Church moving to Highland gets OK on special permit

The Highland Township Board of Trustees has approved a special use permit to allow the Golden Light Spiritualist Church to move into a former hair salon, located at 2110 N. Milford.

The special land use approval from the board was needed because the former hair salon building is located in a commercial district, and is just one step of many needed before the church can move into their new building under township rules.

To receive a special land use permit, multiple approvals are need from the township board and the Planning Commission before it becomes final.

“The purpose of the use approval at this time is to give the applicant enough assurance of ultimate approval that they can proceed with their detailed site planning, during which they would incur more substantial costs,” said Highland Township Supervisor Triscia Pilchowski. “There were no objections, so the board made the decision to grant the approval so the group could feel comfortable making the costly investment to get all their requirements in line.”

The requirements include answering questions about how the site can and should be developed, questions that will be answered through the site plan approval process, which is done after special land use approval.

Furthermore, occupancy will not be granted until the site improvements and all building improvements are completed or performance guarantees are posted, which requires approvals from any other agencies that might be involved, such as the Oakland County Health Division or Road Commission for Oakland County, according to Highland Township Planning Director Beth Corwin.