The Gonzales and Phillips? families on Georgia Drive are hoping that plans for a Del Taco drive-thru restaurant on Baldwin Road will be thwarted by the Orion Township Planning Commission.
‘The squawk box would literally be in my back yard,? said Judith Gonzales at the June 5 Orion Township Board meeting, when a rezoning request was on the agenda.
The board approved the request, rezoning land near the intersection of Baldwin Road and Brown Road, near Great Lakes Crossing, from Restricted Business 2 to General Business 1, but noted that their vote only spoke to the zoning, not the ensuing development.
Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk said the fact that the project is called the ‘Del Taco Rezoning Request,? is an oddity, and might be confusing to those involved.
‘When you’re going through zoning, you don’t really say what you’re trying to put in there,? he said.
Zoning and Planning Administrator Beth McGuire agreed that the name of the rezoning project is odd, but said that the applicant titles the request, not the township.
‘When they submit an application they word it themselves,? she said, noting that the rezoning request looks only at ‘the dirt,? and not the project going on top of it.
‘At the Planning Commission level, they made it very clear that they were ruling just on the zoning,? she said.
Even if the applicant, Marcos Makohon, goes through with plans for a drive-thru restaurant at the location, there could be some serious holdups, McGuire said.
‘It’s a small site, so if a drive-thru does come in, there will have to be some variances,? she said.
Such variances would likely involve the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Dywasuk said he hopes the Planning Commission will look into other options for that particular spot, with a couple of other drive-thru restaurants already located just across the Orion Township-Auburn Hills border.
‘To have, right at that intersection, three drive-thru restaurants is really detrimental,? he said, citing continuous traffic, loud speakers and litter as a few reasons for his opposition.
‘In my estimation, it’s just not good zoning for that area,? he added.
Calls to Makohon’s architectural firm were not returned before press time.