Bloomfield Township residents push back against proposed event center
A controversial high-end event center planned for Bloomfield Township, Michigan, has caused some residents to speak out against the proposal in a planning commission meeting on Monday evening.
One board member said the meeting was the most contentious in over 15 years.
The planning commission decided to table the discussion on both the site plan and changing the zoning to allow the development at Monday's meeting.
Residents say they found out about this potential event space just weeks ago, and many of them feel that it could mean up to 1,000 people crowding their neighborhood, lowering their home values.
"This is insanity what I'm hearing. I didn't even come here that upset, but this is making me upset. You're telling me a basketball venue, a pickleball venue, is the same as a 1,000-person venue in our backyard, drinking alcohol, dancing, getting married in the woods," said resident Greg Yatooma.
The high-end event center may be coming to the township, just east of Franklin Road, adjacent to two residential areas. People living in those neighborhoods say they are not happy.
"Banquet halls are about noise, alcohol, traffic, lighting," said John Kalusniak.
Restaurateur Zach Sklar, head of Peas & Carrots Hospitality Group, which is proposing the event center, was at Monday evening's meeting but had someone else speak on his behalf.
"Again, I think the mitigation we're proposing right now is above what the state would require due to the quality of the minor wetlands we're impacting," said Reid Cooksey, from Stonefield Engineering.
Sklar declined CBS News Detroit's request for comment.
CBS News Detroit spoke with Brett Northcutt, who lives right next to where the event center would go if approved.
"Hopefully we can get a lot of the things we're concerned about removed from the plans and then everybody moves forward," said Northcutt.
Northcutt says he believes this project would be disastrous to the home value for everyone on his street.
"[It will be] about a 20% decrease, so for us it's gonna be probably 400-500 thousand dollars just for one house alone," he said.
