Houses replace condos

GOODRICH – After many revisions and long debate, residents will see new single family homes – not condominiums – built this spring and summer.
The subdivision will be known as Creekside Village and will be located off of Dutch Road and Cemetery Street. The houses will be approximately 1,100-1,600 square feet and prices will range from $129,000-$169,000.
Developer Mark Wiedemann and partner Mark Workens of Warren originally planned to build 25 single-family condominiums on Dutch Road and an additional 10 attached condominiums west of Cemetery Street. The plan changed when public debate at council and planning commission meetings put a halt to the idea.
“It was obvious that the residents were not in favor of the first few plans we brought, so we basically changed the concept based on public comment,” said Wiedemann at the Monday, March 10 village council meeting.
Members of the community, more so than village officials, were not pleased about the idea of condominiums or apartments, but some were willing to accept single family homes. There was talk about upkeep of the condominiums and who would be responsible for the mowing, painting, shoveling, etc.
Workens and Wiedemann eventually changed the plans because, as Wiedemann said, “We were sick of fighting them on it.”
The revised plan approved by the council includes a park called the “tot lot” of approximately one acre to be built for community use. The park will provide linkage between the development and the downtown area and will offer five acres of open space. A trail system will also link the development and picnic area, which Workens believes will make a nice buffer to the backyards of the homes.
Workens will provide a filter strip between Kearsley Creek and the residential housing. Storm sewer management in the plan will not interfere with any wetlands in the area, officials said.
The size of the development is a little more than 8,300 square feet. Workens will also improve Cemetery Street according to his PUD Cluster Development Plan.
Weidemann and Workens both feel they have respected the comments the citizens in the village made.
For the project to go forward, developers still must submit a site plan to the Goodrich Planning Commission. They will submit their plan at the April 28 commission meeting.