By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
Echoing the Orion Township Planning Commission’s recommendation, the Township Board of Trustees overrode Pulte Home’s concept plan for a 360-site neighborhood to be built over area including the Bald Mountain Golf Course.
Passionate community members, planners, golf course owners and trustees had lengthy conversations prior to the denial, filling the room.
Pulte’s plan involves the rezoning of the 236 acres of land from Suburban Farm and Recreation 2 to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) for residential construction. Planning by PUD has converted many open spaces to subdivisions over the years.
The Planning Commission denied the identical concept plan Oct. 15 with a three-page motion provided by township trustee John Steimel, who also sits on the Planning Commission liaison. Steimel cited density impact and traffic buildup as the core issues.
Steimel said the township has given Pulte’s conceptual plan complete consideration.
‘It’s not fair when the application comes in and more information comes in after that. The core things are the same, none of the real issues have changed,? he said. ‘Whether that information really qualified or not is a difference of opinion, because some the of the things they are listing as a benefit could also have negative effects too.?
If granted, Pulte would provide a community pool, pay for traffic enhancing infrastructure in accordance with the Road Commission for Oakland County, provide eight foot and five foot paths in the development to promote community connectivity, and initiate improvements to Jesse Decker park, potentially connecting it to the Bald Mountain State Recreation area in the 1.53 house-per-acre community.
Pulte did not modify the conceptual plan they had already taken to the planning commission, adhering protocol.
The township board concurred with the advisory recommendation to deny Pulte’s plan with a 5-1 vote, Supervisor Chris Barnett dissenting.
Barnett said he has sat through a year’s worth of meetings with Pulte, their consultants, the township’s consultants, engineers, water and sewer director, fire department and liaison Steimel discussing the proposed plan.
In the beginning it was suggested to model the neighborhood density plan using zoning requirements for Suburban Ranch, which would have limited development to 343 sites, or 1.45 houses per acre.
Also in the beginning, Pulte proposed a 387-site neighborhood, or 1.8 houses per acre.
‘We told them it was too dense, I haven’t been in favor of this, but I am in favor of following processes we swore to uphold. If we shortcut their due process it could potentially set the township out,? Barnett said, repeating that Pulte has followed the township’s ordinance ‘to a T.?
Bob Halso, representing Pulte Home’s land acquisition, said a lot of information was missing in Steimel’s ?21 point motion of denial? Oct. 15.
‘I apologize if it [the information] was not given in the time frame deemed appropriate by the commission, but it is clear there was information given that was not considered,? he said. ‘I remember the initial presentations, the feedback submitted from all of your consultants, and now, to be questioned if all the information is provided seems to me to be a shortcoming or complete lacking of respect for the process and respectfully request that we send this back to the planning commission.???
If it was sent back to the planning commission in the future, Pulte would have to start from the beginning.
A letter provided by Pulte’s consulting firm, Professional Engineering Associates, INC (PEA), confirmed some information was presented to commissioners after the formal submission.
The information addressed questions raised by the township’s consultants, commissioners, and members of the public at the first public hearing Sept. 3.
Many residents felt Pulte was rewriting their own zoning with their own specifications, resident Dana Busch said at that time.
Because the 236 acres are not zoned residential under the current master plan guideline’which is in the process of a five-year update’it was Pulte’s discretion as to what guidelines to model their density plan after, Chairwoman Carol Thurber said.
The neighborhood would be divided into three communities, consisting of estate lots priced roughly at $500,000, executive lots in the $400,000 range and cottage lots targeted at empty nesters in the $300,000s.
Many of the lot sizes and setbacks for the three types of houses were based on Recreation 1 (R1) zoning, which divvies parcels into 14,000 sq. ft. lots with minimum lot widths of 100 ft.
Some criteria matched R2 zoning standards, based on 10,800 sq. ft. lots, and some measurements for the cottages didn’t meet R1, R2 or R3 standards at 8,400 sq. ft. lots.
‘I have no disagreement of your ordinance protocol in this procedure, but it’s not even remotely based on the underlying zoning our ordinance suggests it to be,? Orion resident Charlie Johnson said.
The township could have either approved the applicants conceptual proposal, denied it, which they did, or send it back to the planning commission.
Resident and school board trustee Bill Holt represented the minority at the meeting, requesting Pulte’s proposal be approved. Holt lives at a large residence, he said, and has nowhere to downsize to in Orion Township.
Members of the Prieskorn family who wish to sell their private golf course were also present at the meeting.
‘When my father started working at Bald Mountain Golf Course 34 years ago there was one house on Silverbell and one house on Kern. Then the subdivisions came,? Stacy Adams, one of the owners, said ‘I am here talking tonight for one reason only, because my father can’t be.?
Her father agreed to Pulte’s plan before he passed away earlier in May, and his one wish was to see it through.
‘You are talking about sitting in traffic for five extra minutes. This path will change our lives forever,? she said, adding the golf course is all the Prieskorns ever knew.
It is now up to Pulte to determine the next course of action. They could drop the plan, resubmit it to the Planning commission, or pursue litigation where the outcome would be decided in the courts.
Multiple residents still voiced their distaste.
‘Have you ever seen a Pulte subdivision? Look at Scripps and M24, not a tree left. Pulte would scrape’that down, it would be a bald mountain alright,? township resident Burke Cueny said.