wednesday’s meeting…
> Planning commissioners voted to forward a proposed 35-home subdivision next to Birmley Hills Estates to the township board with a recommendation to approve the project. Developer Steve Zakrajsek of T&R Investments plans to build 35 single-family homes – on lots ranging in size from 15,000 to 38,000 square feet – at the end of Farmington Drive and Birmley Estates Drive. The neighborhood will be served by water and sewer extending from the neighboring subdivision, as well as road extensions of Birmley Estates Drive and Farmington Court (both located off Birmley Road).

Some residents in the adjacent neighborhood worried about the impact of the development, notably on water pressure in the area and traffic on subdivision roads. Township staff addressed those concerns Wednesday, noting that there’s no reduction in water pressure anticipated but that the Grand Traverse County Department of Public Works said modifications could be made to “improve consistency of the pressure” in the area. The Grand Traverse County Road Commission and GT Metro Fire also did not have any concern about traffic impacts on roads. Design standards like fences, lighting, landscaping, and parking will be handled as part of the design for each individual home lot.

> Planning commissioners moved two proposed childcare centers in churches ahead to the next step in the township’s review and approval process. The first, a preschool and childcare center called Loving Neighbors Preschool, will be located in Northern Lakes Community Church on Herkner Road. The center would enroll up to 29 children ages infant-5 and have a director and staff of five teachers. The building has 75 parking spaces and could handle both church and childcare capacity, according to the church’s application. Planning commissioners held a public hearing on the project Wednesday and then directed staff to prepare a findings of fact report. That means planning commissioners could officially vote to approve the project at their next meeting on January 11.

Planning commissioners also scheduled a public hearing for January 11 on a special use permit application from Traverse City Christian School to open an early learning center in nearby Church of the Living God on Birmley Road. The center would accommodate up to 100 children and 15+ staff members and be open to ages 0-6. Plans are to operate during business hours Monday-Friday year-round, with “several scheduled breaks consistent with the school year calendar,” according to the application. The center would use the church’s existing classrooms and interior space, parking lot (which has 238 spaces), and playground, with minor modifications made to meet licensing requirements. If there are no issues with the application, planning commissioners in January could direct staff to prepare a findings of fact report, meaning the project could be voted on for approval in February.