Bussiness
Trailer sales business owner sues Waterford Township
A Waterford Township businessman facing two court actions for ignoring planning and zoning rules is suing the township.
Jon Bloch wants to stop Waterford Regional Fire Department’s use of an access road at the north end of his trailer sales business at 71 S. Cass Lake Road, to enter Fire Station 3, at 3435 Elizabeth Lake Road.
Built in 1988, Fire Station 3 has an ambulance and one hook-and-ladder fire engine.
The fire department has used the access road for nearly 40 years as a safe way to enter the fire station. Without it, firefighters would have to use Elizabeth Lake Road to turn vehicles around and back them into the building.
Garry Crake Sr. owned the property and originally gave verbal approval to use the access road. He died on Nov. 17, 2021. His sister, Sandy Brown, sold the 9.5 acre site to 71 South Holdings. Brown said in an April 15 affidavit that Crake gave verbal permission to use the access road.
Bloch said the township never obtained a written easement.
“I would like to amicably resolve any of these alleged things,” he said. “It’s up to (the township).”
Township officials said they cannot comment on ongoing litigation.
Waterford businessman sues township
Bloch’s lawsuit comes while he is in the midst of ongoing legal action by the township to get a proper site plan for his property. After months of asking Bloch to submit documents to the planning commission and to stop working on the land and property, the township took Bloch to court.
In July, the township ticketed him and set an Aug. 7 district court date after Block cut down dozens of trees from his property, a few on an adjacent site and regraded the land. His property is adjacent to Otter Lake and some of the trees were on state-protected wetlands. Bloch worked with state Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy officials to remediate the damage.
The township also warned him to stop renovating his building, because he did not have an approved site plan. The planning commission typically has the final say on special-use site plans, though the applicant can appeal a decision with the zoning board of appeals. The township board votes on zoning issues that require ordinance changes. The township ticketed Bloch for not filing a site plan.
The next hearing on that case is on June 3 in Waterford’s 51st District Court before Chief Judge Richard D. Kuhn, Jr.
After repeated attempts to inspect Bloch’s building and get him to stop work, the township filed a preliminary injunction in circuit court.
In January, Sixth Circuit Court Chief Judge Judge Nanci J. Grant ordered Bloch to submit a site plan to the township. Bloch’s first two site plans were rejected because they did not meet township development standards – which is not uncommon for a new business, according to township officials.
The planning commission voted 6-1 on Feb. 27 to deny Bloch’s latest plan – with chairman Matt Ray voting to approve it.
Since 1972, Bloch’s property has been used as a dealership. Initially grandfathered in for an existing zoning variance, called a non-conforming property, Bloch could have continued operations had he submitted a site plan that met township standards.
Jeffrey Polkowski, Waterford’s director of development services, told The Oakland Press earlier this year that Bloch put the site’s grandfathered status at risk when he started making changes without proper permits.
Bloch, his attorney and township officials were at a May 9 Sixth Circuit Court hearing, but Grant paused the case after one day of testimony because she is presiding over the trial for businessman Daniel Hutchinson’s murder. The next court date for 71 S. Cass Lake Road won’t be scheduled until after the Hutchinson trial concludes.
Bloch said in March he invited Waterford officials, including building inspectors and the township’s attorney, to tour his site, but they declined, likely because of the ongoing litigation.
He calls his experience frustrating and expensive saying he’s “trying to do what I’ve got to do and use whatever avenues I’ve got to take. I’m not trying to be combative.”
“They’re suing me in two different courts,” Bloch said. “That is combative, if you ask me, and they’re spending taxpayer dollars on something that could be, as Jeff Polkowski said to me in a meeting last year at the township hall, ‘easily resolved in a 30-minute phone call.’ If it’s such an easy 30-minute fix, why are we spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on this?”
Bloch is appealing the Feb. 27 planning commission decision and will appear at the township’s zoning board of appeals meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, at the township auditorium, 5200 Civic Center Drive in Waterford.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is updated to accurately reflect the special-use zoning approval process.
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