An Oakland County judge Nov. 22 ordered the removal of all the materials used by the Knauf family to block off their property in downtown Oxford’s northeast parking lot.
‘The parking lot will be open for the parade, so that’s good news,? said Oxford Village Manager Joe Young, referring to the Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade Dec. 2.
The Knaufs have until noon Friday, Dec. 1 to ‘remove any and all barricades from the property including the orange construction barrels, yellow caution tape, metal drums marked contaminated and old concrete curbs,? according to Circuit Court Judge Fred Mester.
A majority of the approximately 28,000-square-foot area the Knaufs own, which contains roughly 56 parking spaces, has been closed to the public and physically blocked off since Aug. 4, the day before Celebrate Oxford.
The Knaufs purchased the property for an undisclosed amount from the Grove family in April.
Mester further ordered that the Knaufs ‘shall not alter, change, develop or modify the property at issue in any manner not consistent with the status quo, i.e. a free public parking area consistent with the configuration at the time of condemnation in July 2002.?
Future ownership of the property ? whether the Knaufs will get to keep it and turn it into pay-to-park facility along with a commercial building or the village will be able to condemn it and use it for free public parking ? must still be decided by Judge Mester.
Mester originally ruled in 2004 that the village ‘abused its discretion? by determining free parking to be a necessity and using that as a basis to condemn the property.
The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld Mester’s decision in February 2006.
An Oct. 20 ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals? decision and remanded the case back to circuit court for further proceedings.
Northeast quadrant business owners were pleased with the Mester’s decision to have the parking lot cleared out and re-opened.
Wendy Brabo, owner of A&A Flowers and Gifts, said she and husband Ron were ‘delighted? by the news, but still ‘a little leery? about the whole situation.
‘You’re afraid to get too happy because you don’t know what’s next,? she said.
‘Cautiously happy? is how Ron described their feelings.
‘Certainly, I’m happy about it,? said Brett Knapp, owner of Red Knapp’s American Grill. ‘It’s so ugly back there. At least this is going to clean it up. I’m just hoping they can get this resolved for the long run.?