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Planning Commission approves vacation of one-block section of Thompson Street
Summary
The Saginaw Planning Commission voted to recommend vacation of a single block of Thompson Street to allow expansion of Hidden Harvest and the Eastside Soup Kitchen; public comment supported the closure for safer loading but one resident urged keeping sites separate.
The Saginaw Planning Commission voted to recommend that the City Council approve vacating a block of Thompson Street to allow an expansion by Hunger Solutions/Eastside Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest.
The vacation (case J252837) was presented to the commission as the final phase of site-plan review for an expansion of the Eastside Soup Kitchen and related work, and staff recommended approval and forwarding of that recommendation to the council. "This is, the final, phase of the site plan review, the site plan review for the expansion of Hunger Solutions Eastside Soup Kitchen involving, expanding onto the property to the south," a city staff member said during the hearing.
Hidden Harvest President and CEO Samantha McKenzie told the commission the organizations have purchased 1014 East Genesee from the Saginaw County Land Bank and are planning an addition with a loading dock. "We unload that semi, which usually takes about half an hour in the active roadway, with our fork truck. And, it'd just be really great to be able to expand our building out and have a loading dock there to unload that food safely and, you know, out of the active street," McKenzie said.
One member of the public, who identified himself as Israel, opposed consolidating both organizations at one site and urged locating services in multiple buildings to preserve access for people across the city. The commission's discussion emphasized that the item before them was narrowly the street vacation; commissioners repeatedly noted the commission was not making decisions about building use or size during the vacation vote.
A motion was made and supported to approve the petition described during the hearing. The motion language recorded in the meeting was to "approve the location of Thompson Street from East Tennessee Avenue to South Fourth Street." The commission voted by voice; the chair called for ayes and declared the petition approved and recommended to city council. The record contains two slightly different location descriptions: the public notice and staff presentation referred to a vacation "from East Genesee to South Fourth Street," while the motion recorded on the floor described the location as "from East Tennessee Avenue to South Fourth Street." The commission did not note or resolve that discrepancy on the record during the meeting.
Staff said utility companies had been contacted and that two utilities would need to be relocated as part of the project. The commission did not add conditions to its recommendation and will forward its approval to city council for final action.
Votes at a glance: The commission approved the petition by voice vote; the meeting record shows the item was recommended to council after the public hearing closed and the motion carried. The meeting minutes do not record a roll-call tally for yes/no votes.
