Hayes Township Planning Commission Meeting Wed, 13 Oct 2010

Usually, the week before a meeting of any of the various Hayes Township boards, Robin Longenecker tries to whip up the fan base to come out to the meeting and make a big show of support for Moto Mania by posting about it on the Moto Mania facebook page.  Steve Rauch is usually a part of that effort on his facebook page and he usually creates a separate page just for the event.  Between the two of them they can get the faithful to show up in their orange T-shirts.   

In an uncharacteristic break from the usual form, Steve has gone silent and there was nary a mention from Robin on the Moto Mania facebook page.  I wonder why?  Was there something happening at the Hayes Township Planning Commission meeting that they didn't want to tip the neighbors off to?

In this case the silence was just like that silence you get when small children are up to something.  The neighbors have already learned not to trust any meeting of any of the Hayes Township boards and someone from the neighborhood is in attendance at all of the meetings that take place.  Wednesday night's meeting reminded us why we have to remain vigilant, and showed us that our concerns are not unfounded.

Sometime before the meeting, the Good Idea Fairy smacked Lyle upside the head with her magic wand and told him that it would be a good idea to rezone or grant a special use for a paintball facility, and also to somehow either create a new Zoning District called Recreation (there currently is no such Zoning District in Hayes Township) , and/or to add a couple of Special Uses to the list of Special Uses listed in the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance under the A-R Agricultural/Rural residential Zone.  So it was put on the agenda for Wednesday night's meeting.

Really Lyle?  Are you serious?  You really think it's a good idea to even consider this while Hayes Township is up to its eyeballs in lawsuits concerning other improprieties committed by the Planning Commission under your leadership as the Chair of the Planning Commission?  Are you really that daft?  Or is it just your hubris?  Or is this a vindictive little way to smack the neighbors?  

You of all people, as the Chair of the Planning Commission, and member of same Planning Commission for the last 22 years, you who have had a hand at drafting the current Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance should know better than anyone that there is a way to go about what you want to do.  You know there is a process and procedures to follow.  You were present for the adoption of the most recent amendment to the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance.  You know all about the required process and procedures.  Whether you want to add a new Zoning District or add anything to the Ordinance as it is presently written, you have to follow procedure.  You also can't add anything to the Special Use on the Gamble-Longenecker property on Mostetler Road without following proper procedures. 

And the timing is just plain bad.  You really want to make more changes while this thing is in litigation?  Have some more rope. 

It was your willingness to circumvent the the process and procedures in the first place that put Hayes Township in the hot water it's in.  It is your continued willingness to circumvent proper procedure in the Ordinance that you helped write that makes you unfit to be a member of the Planning Commission and certainly unfit to Chair the Planning Commission.

David Dreyer has his hands full trying to save his Hayes Township government officials from themselves and their good ideas.  He stepped in and told the Township to take that item off the agenda.  I guess Lyle missed that memo because he still tried to bring it up at the meeting.

Lyle's claim that the Master Plan calls for recreational stuff but not the Ordinances is a bit disingenuous.  Recreation is addressed throughout the Zoning Ordinance in various places under various Zoning Districts - I'll be posting a list of these references next - but there is no Recreation Zoning District in the Ordinance.  Up until they discovered there are no loopholes in the Ordinance that allow Planning Commission to put a motorized vehicle racing and riding business where they want to put it, there was no need to change the Ordinance.

Wednesday night's meeting was an attempt to sneak it in the back door.  The fact that Robin knew about it beforehand and said as much on the Moto Mania facebook page (13 Oct 2010) shows that there is conspiracy and collusion between the Longeneckers and the Planning Commission.  She complained that Mr. Dreyer removed it from the agenda at the last minute.  I'm sure that's why there was no whipping up of the Moto Mania support machine by Robin or by Steve.  They wanted to keep this low key.

Waste of time Robin?  I don't think it was.  The presence of the neighbors and their lawyers prevented an end run by Lyle and the Planning Commission.