Grounds for Dismissal, (Review)

As a refresher, here is a list of the infractions Lyle Criscuolo has committed with regard to the Michigan Moto Mania fiasco while he has been the Chair of both the Hayes Township Planning Commission and the Hayes Township Zoning Board of Appeals. 

-         Mr. Criscuolo has held both of those offices for 15 years until Township Attorney David Dreyer deemed it improper for him to chair both boards at the same time.  He was appointed by the Board of Trustees to the Planning Commission 20 years ago.  He was elected Chair of the Planning Commission by the Planning Commission members when the previous Chair resigned from the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.  He inherited the Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals when that same outgoing Chair resigned from the Planning Commission.  – Nobody on the Zoning Board of Appeals elected him to be Chair.)

-         Chair Criscuolo cannot plead ignorance of the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance since he was the Chairman of the Planning Commission at the time the Planning Commission helped to write the Zoning Ordinance.

-         Mr.Criscuolo has been casting 2 votes on issues brought before the Zoning Board of appeals (Once as the Chair of the Planning Commission and once as the Chair of the Zoning Board of appeals) until Mr. Dreyer deemed it improper for him to vote twice in the same issue.  (Really – what are the chances of Mr. Criscuolo voting to reverse himself on something he has already decided on another board?)

-         Chair Criscuolo knowingly allowed an incomplete and improperly submitted application to be considered by the Planning Commission.  (Chair Criscuolo should not have allowed it to be considered at all until it was properly and completely filled out.)     

-         In allowing consideration of an incomplete and improperly filled out application, Chair Criscuolo willfully ignored the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance, which he has been charged to uphold and administer as part of his duties as Chairman of the Hayes Township Planning Commission.

-         Chair Criscuolo failed to ensure that the neighbors of the then-Gamble property were notified about Doug Longenecker’s intent for the Gamble property and his request for a Special Use Permit back in October 2009 before Mr. Longenecker purchased the property.  (If Chair Criscuolo and the Planning Commission had followed due process, it is likely that Mr. Longenecker would not have purchased the Gamble property on Mostetler Road, or he might have found a more appropriately zoned property for his Motocross track.  Now Mr. Longenecker has purchased the property and that will be at the top of the list of Hayes Township’s liabilities.)

-         Chair Criscuolo and the Planning Commission failed to hold a public hearing before taking a decision about Mr. Longenecker’s request for a Special Use on the Gamble property.  Holding the public hearing before Mr. Longenecker purchased the land might have persuaded Mr. Longenecker to purchase land elsewhere, or the Planning Commission to think it through and inform themselves more fully before they approved the request.
-         Chair Criscuolo refused to read aloud the letters my family took the time to research and write for the public hearing held on 13 May 2010.  This was a suppression of our free speech since every other letter written to the Planning Commission for that public hearing was read aloud.

-         Chair Criscuolo actively tries to wield his influence over the other members of the boards he chairs.  (Until September, he wielded undue influence over the other members of two boards.)  There was roomful of witnesses to the way Chair Criscuolo browbeat Bob Johnson at the 16 Jun 2010 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in an attempt to persuade Mr. Johnson to vote the way Chair Criscuolo wanted him to vote.

-         Chair Criscuolo is on the record (Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting – 9 Nov 2010) as believing and having stated that the Hayes Township Master Plan, (which is not the law) supersedes the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance, (which is the law).  It is unacceptable that the Chair of the Planning Commission and a Member of the Zoning Board of Appeals does not understand the proper relationship of these two documents.

-         Chair Criscuolo’s actions and words and attitude have demonstrated that he believes himself to be above the law.  (He believes that the rules do not apply to him.)

-         Chair Criscuolo’s actions and words and attitude have demonstrated that he believes that the ends justify the means.  (He believes that it’s OK to ignore and break the law if the result is for his subjective view of the greater good.)

-         Chair Criscuolo has demonstrated that he is not above twisting the meaning of or adding to or taking away from the provisions of the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance to achieve his desired outcome.  Is this the kind of leadership we want for Hayes Township?

-         Under Mr. Criscuolo’s chairmanship, the Planning Commission has changed the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance outside of the prescribed process defined in the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance.  (Minutes, 25 Oct 2010 Planning Commission Special Meeting).  (He makes the rules up as he goes along and changes the rules to suit his agenda.)  All property owners in Hayes Township should have a problem with this.

-         Mr. Criscuolo was told by Mr. Dreyer that he could neither vote nor deliberate at the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on 9 November 2010, yet Mr. Criscuolo seized the opportunity to insert himself into the deliberation process anyway in order to influence the other members’ votes.

-         These improprieties, for which Mr. Criscuolo is responsible, have exposed all the taxpayers Hayes Township to tens of thousands of dollars in liability, in just the case of Michigan Moto Mania.  One has to wonder in 15 years of Mr. Criscuolo’s tenure as the chair of the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals, how many other cases are out there?