Many Questions Circulating on Proposed Senior Housing Development

Anyone who follows one of the local social media groups has very likely seen a great deal of chatter in recent days about a proposed senior housing development called “The Brook.”

Mayberry Homes, the developer of the Rindelhaven subdivision in Portland, has filed a request with the City of Portland to amend its Planned Unit Development (PUD). The Rindelhaven PUD is approximately 152 acres in size. The proposal would remove a 10-acre parcel from that PUD for a proposed senior housing development.

Rindlehaven is located along the Looking Glass River on the east side of Portland located behind Arby’s and surrounding businesses. It is accessible from Rowe Ave. It is zoned a “Traditional Neighborhood Development” project but over the last 10 years only 21 homes have been built. This leaves much of the property undeveloped.

A proposal to approve a zoning change to allow a 115-bed congregate living facility and 36 independent-living duplexes plus an extensive open space had been reviewed by the City Planning Commission and was slated for a City Council vote at Monday night’s meeting. However, an Administrative oversight by the City of not “officially notifying” some of Rindlehaven’s current residents of the public meetings previously scheduled to explain the change and consider public input has caused the decision to be delayed.

Image above taken from City Council's May 20th Agenda posted on the City of Portland website.

Instead the City Council has referred the request back to the City Planning Commission for an additional public hearing that will be held at its next regularly scheduled meeting on June 12th. Following that meeting the Planning Commission will make a revised recommendation regarding the re-zoning request to the City Commission for approval or denial.

In a post on the City of Portland’s Facebook page today, the city said, “The public hearing scheduled for tonight’s City Council meeting regarding the proposed amendment to the Rindlehaven Planned Unit Development (PUD) to facilitate the construction of an elderly housing faculty (“The Brook”) is canceled.”

The post, by City Manager Tutt Gorman, went on to say, “After speaking with a Rindlehaven resident this morning who supports the project, he mentioned that he did not receive the notice as required by Section 42-33 which states that property owners within 300 feet of the proposed development will be notified. That said, I checked with the city assessor this morning and she realized a mistake was made. Therefore, for safe measure and in order to ensure everyone has the opportunity to be heard, I am directing that notices be reissued and the Planning Commission conduct another public hearing for all related matters at its next meeting in June.”

Additional details on the proposed rezoning and the possible development can be found on the City Council’s Agenda from the May 20th meeting. You can find that at http://www.portland-michigan.org/DocumentCenter/View/2830/20190520-Packet.

One document included in that agenda pack, from Paul LeBlanc of PLB Planning Group indicates that, “This is a request to amend the Rindelhaven Planned Unit Development that would remove a 10-acre parcel from the overall PUD in order to develop and elderly housing project on a site that had been designated for Commercial. Because of the size and complexity of the overall PUD, removing the parcel from the PUD altogether was considered a more feasible option that redesigning the entire PUD.”

A Facebook user named Sophia Bailey recently posted a photo of a flyer that she received on the Facebook page “Portland Michigan Community Page!” That photo is shown below.

The bottom of the flyer says “Creating a Sound Portland”.

Patrice Weber, the owner of Portland Assisted Living and Memory Care, LLC recently started a Facebook page by the same name, “Creating a Sound Portland.” When asked if she created and distributed the flyer, Weber said she was, “Aware of the flyers.”

Weber also told the Beacon that several other small businesses owners in the area were admins of the page. She is in the process of sending more information about her page to the Beacon. We plan to share that information in a future piece.

The Beacon is looking into multiple aspects of this proposed development and will share those as they come available.