Here is a link to the Dundee newspaper...
http://www.dundeeonline.com/articles/44.2.2003.html
Water park plans outlined
Dundee Village Planning Commission held a preliminary site plan review to look at initial plans for a water park and hotel expansion at the Holiday Inn Express near Cabela’s. The meeting was held Monday, Nov. 3.
“This is just to look and see if they’re on the right track,” said Village Manager Patrick Burtch.
This review was basically to see if the proposed project would fit on the site. The Planning Commission members expressed some concerns about that. In addition to the water park and hotel expansion, the plan includes a convention center, the abandonment of Whitetail Drive, and a large parking lot.
Kevin Carlson from Focus Enterprises, which owns the Holiday Inn Express, was at the meeting to outline the plans.
He said the project is to include about a 20,000 sq.ft. indoor water park with a capacity for about 550 people, 80 new guest rooms in a three-story hotel expansion, and about a 7,500 sq.ft. convention center designed to accommodate small trade shows. The new areas are to be connected to the existing hotel by an elevated walkway.
An outdoor water park may be added as part of the initial project, or may be added later as an expansion, said Mr. Carlson.
“Right now it is not planned for the first phase,” said Mr. Carlson. He said the water park would be an attraction in and of itself, and not just to people interested in Cabela’s.
The indoor water park would be connected to the hotel and be open only to guests during peak periods of summer, school breaks and holidays. He said the park would be open to the public during non-peak periods at a reduced rate.
If the outdoor water park is built as part of the initial project, it’s possible the outdoor park would be open to the public and the indoor park reserved for guests. Mr. Carlson said these things hadn’t been decided yet.
“The convention center is designed for trade shows to offset the non-peak times for the water park,” said Mr. Carlson.
He said he was mostly concerned about the abandonment of Whitetail Drive. The developers plan to end the road shortly after the driveway for the Lonestar Steak House, and build a large parking lot there.
Planning Commission members noted that in order for the project to go forward, certain conditions would have to be met, including the following. The water park would have to be open to the public; setback requirements would have to be met; and various site concerns such as drainage have to be addressed.
Commission member Dale Williams also expressed concerns about the preliminary design for the exterior of the building, which features tubes from the water park projecting through the exterior walls.
“I think this is ugly,” said Mr. Williams. “It looks like something out of a science fiction nightmare. I will vote against it if this continues. There must be some way to cover this up. I am sick and tired of having stuff shoved down my throat.”
The Planning Commission agreed that the tubes would have to be hidden behind some type of façade.
“We want it to look nice, too,” said Mr. Carlson, who added that the tubes had not been drawn to scale.
A preliminary site plan for an Arby’s Restaurant is expected to be reviewed at the next Planning Commission meeting, which is set for Dec. 1.
The Coffee Beanery and Russell Stover candy outlet are under construction now by the car wash on M-50 across from Cabela’s.
Mr. Burtch said the car wash is taking so long to open because Detroit Edison said there were issues of having enough power and an encased conduit out there to serve the property. He said Edison wanted the car wash to pay about $200,000 for the added electrical service, so the owner is waiting until more businesses go up in that area.
Linear Mode
