‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
*Cross reference(s)‑‑Administration, ch. 2; buildings and building regulations, ch. 10; businesses, ch. 14; community development, ch. 22; environment, ch. 30; fire prevention and protection, ch. 34; harbors and waterways, ch. 42; parks and recreation, ch. 58; streets, sidewalks and other public places, ch. 74; subdivisions, ch. 78; traffic and vehicles, ch. 82; utilities, ch. 86.
State law reference(s)‑‑Authority to regulate land use, MCL 125.581 et seq., MSA 5.2931 et seq.; municipal planning, MCL 125.31 et seq., MSA 5.2991 et seq.
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
Secs. 62-1‑‑62-25. Reserved.
Sec. 62-26. Creation.
Sec. 62-27. Membership; appointment; terms.
Sec. 62-28. Composition of commission.
Sec. 62-29. Chairman; meetings; rules.
Sec. 62-30. Removal.
Sec. 62-31. Employees; expenditures.
Sec. 62-32. Duties and functions.
Sec. 62-33. Powers.
Sec. 62-34. Adoption of master plan.
Sec. 62-35. Improvements in conformity with master plan; submission for approval.
Sec. 62-36. Rescinding authorized improvements.
Sec. 62-37. Approval of subdivision plats.
Sec. 62-38. Programs for institution of master plan.
This page intentionally left blank.
Secs. 62-1‑‑62-25. Reserved.
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
*Cross reference(s)‑‑Administration, ch. 2.
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
Sec. 62-26. Creation.
A city planning commission is hereby created under and pursuant to Act No. 285 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 1931 (MCL 125.31 et seq., MSA 5.2991 et seq.), as amended.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.01(a))
Sec. 62-27. Membership; appointment; terms.
The planning commission will consist of nine members, one of whom shall be a member of the council to be selected by resolution of the council to serve as a member ex officio, and eight of whom shall be appointed by the mayor, as provided in section 62-28, but an appointment shall always be subject to the approval by a majority vote of the members-elect of the council. An appointed member shall not hold another municipal office, except that one of the appointed members may be a member of the zoning board of appeals. The term of the ex officio member shall be determined by the council and shall be stated in the resolution selecting the ex officio member, but the term shall not exceed the member’s term of office as a council member. The term of each appointed member shall be three years or until his successor takes office. All ex officio members appointed under this section shall have full voting rights.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.01(b); Ord. No. 727, Sec. 1, 11-30-89)
Sec. 62-28. Composition of commission.
Eight members of the planning commission shall represent, insofar as is possible, different professions or occupations, and shall be appointed by the mayor, but an appointment shall always be subject to the approval by a majority vote of the members-elect of the city council.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.01(b); Ord. No. 727, Sec. 2, 11-30-89)
Sec. 62-29. Chairman; meetings; rules.
The planning commission shall elect its chairman from the appointed members and create and fill such other of its offices as it may determine. The term of chairman shall be one year, with eligibility for reelection. The planning commission shall hold at least one regular meeting in each month. It shall adopt rules for transaction of business and shall keep a record of its resolutions, transactions, finding and determinations, which shall be a public record.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.01(c))
Sec. 62-30. Removal.
After public hearing, a member other than the member selected by the council may be removed from office by the mayor for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. The council may for like cause remove the member selected by the council.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.01(b); Ord. No. 727, Sec. 1, 11-30-89)
Sec. 62-31. Employees; expenditures.
The planning commission may appoint such employees as it may deem necessary for its work, whose appointment, promotion, demotion and removal shall be subject to the same provision of law as govern other corresponding civil employees of this city. The planning commission may also contract with city planners, engineers, architects and other consultants for such services as it may require. The expenditures of the planning commission, exclusive of gifts, shall be within the amounts appropriated for the purpose by the council, which shall provide for funds, equipment and accommodations necessary for the planning commission’s work.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.01(d))
Sec. 62-32. Duties and functions.
(a) Make and adopt master plan. It shall be the function and duty of the planning commission to make and adopt a master plan for the physical development of the city including any areas outside of its boundaries which, in the planning commission’s judgment, bear relation to the planning of the city and the adjacent areas. Such plan with the accompanying maps, plats, charts and descriptive matter shall show the planning commission’s recommendations for the development of such territory, including, among other things, the general location, character and extent of streets, viaducts, subways, bridges, waterways, waterfronts, boulevards, parkways, playgrounds and open spaces; the general location of public buildings and other public property; and the general location and extent of public utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, for water, light, sanitation, transportation, communication, power and other purposes; also the removal, relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment, change of use or extension of any of the foregoing ways, grounds, open spaces, buildings, property, utilities or terminals; and the general location, character, layout and extent of community centers and neighborhood units.
(b) Recommendation of zoning ordinance. It shall also be the duty of the planning commission to recommend to the council a zoning ordinance of the city, including a zoning plan for all lands and territory which may be added to the city hereafter from time to time, for the control of the height, area, bulk, location and use of buildings and premises, to carry out proper city planning. A public hearing shall always be held by the planning commission before a zoning plan or supplements thereto are recommended to the council.
(c) Publish parts of proposed master plan; make studies and surveys. The planning commission may from time to time adopt and publish a part or parts of the proposed master plan, any such part to cover one or more major sections or divisions of the city or one or more of the aforesaid or other functional matters to be included in the plan. In the preparation of such plan, the planning commission shall make careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of present conditions and future growth of the city and with due regard to its relation to the neighboring territory. The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the city and its environs which will, in accordance with the present and future needs, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development; including, among other things, adequate provision for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire and other dangers, adequate provision for light and air, the promotion of the healthful and convenient distribution of population, the promotion of good civic design and arrangement, wise and efficient expenditure of public funds and the adequate provision of public utilities and other public requirements.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.02)
Sec. 62-33. Powers.
(a) The planning commission shall have the power to promote public interest in and understanding of the plan and to that end may publish and distribute copies of the plan or of any report and may employ such other means of publicity education as it may determine. Members of the planning commission, when authorized by the planning commission, may attend city planning conferences, meetings of city planning institutes or hearings upon pending city planning legislation and the commission may, by resolution spread upon its minutes, pay the reasonable traveling expenses incident to such attendance. The planning commission shall, from time to time, recommend to the appropriate public officials programs for public structures and improvements and for the financing thereof. It shall be part of its duties to consult and advise with public officials and agencies, public utility companies, civic, educational, professional and other organizations, and with citizens with relation to protecting or carrying out the plan. The planning commission shall have the right to accept and use gifts for the exercise of its functions. All city officials and employees shall, upon request, furnish to the planning commission within a reasonable time such available information as it may require for its work. The planning commission, its members, officers and employees, in the performance of their functions, may enter upon any land and make examinations and surveys and place and maintain necessary monuments, and marks thereon.
(b) In general, the planning commission shall have such powers as may be necessary to enable it to fulfill its functions, promote municipal planning, or carry out the purposes of this chapter.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.06)
Sec. 62-34. Adoption of master plan.
(a) Method. The planning commission may adopt the master plan of the city, including any areas outside of its boundaries which in the commission’s judgment bear relation to the planning of the city, as a whole by a single resolution or may, by successive resolutions, adopt successive parts corresponding with major geographical sections or divisions of the municipality and surrounding areas or with functional subdivisions of the subject matter of the plan, and may adopt any amendment or extension thereof or addition thereto.
(b) Public hearings; majority vote. Before the adoption of the plan or any such part, amendment, extension or addition, the planning commission shall hold at least one public hearing thereof, notice of the time and place of which shall be given not less than 15 days prior to such hearing, by one publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city, and by registered United States mail to each public utility company and to each railroad company owning or operating any public utility or railroad within the geographical sections or divisions of the municipality affected. The adoption of the plan or of any such part or amendment or extension or addition shall be by resolution of the planning commission carried by the affirmative vote of not less than six members of the commission. The resolution shall refer expressly to the maps and the descriptive and other matter intended by the planning commission to form the whole or part of the plan, and the action taken shall be recorded on the map and plan and descriptive matter by the identifying signature of the chairman and/or secretary of the commission. An attested copy of the plan or part thereof shall be certified to the council and to the county register of deeds.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.03)
Sec. 62-35. Improvements in conformity with master plan; submission for approval.
Whenever the planning commission shall have adopted the master plan of the city or of one or more major sections or districts thereof, no street, square, park or other public way, ground or open space or public building or structure shall be constructed or authorized in the city or in such planned section and district until the location, character and extent thereof shall have been submitted to and approved by the planning commission. In case of disapproval, the planning commission shall communicate its reasons to the council which shall have the power to overrule such disapproval by a recorded vote of not less than two-thirds of its entire membership. If, however, the public way, ground, space, building, structure or utility be one, the authorization or financing of which does not, under the law or Charter provisions governing the same, fall within the province of the council, then the submission to the planning commission shall be by the board, commission or body having such jurisdiction, and the planning commission’s disapproval may be overruled by the board, commission or body by a vote of not less than two-thirds of its membership. The failure of the planning commission to take final action within 60 days from and after the date of official submission to it shall be deemed approval.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.04)
Sec. 62-36. Rescinding authorized improvements.
Whenever the council shall have taken final action for the opening, widening or extension of any street, avenue or boulevard, or whenever the council shall have taken final action ordering that proceedings be instituted for the acquisition or enlargement of any park, playground, playfield or other public open space in conformity with the master plan, such final action shall not be rescinded until after the matter has been referred back to the planning commission for a report, and until after a public hearing shall have been held. The council shall have the power to overrule the recommendation of the planning commission by a vote of not less than two-thirds of its entire membership.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.05)
Sec. 62-37. Approval of subdivision plats.
(a) Filing, recording of plats. Whenever the planning commission shall have adopted a master plan relating to the major street system of the territory within its subdivision jurisdiction or part thereof and shall have filed a certified copy of such plan in the office of the county register of deeds, then no plat of a subdivision of land within such territory or part shall be filed or recorded until it shall have been approved by such planning commission and such approval entered in writing on the plat by the chairman or secretary of the planning commission. Before exercising the powers referred to in this section, the planning commission shall adopt regulations governing the subdivision of land within its jurisdiction.
(b) Sixty-day limit for approval, disapproval or modification. The planning commission shall approve, modify or disapprove a plat within 60 days after the submission thereof to it; otherwise, such plat shall be deemed to have been approved, and a certificate to that effect shall be issued by the planning commission on demand; provided, however, that the applicant for the planning commission’s approval may waive this requirement and consent to an extension of such period. The ground of disapproval of any plat shall be stated upon the records of the planning commission.
(c) Notice, hearing. Any plat submitted to the planning commission shall contain the name and address of a person to whom notice of a hearing shall be sent, and no plat shall be acted on by the commission without affording a hearing thereon. Notice shall be sent to the address by registered mail of the time and place of such hearing not less than five days before the date fixed therefore. Similar notice shall be mailed to the owners of land immediately adjoining the platted land, as their names appear upon the records of the city or as their addresses appear in the directory of the city or on the tax records of the city.
(d) Approval deemed amendment to city plan. Every plat approved by the planning commission shall, by virtue of such approval, be deemed to be an amendment of or an addition to or a detail of the municipal plan and a part thereof. Approval of a plat shall not be deemed to constitute or effect an acceptance by the public of any street or other open space shown upon the plat.
(e) Recommendation of amendments to council. The planning commission may, from time to time, recommend to the council amendment of the zoning regulations or map, or additions thereto, to conform to the planning commission’s recommendations for the zoning regulations of the territory comprised within approved subdivisions.
(f) Power to authorize requirements or restrictions submitted by applicant. The planning commission shall have the power to agree with the applicant upon the use, height, area or bulk requirement or restrictions governing buildings and premises within the subdivision, provided such requirements or restrictions do not authorize the violation of this chapter. Such requirements or restrictions shall be stated upon the plat prior to the approval and recording thereof, shall have the same force of law, be enforceable in the same manner with the same sanctions and penalties, and subject to the same power of amendment or repeal as though set out as part of the zoning regulations or map.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.07)
Cross reference(s)‑‑Procedure for plat approval, Sec. 78-4.
Sec. 62-38. Programs for institution of master plan.
For the purpose of furthering the desirable future development of the city and adjacent areas under the master plan, the planning commission, after the adoption of the master plan, may prepare coordinated and comprehensive programs of public structure and improvements, which shall be accompanied by a program for the financing thereof. The planning commission shall annually prepare such a program for the ensuing six years, which program shall show those public structures and improvements in the general order of their priority which, in the planning commission’s judgment, will be needed or desirable and can be financed and undertaken within the six-year period. The comprehensive coordinated program shall be based upon the requirements of the city and the adjacent areas related thereto in the master plan for all types of public improvements. To that end, each agency or department, or governmental unit concerned with such improvements shall upon request furnish the planning commission with lists, plans and estimates of time and cost of public improvements within the purview of such agency, department or governmental unit.
(Code 1965, Sec. 21.08)