SALEM - Side yards and lot sizes vary greatly among the 100 or so homes in this 65-acre hamlet in northeast Washtenaw County.
That variety is as responsible for the community's historic character as the tall, mature trees lining Six Mile Road and the decades-old shrubbery growing thick and woody along the hamlet's yards. It also defines a place with potential, say community leaders who hope a newly adopted Hamlet Center District Ordinance will breathe new life into an old girl.
The ordinance is a set of zoning laws that fit the existing homes, buildings and yards defining the hamlet. The zoning is designed to encourage homeowners to spruce up and businesses to find new homes in town.
"We had heard that there were people who'd gone to the bank for home improvement loans but were denied because the property was non-conforming," said Township Clerk Marcia Van Fossen. "The Hamlet Ordinance helps people upgrade their properties, properties that were in non-compliance, and makes them eligible for loans and mortgages."
Once a stopping point on the Underground Railroad, Salem today is a bedroom community with a large senior citizen population.
Established in 1873, the hamlet still centers around the 127-year-old frame building that now houses The Store. At the corner of Six Mile Road and Dickerson Street, the store is a place to buy a chocolate bar, a cold beer or a half-gallon of milk. It even has videos.
"There's no place to go here in town - there's nothing here," said Denise Rapp, purchasing manager at the plastics plant, where employees get a half hour for lunch. "The closest restaurant is three miles away."
The new ordinance was designed to change all that.
"I'm hoping it will revitalize the area," said former Township Supervisor Michael Penn. "Combined with an expansion of the sewer district we might get some new locales, a new restaurant, a bank, a party store."
The ordinance allows for a mix of zonings in "village scale" and "character" compatible with existing structures and "oriented toward pedestrians." Parking will not dominate any site, and the historical character of buildings must be preserved. Permitted uses include street-level businesses with a home above; antique shops, craft shops and studios; gift and specialty stores; and bed and breakfast inns, food stores, restaurants and ice cream shops.
Anne Cavender, the veterinarian who set up Salem Veterinary Services in 1981 after fighting for a conditional use permit, doesn't believe the new ordinance will work.
"It would be great, but when I look into my crystal ball I don't see it," Cavender said. "Real estate costs have skyrocketed in the area. To buy here on Six Mile Road would cost you $100,000, so you have a mortgage, then utilities - and you need the traffic to support those kinds of payments."
Jaimie Robinson, who has owned The Store since 1993, said it's tough to make a living in Salem, ordinances or not.
"A lot of people - even local people in Plymouth don't even know where Salem is. We're so off the beaten path," she said.
"As far as restaurants locating here. That's not going to happen. We're on wells. It's crappy water, it's full of iron ... I wouldn't want to run a restaurant with this water."
Former township Zoning Administrator Pat Hagman, who helped create the hamlet ordinance, said it will make a difference.
"Anytime you can eliminate non-conforming uses you are moving in the right direction," Hagman said. The new law might encourage a doctor's office or accountant to move in, or home-based businesses, he said. And water filtration systems would grease the skids for a restaurant.
"We've set the standards," Hagman said. "We're trying to keep the flavor of what's here now. I think it offers potential. I can't find any negatives in it."