If White Pine Estates is ever going to be built, it appears the houses will have to sit on lots at least 1 acre in size.
‘Anything less than that, I don’t care,? said Oxford Township Supervisor Bill Dunn. ‘I’m not going to vote for it.?
Township officials recently voted 7-0 to deny the preliminary planned unit development (PUD) plan for the proposed residential development.
Hamlin LLC, a Rochester Hills-based partnership involving members of the Denno family, was proposing to build 32 single family homes on a 42.5-acre site located in the southwest corner of township on the north side of Stanton Rd., just east of Baldwin Rd.
Officials listed multiple reasons for the denial. Chief among them was the fact that it ‘does not comply with the township master plan.?
‘I believe that the square footage of the lots (is) just a little bit too small,? said township Clerk Curtis Wright.
The preliminary PUD called for single family homes to be built on lots ranging from 21,000 to 35,826 square feet, which equals 0.48 to 0.82 acre.
The homes would have been clustered together along a proposed cul-de-sac, so as to allow for 47 percent (20 acres) of the site to be preserved as open space including hundreds of mature white pine trees.
Ben Denno, one of the partners in Hamlin LLC, noted the plan was designed to preserve ‘over 95 percent of the existing trees,? plus add 64 new trees (two trees for every lot).
Currently, the property is zoned Suburban Farms (SF-2), which calls for residential lots with a minimum size of 5 acres each. The township’s master plan, last updated in 2011, shows the future use of the site continuing as 5-acre lots.
Officials were complimentary of the plan, but they just didn’t like the small lots.
Wright said the proposed plan has a ‘nice layout,? but in his opinion, the small lot size ‘just doesn’t fit the zoning as far as I see it.?
‘Overall, I think it’s a wonderful project and if it had 1-acre lots, I would be in total agreement with it,? Dunn said.
The supervisor’s fear was if small lot sizes were allowed in that area for White Pine Estates, it could set a precedent and open the door for the next developer to request quarter-acre lots.
Dunn said White Pine Estates? proposed lot sizes are consistent with R-2 zoning, which is single family homes with minimum lot sizes of 25,000 square feet.
‘There’s no R-2 anywhere near that property,? he said.
Right now, the property is surrounded by 5-acre zoning to the west and 1-acre lots to north and east. That’s why officials believe the minimum lot size for White Pine Estates should be 1 acre. ‘I don’t have a problem with that,? Dunn said.
The developer still has the option of requesting the property be rezoned to R-3, which calls for 1-acre lots. Under this zoning, the site could accommodate 30 houses, according to drawings submitted as part of the preliminary PUD.