WHEREAS, the gas station, located at 4025 Packard, ceased operations many years ago following the great recession; and

WHEREAS, Pittsfield Township’s Planning staff has been working with the property owner of 4025 Packard since 2012 to redevelop the property; and

WHEREAS, five years ago, in 2015, as part of the 2020 Sustainable Vision Master Plan update process, an overwhelming number of Pittsfield Township residents living in the northeastern part of our community, raised major concerns about the blight conditions at 4025 Packard; and

WHEREAS, since then, Pittsfield Township’s Planning and Code Enforcement staff began, even more proactively, engaging with the property owner to assist in rehabilitating and revitalizing the property (see attachment); and

WHEREAS, the property owner finally submitted a site plan and received preliminary site plan approval from the Pittsfield Township Planning Commission on December 12, 2019, it is our understanding that the process for final site plan approval, which includes coordination with outside agencies such as the Washtenaw County Road Commission and Washtenaw County Water Resources Commission and, in this case, the Washtenaw County Office of Community & Economic Development will make it unlikely that the long-standing blight issues are addressed any time soon; and

WHEREAS, The Washtenaw County Office of Community & Economic Development is working to provide the property owner, since the property qualifies as a Brownfield Redevelopment Project, Tax Increment Financing incentives to facilitate redevelopment/revitalization; they understand the mounting concern Pittsfield Township has regarding blight and have, as such, issued their opinion insofar as they believe that demolition of above-ground structures will not hinder the ongoing process for approval of the property owner’s Brownfield Plan (see attachment); and

WHEREAS, we understand and appreciate that the final site plan approval process must follow established procedures and take its requisite time and we, furthermore, fully understand and appreciate the concerns of the overwhelming number of Pittsfield Township residents that have patiently waited for nearly 8 (eight) years to have the ongoing blight issue addressed;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Pittsfield Charter Township Board of Trustees, hereby requires the property owner to demolish the aboveground structures at 4025 Packard and provide evidence of proceeding with the same to Pittsfield Township Planning staff in the next six-week period, no later than April 22^nd 2020; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that if the property owner is unable to meet the afore-mentioned requirement of submitting proof of undertaking removal of the aboveground structures at 4025 Packard by 4/22/2020, the Pittsfield Township Board of Trustees will instruct its legal counsel to undertake the process of filing a nuisance abatement lawsuit for 4025 Packard, which will come before the Board of Trustees for consideration at the Board meeting scheduled for May 13^th, 2020.