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Planning commission recommends preliminary approval for Homestead Golf Cottages amid HOA concerns over transient rentals
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Summary
The Mendon Planning Commission voted to recommend preliminary approval of the Homestead Golf Cottages and Homes at 700 North Homestead Drive, while neighbors and the Links HOA raised concerns that units originally discussed as single-family homes may operate as transient rentals because a prior council restriction was never recorded.
The Mendon Planning Commission on a unanimous voice vote recommended preliminary approval for the Homestead Golf Cottages and Homes (Homestead Hotel Condominium Lot 2), a 2.69-acre phase of the Homestead Resort project at 700 North Homestead Drive.
Staff member Michael told commissioners the proposal follows the Homestead master plan and is the first step in a multi-meeting review process. The application covers five single-family dwellings accessed from the Links bridal road and multiple cottage condominium buildings accessed from the homestead core. Michael said required changes to the southern boundary and a landscaping buffer at the north end of the cul-de-sac will be added as conditions before final approval.
Michael warned commissioners that a prior city-council action from 2008 that reportedly limited four units from nightly rentals was never recorded by the developer. “They can all be transient rentals because that agreement was never recorded and never signed by the developer,” Michael said, noting the original master plan currently governs allowed uses.
Developer representative Ben Shakespeare told the commission the units are intended to operate as transient rooms in the Marriott Autograph rental pool, with housekeeping and shuttle services. “These do not have kitchens like the other ones,” Ben said, describing the units as hotel-like with kitchenettes and inclusion in the resort’s rental operations. He also confirmed that limited cul-de-sac access would be maintained for golf carts and housekeeping carts, not regular vehicles.
Laurie Aaron, president of the Links Homestead Associates, urged the commission to note the HOA’s concern that the first four homes were expected to be single-family, not transient units. “We were under the assumption that the first 4 homes were single family homes, not in the transients,” she said, and added that the HOA and applicant had met that afternoon and still had some open items to resolve.
Staff provided technical details: the master plan contemplates up to 453 rentable keys overall (the proposal increases allowed rentable spaces to about 285 in this phase), and building-footprint numbers were updated in the staff report. Staff also noted required conditions including dark-sky-compliant lighting, removal or remediation of noncompliant signage, completion of required parking prior to issuance of certificates of occupancy, correction of the southern boundary line on the plat, and installation of the landscaping buffer required by the master plan.
A commissioner moved to recommend preliminary approval with the conditions in the staff report; the motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote. The item will return to the city council for a public hearing and final action, where outstanding neighbor concerns and any private agreements between the Homestead and adjacent property owners may be further addressed.