A new 20-lot residential development and a proposed 25-unit personal storage facility are both on the docket for the Suttons Bay Township Planning Commission this week. The planning commission will host public hearings for each of these projects as part of its monthly regular meeting, scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, April 1 at 6pm. The Leelanau Ticker has the details on these projects, both of which will need to be granted a Special Land Use Permit (SLUP) in order to proceed.

Cherry Beach Orchards

Local farmers Mark and Karen Drake are seeking a SLUP for a new residential development called Cherry Beach Orchards. If approved, that “20-lot open space residential development” would be built at 855 S. Stony Point Road in Suttons Bay. The Drakes own a 65-acre farm at that site – the long-running Stoney Point Orchards – and all of the land three is currently zoned agricultural. The proposal for Cherry Beach Orchards involves 52.70 acres of that land, which includes an existing home and two barns owned by the Drakes. The couple is seeking approval for a two-phase development on the property, which would ultimately add 20 new detached single-family homes.

Though it’s been discussed at several meetings reaching back to December, the Cherry Beach Orchards project was formally introduced to the Suttons Bay Township Planning Commission earlier this month, for a preliminary site plan review at the commission's March 4 meeting. The project site is located near the intersection of S. Stony Point Road and E. Smith Road, with water frontage on Suttons Bay just across Stony Point Road. The first phase of the development would focus on the first nine parcels, including seven new home sites, “all with waterfront property; the other two parcels included in that initial batch of nine include the owners’ existing home site as well as an open site. The second phase would create an additional 12 home sites, "for a total of 23 sites."

Each new residential lot would be one acre in size, while a 26.9-acre portion of land on the eastern side of the property would be left as open space. Keeping that part of the property vacant aligns with Suttons Bay Township’s “open space land development,” a segment of the township’s master plan that seeks “to preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental areas.” Per township zoning, open space land developments – also known as “cluster housing” or “clustered development” – “are considered developments that permanently maintain and preserve a minimum of 20 percent of the total gross acreage as open space. Cherry Beach Orchards would preserve 51 percent of the 52.70 acres the Drakes are including in the project plan.

Depending on approvals, the Drakes hope to move forward with phase one of Cherry Beach Orchards this spring. The second phase would tentatively follow in the summer or fall next year. However, in the event the planning commission does approve the SLUP on Tuesday, the Drakes would still need to go through a review by the land division committee in order to split up their property.

Notably, the Cherry Beach Orchards proposal calls for all of the new residential parcels to be serviced by a private drive (or “shared driveway”) called Drake Road. According to project documents, property owners would be expected to pay equal maintenance cost shares for the ongoing upkeep of the road, including wintertime snow removal.

“Drake Court is not a Public Road that is maintained by the Leelanau County Road Commission, Suttons Bay Township, or any other governmental agency,” project documents note.

Those documents also highlight other restrictions and regulations eventual buyers in Cherry Beach Orchards would have to follow, including architectural guidelines, landscaping and grass cutting requirements, “dark sky community” limitations for lighting, and even limits on how many pets they could have.

The Cherry Beach Orchards project has already generated some opposition in Suttons Bay Township. Recent planning commission meetings have seen an uptick in attendance thanks to a group of local residents who are pushing back against the development. The packet for February’s planning commission meeting even included a copy of an anonymous letter sent to nearby residents – including two planning commissioners – urging people to “come to the planning commission meetings and make your voice heard.” The letter warned township residents that a “high-density housing development” is “coming soon to your neighborhood.

“TRAFFIC! NOISE! DANGEROUS CORNER,” the letter proclaimed. “Do we want this dense housing invading our neighborhood! A plethora of problems.”

For their part, the Drakes previously indicated that they are seeking to divide and develop some of their farmland “to provide a retirement income and to then also allow their family to continue farming the remaining properties.”

Richter Road Storage Units

Also getting the public hearing treatment at Tuesday’s Suttons Bay Township Planning Commission meeting is Richter Road Storage Units, a 25-unit personal storage facility proposed for 1800 S. Richter Road. Like Cherry Beach Orchards, that project would require a SLUP to move forward, hence the public hearing.

Applicant Tony Biddix noted in his application that the project would be constructed across three phases: buildings 1-14 in phase one, buildings 15-24 in phase two, and the 25th and final building in phase three. Once built, each storage unit would be privately owned, with the facility functioning similarly to a neighborhood with multiple homes. The facility would even have a condo association, which would be responsible for maintaining parking and driveway facilities.

Pictured: Plans for the Cherry Beach Orchards project, side-by-side with a Google Maps aerial view of the Drakes' farm.