Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By P.J. GLISSON
Wakefield — At its Tuesday meeting, the Wakefield Planning Commission addressed a written complaint from its chairwoman, Tara Hamilton, regarding problems with streets and roads bearing similar names.
City Manager Robert Brown Jr. spoke to the Globe by phone after the meeting.
In a Dec. 11 letter to the commission, Hamilton told of a recent emergency call that resulted in confusion.
“My mother recently had a fall and we had to call 911 for help,” wrote Hamilton. “After about half an hour, the dispatch called me back to clarify my address. Unfortunately, they had sent the ambulance to Olson Road instead of Olson Avenue. My mother ended up laying on the floor for over 45 minutes before help came. It could have ended up being much worse than what it was.”
Hamilton added, “We (the Planning Commission) had talked awhile back about changing some of the street names in order to prevent this confusion. I am asking today that we move forward with this plan. It truly could be a matter of life or death.”
Brown said the commission will send letters to residents on those streets in order to solicit their input regarding a possible name change to either Olson Road or Olson Avenue.
The commission also addressed pre-application questionnaires from two area residents hoping to engage in industrial work.
The proposal presented by Robert Delich of Marenisco is in relation to land he owns behind an old gas station on the north side of Sunday Lake. The property is currently zoned commercial.
Within the form, Delich said he hopes to “crush and haul out gravel.”
In a separate request, Thomas Smiljanich of Wakefield submitted a proposal for land he owns on the north side of M-28. The property is currently zoned industrial.
Smiljanich said the land is an existing quarry that has not been used for the past 60 to 70 years, but that he wishes “to reopen for crushing and selling of large boulders for landscaping, etc.”
Brown said that the two projects have no connection to each other.
He said that the commission will submit additional questions the applicants, with an aim to determine the timing and duration of any potential work, as well as questions about noise, sound, dust, vibrations and expected traffic.
Brown said that, before any such projects could proceed, all neighbors within 300 feet from each property must be notified.
He added that both projects would require a variance, a conditional use permit, and a public hearing.
The next regular Planning Commission meeting will be on Jan. 9, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. in the municipal building.