By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
Orion Township is facing a lawsuit after denying a proposed subdivision development at the Bald Mountain Golf Course.
Pulte Homes, the potential developer and landowner, and Prieskorn Golf Enterprises filed the lawsuit against the township on December 18 in the Oakland County Circuit Court.
The Prieskorn family has owned the golf course for more than 25 years and has been working with Bloomfield-based Pulte for more than a year on the deal.
After several amendments to the proposed Planned Unit Development (PUD), the township board echoed the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny the development in November.
The lawsuit charges that Orion Township’s denial is a pretext to prevent further residential development in the community.
‘We worked in collaboration and in good faith with officials and planners for nearly a year to develop a plan that addressed every concern and balanced the needs for community building and economically viable development,? said Brandon Jones, Division President of Pulte Homes in Michigan.
‘The Prieskorn family and Pulte Homes are now forced to take legal action to protect our rights and protest the unfair treatment and actions taken by the Township to prevent development and reasonable use of the property.?
The proposed development includes 360 multigenerational homes over a span of 236 acres. The proposed density plan intends 1.53 homes per acre in a mixed residential setting.
Pulte originally proposed 453 sites at a formal pre-application meeting in February which had since been amended to 387 and then to 360 homes for the final site proposal.
According to the township master plan, 24.5 acres of the land is zoned Suburban Farm and 211.5 acres is zoned as Recreation-2. The township rezoned the Prieskorn property to Rec-2 in 1984.
Planning commissioners asked Pulte to plan the density according to Suburban Ranch zoning, which would only permit 343 sites to be built on the golf course prior to additional PUD amendments.
The plan was denied for not hitting all eligibility requirements necessary for rezoning a site to a PUD, which is required to change the zoning, according to planning commissioners.
The township must file an answer with the court by March 19, 2015.
“As with all PUD applications, Orion Township worked hard to provide Pulte Homes a fair review of its proposal. Consistent with the Township’s ordinances, there was an extensive review by the Township’s Planning Commission and the Board of Trustees,” Township Supervior Chris Barnett said. “While the project was ultimately denied, I am confident the Township’s ordinances were followed and while the parties may disagree with the result, the Township did not violate any law or property right.”