Firm tells township of plans for complex on buildable open space. By MARILYN TRUMPER-SAMRA

Wednesday, February 14, 2001

NEWS SPECIAL WRITER

SALEM TOWNSHIP - Characterized by one resident as "... almost too good to be true," Johnson Controls won high praise Tuesday for a plan to build a new automotive headquarters and research/technology/development facilities on acreage once tapped for a controversial 310-home subdivision.

Company officials told the township board and a 30-member audience that the $17 billion global company has outgrown its 10-year-old automotive headquarters in Plymouth Township near M-14 and Beck Road. The new complex would be built within 15 years, and 1,700 employees would be transferred. Five years later, the company expects to add 1,000 workers and perhaps another 1,000 five years after that.

The Milwaukee-based company's automotive division makes vehicle seats and seat components.

The project's size and cost are unknown, said Bill Dawson, company spokesman.

Johnson Controls said that in December it signed an option to buy the land from the development firm REI, which after a hard-fought three-year battle won approval last year to build the subdivision on the north side of Ann Arbor Road between Napier and Gotfredson. But the subdivision, proposed by REI head Jon Weaver of West Bloomfield, now faces a campaign by angry residents to put the issue to a referendum vote.

Weaver, who also wants to build the massive Newmarket subdivision in Pittsfield Township, hoped to bring sanitary sewer service to the site, which residents said would fuel growth and greatly affect the still-rural township.

Johnson Controls wants sewers as well, which were allowed when the site was designated as an Urban Services District. The sewer pact was inked by the previous board, ousted in the November election.

The rolling, totally undeveloped land is crosshatched with wetlands, ponds, the headwaters of two streams, an electric and underground gas easement and stands of young hardwoods in the uplands area.

A couple of pockets of open buildable space remain, and that's where development would take place, officials said, stressing the balance of the land would remain in its pristine state.

Dean Boik, manager of facilities at Johnson Controls, said the company would conduct traffic, utility and environmental impact surveys. The company has a mid-April deadline with REI to accept the option, and he urged township officials to speak frankly about support or concerns.

Sewers remain a key issues as officials debate whether the Ypsilanti Communities Utility Authority, the Western Townships Utility Authority of even the City of Detroit can provide capacity.

Trustee Bill Baxter, an REI critic and one of two elected officials who weathered the election rout, praised Johnson Controls. "All along people have barked and barked about how to preserve this property. I'm anxious to work with you. I'm anxious to help you. Now what do you want from us?"

One resident was slow to praise. "I think (that artist's rendering) looks like a prison, or a factory. But if that's what you want, go for it!" said Diane Farris.

Bob Uherek, a 31-year township resident, was enthusiastic. "You've given us something palatable. It is a viable, desired project. It's the very thing we've been looking for and I would support it wholeheartedly."

Treasurer Linda Hamilton urged caution, and no special treatment. "We have a Growth Management Plan, we have a zoning ordinance, we clearly have a procedure to follow," she said.

The land must be rezoned before construction can begin, which is a three- to four-month process, officials said.