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I would like to respond to Ms Townsends letter. The board is here to represent ALL of Sylvan Township, not 20 or 30. The 20 or 30 are included in ALL the residents. The board works hard to do what is best for ALL the residents of Sylvan Township. The Water and Sewer lines run down Pierce Road and development along those lines are what the residents need to get the County debt paid off. If we get no one else on the sewer and water lines, then ALL of the residents continue to suffer. SOME of the Pierce Road and Garvey Road residents came out against the Kern Towing and feel they defeated it when in reality it was a technicality that defeated Kern Towing. That technicality was outside storage. Then along came Livonia Builders and they wanted to build homes on it and once again, these same residents came out against it. One of them even said that “now the tow yard doesn’t seem so bad”. You folks cannot have it both ways. The Pierce Road property was for sale for 8 or 9 years yet not one of those residents came forward to buy it and now they want to dictate what can and cannot go there. Is that representing ALL of the residents of Sylvan Township?
When someone comes to the Township to present a plan for a project, it is not the Zoning persons responsibility to tell them they cannot. Anyone can come to the Township with any project to present. Zoning can explain the challenges for it and that person can still elect to pay their fee and proceed with the project.
The current Master Plan will be 5 years old in July. That is when it CAN be looked at. The head of the PC explained at the last meeting that the Master Plan can go 3 ways. No 1 it can be looked at and decide to keep it the way it is for another 5 years as nothing has really changed. That would take 3 months. No 2 is it can be looked at and make minor changes to it and that would take 6 months. Or No 3 it can be a total rewrite and take one year or more to do. In the meantime, the Master Plan stands as it was written nearly 5 years ago no matter which path is taken.
I have been accused of voting for family. When the Kern Towing vote came up, I voted no. How is that being in conflict? When Kern Towing first came to the Township to submit his plan, I immediately went to the Township legal with my concern of a conflict. Our attorney wrote back and stated that I had absolutely no personal gain to be had in this development and did not have a need to recuse myself. I stated that clearly in the following board meeting. Perhaps Ms Townsend was not in attendance at that meeting to hear me be transparent about that. I don’t recall actually if she was or was not.
As for living in Chelsea, I was born and raised in Chelsea and if you look at yearbooks from 1965 through 1972, you will see my photo in every one of those yearbooks. Since I was born and raised in Chelsea, no, this is no longer the Chelsea that I grew up in. Yes, it is still Chelsea, just a different Chelsea from the 50’s through the 80’s. It is a totally different town. Ask anyone my age that grew up here about Chelsea and they will all paint you a very different picture of what Chelsea was. It was a small farming community. There are no longer many farmers left and in fact, maybe 20% of what there used to be. Farming is a very hard living. Yes, they chose that career but they also do not have any type of retirement from that career. Their land IS their retirement. Farming is a very hard backbreaking living with very long hours every day. Only a couple people on Pierce and Garvey Roads know what that living is. How would you folks like to have your retirement taken away from you after working for decades on that retirement? That is what you are trying to do now.
Lastly, as for resigning from the Township board, that will not happen as I have done nothing to warrant that.
Thank you, Rodney Branham
