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ZBA approves Kalamazoo Country Club pump-house relocation into protected slope setback with condition
Summary
The Zoning Board approved Kalamazoo Country Club's request to site a new irrigation pump house adjacent to the existing pump location within a protected slope setback, conditioned to nullify a prior approval for a different site.
The Kalamazoo Zoning Board of Appeals voted to approve a request from the Kalamazoo Country Club on Feb. 13 to place a new irrigation pump house within the Natural Features Protection (NFP) setbacks at 1609 Weitz Road.
Nut graf: Club representative John Fulling and city staff described the proposed location as less impactful on trees and slopes than an earlier, approved site. Staff recommended approval because the new site is next to an existing pump house, requires less digging, and avoids tree loss.
Fulling said the club encountered an unforeseen sanitary sewer line at the previously approved site and that shifting the pump house next to the existing unit reduces tree impacts, soil disturbance and piping length into the lake. He said the relocation also enables the club to remove roughly 3.3 acres of impermeable surface elsewhere on the 500-foot lakeside buffer and to naturalize maintained turf with native fescues.
Pete (city staff) told the board the revised location sits in a manmade slope area adjacent to the current pump station, avoids tree loss and shortens piping runs. Staff supported the revised location as less impactful than the prior approval.
The board moved to approve the variance and added a condition that the new approval would nullify the pump-house variance the board granted in March 2024, preventing the club from constructing two pump houses. The motion passed with five votes in favor, one abstention.
Recorded vote: Hahn — yes; McReynolds — yes; Harrington — abstain; Holler — yes; Wark — yes; Vanden Homburg — yes. The board adopted the finding of fact noting no public responses from the 117 notices mailed.
The decision allows the club to proceed with the revised pump-house location subject to the stated condition. Staff said the project includes follow-up landscaping and stormwater improvements as part of a larger redevelopment plan.
