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Commission forwards minor zoning-ordinance edits; residents press to expand 300-foot notice radius
Summary
The commission voted to forward minor zoning-ordinance clarifications (sidewalk-drilling approvals, temporary-sign rules, flag language) to the City Commission; public commenters and commissioners urged expanding the state-mandated 300-foot mailed-notice radius and discussed alternative notice methods.
The Adrian Planning Commission voted on April 7 to forward proposed edits to the city's zoning ordinance to the City Commission after staff incorporated responses to questions raised during the city-commission first reading.
The revisions — shown in the staff packet with responses highlighted — add an engineering-approval requirement for drilling into public sidewalks, clarify temporary-sign language to limit ambiguous grand-opening rules, and add wording about permanent flag installations on fences (staff cited Adrian College's fence flags as an example). Commissioner Taylor moved to forward the package and the commission approved it by roll call vote.
Public comment earlier in the meeting focused on a proposed McDonald's site. Pat Cassidy, a resident at 427 Seal Drive, told the commission he learned about the McDonald's application from neighbors rather than mailed notice and urged broader outreach because many residents no longer read the newspaper. Staff and commissioners confirmed Michigan's statute requires mailed notice to properties within 300 feet, but several commissioners and Mayor Heath said the city could adopt a larger local notice radius and that they would likely forward that recommendation to the City Commission. Cassidy suggested using water-bill mailings as an additional way to reach residents who do not receive other mailed notices.
The commission approved forwarding the ordinance language to the City Commission and directed staff to include recent citizen correspondence about the McDonald's proposal in next month's packet. Any change to the mailed-notice radius would require a separate ordinance or policy action by the City Commission.
