Dear Editor,

I have been involved in the planning of Independence Township for 17 years.
I moved here in 1996 and immediately declared this was where we were going to raise our family. It was one of the last quaint small towns in North Oakland County. As the other communities south of here started going crazy with development, Independence Township focused on controlling the development and growth.
The water district was restricted to prevent over-development of higher density into the rural areas. There were limits placed on the heights of buildings. Policies were created to protect residents from developments. A rural preservation plan was created.
I have been involved in monitoring and revising three master plans for the community. It certainly is a different approach now then it was when I started. In the beginning, we used to tell the developer what we wanted, and now they tell us what they are going to do. We used to push back on density and lot size. We used to guide them to create a good development or project that worked for both of us.
When I started, we requested 100-foot wide lots for single-family homes, and now we approve 50-foot wide lots. A lot of the current homes in the township are 50 feet wide.
The township has used the same consulting firm for over 30 years. This firm did a great job getting the township ready for the future. Now that we have evolved into a developed community and are down to a few key parcels and large tracks of land, the direction needs to change towards protecting the community from going too far and not becoming the towns we left to come here. Our consultant is retiring this year and I wish him only the best. His replacements guidance will be critical to the township maintaining its character in the future.
With this change, we also need something to change.
The way this township works is that the consultants from Ann Arbor recommend what we do. The board and commission members almost every time do what they recommend because as they say, “They are the experts.” The problem is that all the developers know that. So whenever a project comes before the commission or the board, the developers already know what is going to be approved because the consultants already recommended its approval before the meeting. That takes away all the negotiating power away from the planning commission to get a better development.
I have complained about this practice for a decade and have never been able to get them to correct it.
The one constant and oversight we have had is the Building, Planning and Zoning Department director and staff of over 20 years. As boards change and commission members move on, the consistency has been them. Now the board is contemplating creating a new department director to only oversee planning and zoning, removing the oversight from our current director. They want to promote the code enforcement officer to director.
Why do we need to create a new high-paying director’s position? We have had a person transitioning into that position under the current director who’s close to retirement for five years, so where is the money coming from? Are we going to pay two people to do one person’s job? Then hire another person to do that person’s old job?
It seems like a way to bypass the current director to advance more development opportunities faster with less oversight. This type of structure change will be very hard to reverse later when we decide to be fiscally responsible again.
Let’s leave it the same. It’s not broken. We have a great team in place now!

Sincerely,
Sam Moraco
Independence Township
Current planning commissioner