By Judy Reed

When Dawn Roberts, of Hair Taylors, found out that she would have to move her business out of the building at 12505 Northland Drive in Algoma Township, she felt like she was being punished for something she didn’t do. But now, she thinks it might’ve been a blessing in disguise.

Roberts rented space for her salon in the Northland Drive location 4-1/2 years ago. Ten months ago, the building went into foreclosure. “After all the money I spent on the business ($10,000), I found out that the original landlord didn’t get the right permits,” she explained. “And they gave me three months to leave.”

Algoma Township zoning administrator Don Bates explained that the building was set up with a special use permit for the storage units. “A contractor could rent an office and a storage unit with it,” explained Bates. “It was not for retail, only for offices.” He said that a management company is now overseeing the building and trying to get everything in compliance. “They also couldn’t get health department approval there,” he noted.

Roberts said the problem with the health department was that they said that the septic and drainfield couldn’t support the number of employees and clients they could potentially have in a day. She said they based the number—160—on the number of stylists and them having a client every half hour, though most of the stylists are never there at the same time. “I said that never happens,” remarked Roberts. “I don’t think any salon has that many people in one day.”

But Roberts couldn’t be happier now that she is in her new digs at 4633 14 Mile Road, next to Dee’s Family Restaurant. She said it was fortunate that she has a husband skilled in carpentry. “He had to take walls down, pull up the flooring, and dig up cement to get to the water lines,” she said.

The new location is up and running, and Roberts is offering 50 percent off to any new clients. But she’d still like to see her old clients, too, and that might have turned into a problem if she’d been allowed to stay in her old location.

“Northland Drive is going to be torn up this summer, so this may be a blessing in the long run,” she said. (Northland Drive will undergo construction from M-57 to 15 Mile Road this summer, according to the Kent County Road Commission website.)

Give Dawn a call at 696-2096, or stop in and see her today!