MUSKEGON, MI – Site plans for two major residential developments were unanimously approved by the Muskegon City Commission on Tuesday, August 13th.

The approval came with some conditions Sand Docks on Muskegon Lake and that Shaw Walker development of a long-abandoned factory was approved, but with conditions.

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The Sand Docks – formerly The Docks – is a residential development, private docks and marina and will sit on 80 acres in Muskegon’s Bluffton neighborhood. The property is nestled between Lake Michigan and Muskegon and in the Harbor Towne and Edgewood neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, city leaders said 40 single-family homes had been removed from the plan, following the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s (EGLE) wetlands designation on the property. The developer will replace them with up to 20 apartments or apartments in another area of ​​the development.

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Ahead of the vote, there was some disagreement about requiring an additional condition for approval. However, the request to create public parking on part of the site was added.

Specifically, the northwest area of ​​the property lacked any on-street public parking, and several commissioners and the mayor advocated for that to be a provision in the site plan.

“As a citizen of Muskegon, I have a right to be able to park and access and it’s a little unfair not to have that convenience there,” Commissioner Destinee Keener said.

Commissioner At-Large Rachel Gorman and Deputy Mayor Rebecca St. Clair both disagreed with adding the parking spaces as a site plan amendment — not because they disagreed with the lack of parking, but with the process by which it was decided.

“I just don’t agree with the mechanism by which we’re approaching this,” Gorman said, citing concerns that the decision was made too quickly without first checking with EGLE or the city’s engineering department, for example.

“I think it sends a terrible message to this developer, future developers and I think it’s a profound mischaracterization of the members of this commission to illustrate that we’re not in favor of making this available to our residents, making mobility accessibility to a priority — that’s not what’s happening at all,” Gorman said. “I just don’t agree with how we’re going about it.”

Both Gorman and St. Clair voted against adding the parking lot condition, which was still approved by the majority of the commission. When it came to voting on the amended site plan in its entirety, including the parking lots, despite the disagreement, it was still adopted unanimously.

Mayor Ken Johnson said the issue was an “oversight” and that in the future he wanted public access to natural resources to be part of a legislative policy, so it would be required to be included in the developer’s site plan.

In addition to parking, other conditions on the property include obtaining a stormwater permit, reducing street lengths, maintaining the landscaping privately, providing a street map for residents, making all privately owned roads accessible to the public, and having landscaping plans approved by the city’s planning department.

The site plan for the former Shaw-Walker plant was also approved. The plan includes 557 new residences, restaurant, commercial suites, rooftop pool and hot tub, indoor parking and pickleball courts. The massive dilapidated building has been vacant since 1989, at 1920 Washington Ave., across from Muskegon Lake.

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City commissioners outlined several conditions for the developer to address for approval, including a stormwater permit, installing bike racks, adding warning signs for two intersections on Division Street and having utility plans approved by the city’s engineering department.

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