By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


Supercenter chain Meijer Inc. has been allowing the Michigan Flyer commuter bus line to use the parking lot in its Brighton store off Grand River Ave. as a “transit stop” to pick up and drop off riders since last Oct. 1st. But, as it turns out, they are doing so illegally.

It was brought out at Monday night’s Brighton City Planning Commission meeting that having a transit stop or terminal of any kind is not a permitted use in the city, and to do so requires a special land use permit and a site plan amendment. Meijer Inc. was unavailable for immediate comment. The Brighton Meijer is also a stopover for the Livingston Essential Transportation Service (LETS).

Neither the Michigan Flyer nor LETS is currently providing service during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the exception that LETS is operating a restricted service “limited to trips that are necessary to sustain and protect life.” Before the COVID-19 crisis and the governor’s social distancing and “Stay at Home” executive order, riders would frequently use the Michigan Flyer for trips to Ann Arbor, East Lansing or Detroit Metro Airport and park their cars in the Meijer lot for $2 a day, which is considerably less than the long-term parking structure charge at Detroit Metro.

According to one planning commissioner, who said he had used the Michigan Flyer to go to Metro Airport from Brighton and back, the cost of the trips was reasonable, with a round trip costing $40 per passenger. According to Jill Bahm of the planning firm Giffels Webster, the city’s planning consultants, the Planning Commission will have to hold a public hearing in order to consider a special land use permit for the Meijer transit stop, after which - if it passes - it would go to City Council for final approval.

A draft ordinance will be drawn up, and the commission will likely schedule a public hearing at its next meeting, to be held on May 4th.