Bedford Township board took up a 27-acre two-family rezoning on Lewis Avenue, two weeks after rejecting another

TEMPERANCE, Mich. — The Bedford Township Board was scheduled to decide Tuesday, Oct. 20, whether about 27 acres on Lewis Avenue can be rezoned for two-family homes, two weeks after trustees turned down a similar request elsewhere on Lewis Avenue.

The request from Decker Properties, MT Carmel LLC, would change land at 8444 Lewis Ave., on the east side of the road north of Dean Road, from single-family residential to two-family residential. The Ann Arbor Railroad portion of the parcel is excluded, according to the board’s Oct. 20 agenda. The meeting was set for 7 p.m. at township hall, 8100 Jackman Road. Results had not been reported publicly as of Wednesday morning, Oct. 21.

The Planning Commission held a public hearing Aug. 26 and voted 5-0 to recommend approval, with one member excused, according to a memo in the board packet. The township planner concluded the change is generally consistent with the goals and future land use map of the township’s master plan, the memo says.

The memo lists its reasons. Public water and sewer run along Lewis Avenue, and the property is large enough for setbacks, buffering and open space. Wetlands, a drain and wooded areas would be handled during site plan review. The recommendation is conditioned on the project meeting zoning, site plan, engineering and building requirements.

Neighbors who spoke at the August hearing raised traffic on Lewis Avenue, wildlife and how the site would be buffered from nearby homes, the commission’s minutes show. One asked that part of the land stay green space. A commissioner said the setback on the conceptual plan was larger for two-family homes than for single-family ones and that traffic would be reviewed during development review.

The item was on the board’s Oct. 6 agenda but was pulled at the developer’s request, according to draft minutes of that meeting in the packet.

At the same Oct. 6 meeting, trustees voted 4-2 to deny a request to rezone vacant land at the southeast corner of Lewis Avenue and Samaria Road from single-family to two-family residential within the Samaria Village Overlay District. The Planning Commission had unanimously recommended denial. The board’s motion cited compatibility with nearby farm and single-family properties, the lack of a site plan to evaluate traffic, buffering and stormwater, and the parcel’s place at a key village intersection, the draft minutes say. Supervisor Al Prieur and Trustee Joe Gore voted against the denial.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda were approval of three engineering firms for township use, updates from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the township fire department, and a hometown hero plaque and proclamation honoring Meg Smith.

Updated Oct. 21, 2026: The Oct. 20 board meeting has taken place, so the headline and schedule details are now in the past tense. The vote result had not been published as of Wednesday morning; this story will be updated when it is.

Sources:
Bedford Township Board, Oct. 20, 2026, agenda packet (agenda; Planning Commission memo on the Decker Properties request; Aug. 26, 2026, Planning Commission minutes; draft Oct. 6, 2026, board minutes), https://cms7files1.revize.com/bedfordtownshipmi/10-20-2026%20packet.pdf
Bedford Township, agendas and minutes, accessed Oct. 15, 2026, https://www.bedfordmi.org/government/agendas___minutes/index.php
Photo: Dwight Burdette, “Bedford Township Michigan Government Center.JPG,” Dec. 29, 2011, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bedford_Township_Michigan_Government_Center.JPG

Bedford Township

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