It looks like there will be more delays for the opening of Cantoro Italian Market in Northville Township. The Northville Township Planning Commission met Tuesday night to discuss rezoning and site plan approval for additional parking.

With an existing location in Livonia, Cantoro Italian Market was supposed to open its newest location September 2011 in Northville on Haggerty, north of Five Mile Road. 

The area immediately north of the current Cantoro construction site will be re-zoned from an office site to a B1 commercial site, said Jennifer Frey, Northville Township community development director. 

"Only the rectangular portion immediately north of Cantoro's will be rezoned," she said. The 1.74 acres will be used as additional parking.

According to the site trip generation statistics complied by Wilcox engineering firm, the proposed rezoning has no significant traffic impact. 

"Our concern would be that, based on our master plan, we do not want to see additional B1 zoning," said Planning Commission Chair Robert Nix. 

Nix said he did not want the land north of the proposed parking lot site to later be requested for rezoning. 

Enrico Soave, the attorney representing Cantoro, said the joint venture group that owns that property is looking to develop, but will stay consistent with the existing zoning, which is for office space or senior housing. 

The Planning Commission went through the remaining eight criteria, like whether there are better uses for the property, and its environmental and traffic impact.

"We're adjusting it to add parking, so we feel we're enhancing the B1 zone," Nix said.

With no public comment and unanimous approval from the Planning Commission, the rezoning proposal will be submitted to the Board of Trustees. 

Commission Witholds Site Plan Approval

The review of the site proposal plan spurred more discussion from the Planning Commission.

Frey advised John Gargaro, general contractor with Gargaro Construction, that the revised site plan, after it is adjusted to include the parking lot and the existing site as one, must include a reevaluation of the lighting, landscape islands, cart corrals and pedestrian routes.

"This parking lot is really meaningful," Gargaro said. "Time is of the essence."

"We're going as fast as we can with the plans submitted," Frey said. "But they're not comprehensive."

Frey said the Planning Commission can review the new proposal and automatically put it on the agenda for the next meeting. However, that must happen 10 days before the meeting, she said.

"We've been really tolerant for a year having a construction site right there," Planning Commission member Martha Snow said.

She said the township bent over backwards to let the construction process continue this long, and now it seems like the Cantoro representatives are coming to the Planning Commission with an emergency. 

"We've got to make sure this is done correctly for your protection and ours," said Planning Commission member Richard Allen. 

The Planning Commission unanimously voted to withhold sending the proposal to the Board of Trustees until a new site plan proposal is submitted and reviewed.