Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Variance Height topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Clemens Food Group cleared for 110-foot addition at Coldwater plant
Summary
The Coldwater Zoning Board of Appeals approved a 20-foot height variance for Clemens Food Group on the basis of the staff recommendation, allowing an automatic storage and retrieval system that will raise part of the facility to 110 feet and support expanded processing and hiring plans.
The Coldwater Zoning Board of Appeals on an unspecified recent meeting approved a dimensional height variance requested by Clemens Food Group that will raise part of the company’s Coldwater processing plant to 110 feet.
The variance, filed as ZBA2501 and presented by company representatives, allows an additional 20 feet above a previously approved 90-foot variance and above the 60-foot maximum for the D‑2 Heavy Industrial District. The board voted to approve the request after staff recommended approval and the applicant described equipment and operations that require the height increase.
Joe Hughes, general manager for Clemens Food Group’s Coldwater facility, told the board the expansion would increase processing capacity and create jobs. “We produce on the order of 16,000 hogs per day. This will allow us to go to about 22 or 23,000 head per day,” Hughes said. He said the company employs more than 1,800 people at the plant and expects the expansion to create roughly 300–400 new jobs in Branch County.
Andrew Knowles, project engineer for the Coldwater facility, described the technical reason for the variance: an automated storage and retrieval system, or ASRS, for coolers and freezers that must be as tall as 110 feet. “This ASRS freezer will be, you know, as tall as a 110 feet,” Knowles said, and staff showed the board exhibit F from the application locating the new ASRS adjacent to the existing conveyor and cooler systems.
The staff report cited the zoning ordinance criteria and concluded the requested variance met the board’s standards, noting the proposed development would not endanger public health, safety or welfare and would not confer a special privilege inconsistent with the land’s use. The board also noted a 2015 dimensional variance that allowed a 90-foot building height at the same site; the applicant’s request adds 20 feet to that previously approved height.
Board members discussed emergency access and whether the fire department had capacity to respond to a taller structure; the applicant said the fire department had been contacted and was “okay with going this height.” Staff also explained that rooftop mechanical enclosures (referred to in the record as a “penthouse”) are exempt from the ordinance’s height restriction, a factor in how the overall building elevation was shown on the plans.
After discussion, a motion to approve the variance based on the staff recommendation was moved and seconded and carried on an affirmative voice vote. The board’s public hearing on ZBA2501 was closed.
Votes at a glance
- Allow member with potential conflict to participate: Motion moved and seconded; board voted to allow the member to participate (four members voted in favor; the member with the potential conflict did not vote). The board treated the question under the procedure cited in section 9.3 of the rules for determining conflicts of interest.
- ZBA2501 (Clemens Food Group) — Height variance to permit a 110‑foot ASRS: Motion to accept staff recommendation moved and seconded; vote carried and the hearing was closed (affirmative voice vote recorded).
- Selection of officers for the board: Motion to retain the current officers as proposed moved and seconded; motion carried on affirmative voice vote.
The board discussed how minutes should record its findings when approving variances and asked staff and the city attorney to provide clearer model motions and findings templates to ensure the minutes reflect the legal criteria the board must meet.
