Garfield Township Reviews Cherryland Electric Cooperative's 110,000-Square-Foot Campus Plans

Garfield Township planning commissioners reviewed site plans for Cherryland Electric Cooperative's proposed new headquarters campus on roughly 40 acres near Rennie School Road, with a vote on the 110,000-square-foot complex expected this week.

The mixed-use utility campus would include a new office building along with vehicle storage and operations facilities. Commissioners reviewed the proposal at their most recent meeting alongside several other development items on a busy planning agenda.

The Sugar Plum Apartments complex, located off Garfield Road between South Airport and Hammond roads, is seeking to add 55 units to its current 172, bringing the property to 227 total apartments. A new fitness center and offices are also part of the expansion plan. Deputy Planning Director Steve Hannon noted the addition would push the development to about the "maximum density that they would be allowed." Commissioners scheduled an April 8 public hearing on that proposal.

A second April 8 public hearing was set for a request to fold the Harbor Light Christian Center property into the Copper Ridge planned unit development. The church building is slated for conversion into a medical facility operated by Hand Surgery Partners LLC.

Separately, the township's planning department is building a GIS database of streetlights across Garfield Township. Three entities currently provide those lights: Cherryland Electric Cooperative, Consumers Energy, and Traverse City Light & Power.

The Cherryland Electric Cooperative headquarters proposal is distinct from the Cherryland Center Comprehensive Development Plan, a separate project covering multiple parcels on the north side of South Airport Road west of Garfield Avenue. That plan, docketed as PD 2024-110, was reviewed by commissioners in November 2024 and approved with conditions in December 2024. Engineer Bob Verschaeve confirmed at the time that his applicant accepted the conditions set by planning commission staff, which included revised parking requirements and an updated reciprocal easement agreement.