MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - At the Planning Commission meeting on April 23, multiple Meridian Township residents spoke in opposition of rezoning roughly 10 acres at Cornell Road from rural residential to single family-low density, with many of them arguing that the proposal to rezone the lot goes against the township's master plan.

"If you rezone this, what you're doing is you're taking something away from both the people who live in the area, who bought property on the assumption that it was protected by the master plan and by the zoning that was in place," one resident said. "If you choose to take something from us and give it to a private individual, simply because they make more profit off of it, you're essentially transferring something from us to them, and you would have to have an awfully compelling reason for why that's in the best interest of the township as a whole, and as you've heard, not many people feel that way."

The residents who spoke in opposition of the proposal also agreed that Cornell Road should remain a rural area because it's the reason why they moved there in the first place.

Another resident said "It serves no purpose for the good of the township" to rezone Cornell Road from rural residential to single family-low density.

Besides the concern for maintaining quietness in the area, wetlands also inhabit the area.

The Planning Commission took an unofficial vote on whether or not the proposal should be approved and it was denied unanimously.