Troy planning commission grants preliminary approval for Slick City Action Park with conditions

The Troy City Planning Commission on a unanimous vote granted preliminary site plan approval for Slick City Action Park, a proposed indoor commercial recreation facility at 1820 Crooks and 1749 Northwood, subject to conditions including consolidation of the two parcels, a required parking easement with the adjacent southern property before final approval, and additional interior landscape islands and pedestrian-safety improvements.

Ben Carlisle, the city planning consultant with Carlisle Wortman Associates, told commissioners the project would repurpose an existing 26,000-square-foot building on the Northwood frontage and add an 11,000-square-foot addition fronting Crooks Road, with updated parking, lighting, sidewalks and stormwater management. Carlisle said the applicant had addressed many items from the commission’s January 28 review, adding interior parking-lot trees, clarifying trash-enclosure and mechanical-equipment locations, and widening a front drive aisle to 26 feet for fire access.

Steve Auger, project architect with Auger Klein Aller Architects, said site constraints — including a DTE easement and overhead utility poles close to the Crooks Road frontage — limited how far the new addition could project from the right-of-way and constrained the depth of the entry. Auger said the design team added clerestory windows and glass in overhead doors to increase daylighting and visibility toward Crooks Road, and that glazing at lower levels would not serve the tenant’s operational needs behind large indoor slides.

The commission discussed several outstanding items before final approval. Carlisle noted the site remains short on interior parking-lot trees required by ordinance (the plan shows nine interior trees with seven counted on the perimeter toward the total requirement). Commissioners pressed the applicant to add interior landscape islands and to provide a visual pedestrian walkway or “soft curb” along the south face of the building to improve pedestrian safety between parked cars and the front entrance. Commissioners also discussed the required easement for parking along the southern property line; Carlisle said obtaining that easement would be a condition of final approval.

Commissioner Lambert offered a resolution granting preliminary site plan approval pursuant to Article 8 of the zoning ordinance subject to consolidation of the lots, obtaining a parking easement with the neighboring property to the south prior to final approval, and the addition of two more landscape islands — one on the south side to enhance pedestrian safety — with city staff to work with the petitioner on pedestrian-safety enhancements. Commissioner Faison seconded the motion. A roll-call vote produced unanimous approval.

The resolution leaves detailed pedestrian-safety design (striping, soft curb, speed-calming or other measures) to staff and the petitioner to develop before final site-plan approval. Carlisle and the applicant said they would coordinate with the city’s civil engineer, fire marshal and traffic consultant as needed, and that easement and lot-consolidation documents must be recorded before the project returns for final administrative sign-off.

The commission’s action was preliminary site plan approval only; final permits, any remaining engineering review and the required easement and lot-consolidation must be completed before construction can proceed.

A vote summary and key conditions are listed below.