Pittsfield Planners Recommend Conditional Costco Plan to the Township Board

The Pittsfield Township Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of Costco Wholesale’s petition to rezone a 17-acre parcel of land from business park use to a planned unit development zoning district.

At its meeting Thursday, the commission adopted a resolution recommending the township board approve Costco’s petition with three conditions.The recommendation is contingent upon the township adopting the 2010 Pittsfield Master Plan, the applicant amending the PUD Area Plan to address several outstanding site plan issues, and the applicant working with township staff to develop a pedestrian-friendly pocket-park at the intersection of Ellsworth Road and Airport Plaza.

The high-end warehouse retail outlet is planned for the intersection of Ellsworth Road and Airport Plaza. The plan calls for a 150,000-square foot facility with 721 parking spaces. Costco is expected to hire 200-250 people at the facility.

Pittsfield Township is also home to a Sam's Club warehouse retailer.

“I extend my thanks to you and to your staff for meeting with us and working with us to iron out the issues we have,” Jack Frank, Costco’s Vice President for real estate development, told the planning commission. “We appreciate that the township has approved this before adopting the master plan. It allows us to move forward with our planning and gives us great insights into what you’re looking for and helps us fine tune our engineering."

Frank said his team had a much better understanding of what the township staff was looking for in terms of the entry feature at the southwest corner of the property and the safety concerns about the berming and landscaping on the south part of the property.

Pittsfield Township’s senior planner Paul Montagno said Costco has worked with the township staff on the site. He said the township originally asked Costco to re-orient the site and requested a water feature in front of the building. When the water feature plans didn’t work, Costco changed the plan so the building was closer to the road and the township requested Costco obscure the building with a berm and landscaping. The township then requested the berm be modified to allow some “peek-a-boo” views after hearing public safety concerns about the fortressing effect.

Planning Commission Chairman Matthew Payne said Costco could be operational by the end of 2012.

Planning Commissioner Amy Longcore was absent.