KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – When the Kalamazoo city commission considers the highly controversial plans to rezone land near Asylum Lake for a car wash next Monday, fur may fly, but it will the the facts that make the difference.
The request is to rezone 19 acres on the edge of the Asylum Lake Preserve and remove the Natural Features Protection Overlay District.
The commission will be acting as a quasi-judicial panel when it votes.
That means while emotions may run high, commissioners will be expected to set politics aside.
City Planner Christina Anderson says they must weigh 5 criteria, including is it consistent with the city’s Master Plan and has change in the area made rezoning a good idea?
She says staff will make their report, the applicant Haji Tehrani, the CEO of Drive & Shine Car Wash, or his designee will have 10 minutes to make their case, and then unlike a court, the commission will hear from the public.
A large number of residents are expected to speak against it.
Then the commission will take a vote.
Assistant City Attorney Charlie Bear says between now and then, commissioners must refrain from taking public input, and not discuss it with other commissioners.
It will be important for the commissioners to stick to the debate at the hearing to avoid future challenges to their decision in a real courtroom.
That’s why it may also make strategic sense for those giving public comments to keep to the facts and base their arguments on the criterion set in the zoning code.
The rezoning request has been turned down more than once already, including a unanimous recommendation from the Kalamazoo Planning Commission, rejecting the rezoning in November.
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