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| "Ciena -Shelby Twp." property is shown in red. |
Back in 2010 "Ciena -Shelby Township" obtained rezoning and site plan approvals to build a 120 bed skilled nursing and rehab facility on the north side of 22 Mile Rd., just east of the Central Park entrance [2010 rezoning request details can be viewed here]. Their construction plans were subsequently put on hold while they built and opened an identical facility in Grand Blanc. Now that their Grand Blanc facility is up and running, Ciena's Shelby Twp. project in back on the front burner.
Using operational and market demand "lessons learned" from their Grand Blanc facility, Ciena has made a number of revisions to their 2010 plans.
Whereas the 2010 plans called for 50/50 percentages of skilled nursing and short-term rehab beds, the new plans have a higher percentage of rehab beds, which has also driven an increase in the total number of parking spaces. The new plans have enclosed the courtyards on each wing and the rooflines will have a steeper pitch. A sunroom has been added onto the west side of the building (shown in yellow on the 2013 site plan, below) and the exterior cladding includes more brick and stone. The new landscape plan has been amended to provide greater amounts of landscape buffering along the west property line near the west wing of the building.
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| 2013 site plan (right-click and then open to enlarge) |
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| Detailed view of 2013 site plan (right-click and then open to enlarge) |
Ciena representatives will present their variance requests at the March 7, 2013 meeting of the ZBA, which begins at 6:30 PM in the Shelby Twp. Municipal Building, 52700 Van Dyke Ave. Residents are invited to attend this meeting where during the public hearing, they will be able to receive a direct explanation of the variance requests and have the ability to address the ZBA and comment for the record.
Specifically, Ciena is requesting these two variances from the ZBA:
1) perimeter setback encroachment (50 ft. required, 24.17 ft. requested)
2) increase the maximum allowable building length (180 ft. maximum, 255 ft. (south elevation) and 248 ft. (east elevation) requested).
The sunroom that was added to the west side of the building encroaches 25.83 ft. into the 50. ft. setback distance, and if approved, would allow the sunroom to be no closer than 24.17 ft. from the west property line (the 10.83 ft. encroachment shown on the 2013 site plan (above) erroneously assumed a 35 ft. setback requirement). The revised landscaped buffer that will be planted along the west side of their property will serve to shield the west wing of their building and sunroom from view by the Gardens residents to the west.
The variance to the building length requirement was approved back in 2010 and because of the various changes to the site plan, it must be approved again. The low profile of their building and the multiple projections and architectural details on the building elevations work to minimize concerns about the additional building length.
Based on the entirety of this information which was shared with the president of the Board of Directors on Feb. 28, 2013, the Board feels that these changes will not negatively impact the residents of the Central Park planned unit development and therefore we will not oppose Ciena's variance requests.
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Note that the 2010 web page [click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page] mentions proposed changes to the retention pond maintenance responsibilities. Those change were ultimately incorporated into a new agreement which was signed by the Board of Directors and Ciena. While the new agreement has relieved the Central Park Master Association of much of its former responsibilities for maintaining that pond, the Board and Ciena agreed that until such time as construction started on their site, the Master Association would continue maintaining the pond and Ciena would reimburse the Association for their share of the costs. The Association has received a $1,378 reimbursement check from Ciena in 2011 and again in 2012.
