Garfield Township planning commissioners unanimously approved a special use permit Wednesday for Angel Care Preschool & Child Care to open a new childcare center in Church of the Living God on Birmley Road. Angel Care announced earlier this year it was seeking a new community home after being informed it would need to vacate its longstanding space on Hastings Street.

Planning commissioners Wednesday also scheduled upcoming public hearings on plans from the Cherryland Humane Society to significantly expand its space off Hammond Road – creating more shelter room for its animals, which is currently maxed out – and for Copper Ridge to explore new uses for the last four vacant lots remaining in its Silver Lake Road development.

Angel Care
Angel Care Preschool & Child Care has a new home after a series of challenges led to the nonprofit losing the lease on its years-long home in a building owned by the Father Fred Foundation on Hastings Street. Angel Care plans to open a new childcare center in Church of the Living God on Birmley Road that will accommodate up to 60 children, from newborn infants up to age 12. Garfield Township planning commissioners approved a special use permit for the project Wednesday.

According to the permit application, the childcare center will be open Monday-Friday from 7:30am-5:30pm. An estimated 15-plus staff members will work at the site. CLG previously collaborated on a similar proposal for Traverse City Christian School to open a childcare center in the church, but extensive fire system updates required under the proposal ultimately led to the school abandoning the plan. Angel Care does not have to meet those same requirements since it has a maximum of 60 children versus the 100 previously planned by Traverse City Christian School, said Angel Care Executive Director Kimberly Lindsey in a memo.

Angel Care will have to make other improvements to the property under licensing requirements, however, including a gated playground area with at least 1,200 square feet. Some exterior door upgrades and minor renovations are also planned, according to Lindsey. “The property is set far enough back from the road and has enough space that there would be no nuisance to neighboring properties,” she wrote. “Arrival and departure would be staggered and flow of traffic should not be disrupted. There is a large parking lot with 238 spaces to allow parking for staff and visitors. Drive-through for drop-off/pick-up is available for all families.”

Lindsey said project work would begin as soon as Angel Care had township approval and is expected to take 6-12 months, depending on renovations, inspections, and licensing.

Cherryland Humane Society
Just around the corner from Church of the Living God, another organization is also preparing for new growth. The nonprofit Cherryland Humane Society is seeking to construct two new buildings on its property on Ahlberg Drive off Hammond Road. The buildings will add more than 9,000 square feet of new space to the animal shelter’s existing 14,168-square-foot building – expanding capacity by more than 60 percent.

Township Deputy Planning Director Steve Hannon said the township received the application a few months ago, but had to first navigate a complex process of establishing where Cherryland Humane Society’s various yards – and thus setback requirements – were before it could bring the project forward to the planning commission. With those issues resolved, project representatives Wednesday addressed several other minor issues related to lighting, landscaping, and other requirements to move the application forward. Project Manager Kyle Richter of RCI said the expansion “won’t necessarily generate any more outside traffic to the building” but rather is intended to address space constraints at the Cherryland Humane Society.

“It’s actually trying to just make some space to separate the cats from the dogs and (create) some more room for them, because they’re at capacity,” he said. Planning commissioners agreed to schedule a public hearing on the application for December 11.

Copper Ridge
After first being approved in 2000, the Copper Ridge planned unit development (PUD) off Silver Lake Road has grown into a sprawling mixed-used site with professional and medical offices, a surgery center, retail and commercial uses, and residential properties. Today, just four vacant parcels remain in Copper Ridge that are available for development.

Copper Ridge’s project partners are seeking township approval to amend the PUD to expand the allowed uses on those four remaining parcels. Three parcels would be broadened from office only to office, commercial, or residential, while a fourth would be changed from retail/office to office, commercial, or residential. “What they are looking to do is adjust the land uses that are permitted in the remaining unbuilt spots...to have some greater flexibility,” said Township Planning Director John Sych. He noted that the original PUD originally called for a greater number of residential units on the property, though those were scaled back in later PUD amendments. Changing the allowed uses could allow for some “complementary” projects to come in, such as developing an overnight stay location for patients at the surgery center, Sych said.

Project representative Sarah Keever also noted the “demand for residential uses is certainly here” in Traverse City, while the demand for office space has declined in recent years. Planning commissioners seemed mostly supportive of expanding the allowed uses, though some wanted to ensure that one parcel directly next to the Copper Village neighborhood wouldn’t have any commercial uses that could significantly impact adjacent residences. They agreed to schedule a public hearing on December 11 on the PUD amendment, where they plan to review a list of commercial uses they might allow on the site.