This photo shows the State Bank of Fraser after an extension was added in 1958. The bank’s roots stretch back to 1910, but the building has been at its current location since 1930. Sheetz, a gas station and convenience store, has been attempting to bring one of its stores to the location.
By: Nick Powers | C&G Newspapers | Published October 4, 2024
FRASER — The public will once again be able to voice their opinion before the City Council about the fate of the former State Bank of Fraser building
A hearing about Sheetz’s conditional rezoning request for the property will take place at 6 p.m. Oct. 30. It will be held at the Fraser Senior Activity Center, located at 34935 Hidden Pine Drive. City Manager Elaine Leven said an alternate venue to council chambers was needed due to early voting in the November election.
Sheetz is a family-owned convenience store and gas station chain that started in 1952. Locations are open 24 hours for 365 days of the year. It is new to Michigan with the first location in Romulus breaking ground March 14.
Though the special meeting of the City Council on Sept. 26 meeting was only called to set the public hearing date and time for the conditional rezoning request, residents were eager to make their voices heard. Kent Stonebreaker, a former Fraser Planning Commission member, led off the public comment segment of the meeting. He questioned why the item was even still up for debate.
“I know that the present commissioners did their job by reviewing the plans of the area and listening to the public,” Stonebreaker said. “They came to the proper conclusion: This is not the proper site for this business.”
In January, the Fraser Planning Commission denied the request to rezone the site where the former State Bank of Fraser sits. The vote was taken by the commission after they listened to nearly four hours of discussion.
Fraser Mayor Michael Lesich explained that even when the Planning Commission denies a request, a business still has the right to bring its conditional rezoning request to the City Council for consideration.
“By law, they’re allowed to do that,” Lesich said.
A future Sheetz has been an ongoing concern for Fraser residents, but they aren’t alone. The Madison Heights City Council blocked the business from coming to the city following public outcry. The Eastpointe City Council approved, in a 3-1 vote, the special land use permit to move a Sheetz ahead in its city at an Aug. 20 meeting but, according to a C & G Newspapers article about the meeting, the project was met with scrutiny by both council members and the public.
Lesich said at the meeting that the process Fraser is going through is similar to what occurred in Madison Heights.
Vania Apps, a Fraser First Booster Club founder, said proper notice of the meeting was important given what she heard at the Planning Commission meeting.
“When I was in the back of a packed room, what I was hearing from the people standing there was they did not get proper notice,” Apps said. “Please, when we go through this process, please make sure the residents around that area get proper notice.”
Later in the meeting, Lesich said that notification of the public was important. He also mentioned possibly getting signs out on the corner of the proposed development to announce the public meeting.
“We will make sure everyone is notified,” he said.
Members of the public and the City Council questioned whether or not moving it into November would be better, in order to give more notice. Councilwoman Patrice Schornak pushed back on that idea, saying word will spread quickly about the meeting on social media.
“I think everybody who wants to voice their opinion on this, whatever side they’re on, they know and they will be looking for that notification,” Schornak said.
Former Fraser mayoral candidate Paul Cilluffo said the venue for the hearing matters. He said putting the meeting in a setting where governmental policy is determined would set the tone.
“To put it off into another venue, I think kind of dings our government process,” Cilluffo said.
Other members of the public touched on their specific issues with Sheetz.
Lesich emphasized that the Sept. 26 meeting wasn’t to go over the pros and cons but to work out a space where the public could best voice their concerns. He said those interested have a month to think it over before coming to the public hearing.
The City Council unanimously approved the meeting time and date.