Auto parts store approved – again – by planners
by Emmitt B. Feldner of the Review staff
PLYMOUTH — Gentlemen, restart your engines was the word from the Plan Commission Thursday.
It was a case of déjà vu all over again as the commission approved plans for construction of an Advanced Auto Parts store on the south side of Eastern Avenue at the intersection with Carr Road.
Dave Herbeck of D. Herbeck Commercial Horizons presented the plans to the commission.
Herbeck explained that the store had been approved some time ago by the commission as part of the proposed Magnolia Gardens development on Eastern Avenue.
The economy put the auto parts chain’s plans for Plymouth on hold, while it also impacted the developers of the larger parcel. That land has been foreclosed and is now owned by Anchor Bank, Herbeck told the commission.
The commission approved a certified survey map that split off the lot for the Advanced Auto Parts store from the lot along Eastern Avenue.
They requested the addition of several easements to the map. Along with sewer and electric line easements, they also requested the setting aside of an easement across the front of the lot between the proposed store and Eastern Avenue.
That would allow for construction and extension of a driveway to serve future commercial development between the store and the existing Plymouth Commons shopping center to the west, preventing additional driveway accesses to Eastern Avenue in that area.
“We should require these easements on the certified survey map so there isn’t an issue of remembering them,” when future development comes up, Public Works Director William Immich advised the commission.
Plymouth Utilities Manager John MacKinnon echoed Immich’s concern for sewer and electric service to the Advanced Auto Parts store and other future development to the west.
Herbeck said the store would bring approximately 15 new jobs with it.
Some commissioners questioned the fact that the proposed driveway access for the store does not line up exactly with Carr Road on the opposite side of Eastern Avenue.
“In the past we’ve talked about ultimately putting in (traffic) signals out there,” commissioner Roger Laning noted of the Carr Road/Eastern Avenue intersection. “Does this work with that?”
Immich said it should not be a problem, adding that the access road off Eastern Avenue to the south is likely to remain a private drive, since there are wetlands to the south that would prevent any extension of Carr Road.
Herbeck noted that the developers put in additional landscaping on the parcel and reduced the width of the access drive to 32 feet to comply with requests from Immich and Building Inspector Pete Scheuerman.
The commission approved a home occupation permit for Linda Ryan. She explained that she is purchasing a new home at 171 Willowbrook Drive and wants to move her massage therapist business, which she has a permit for at her current home, to her new home.
