By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
On January 7 the Orion Township Planning Commission and Township board will take a gander at another proposed Planned Unit Development (P.U.D.) at the southeast corner of Baldwin and Maybee Roads.
Orion Village Crossing, the proposed development, consists of 20 condominium styled units over 5.51 acres of vacant land.
Bloomfield Hills based developer Robertson Brothers Homes has developed similar style housing in nearby communities, including Oxford, Independence Twp. and South Lyon.
Surrounding residential densities include Residential-1 and Residential-2 to the east and north respectively, and PUDs to the south and west.
The 5.51 acre chunk of land is currently zoned PUD but for higher density housing than Robertson Brothers wishes to develop.
Although the land is currently zoned PUD, the applicant is proposing an amendment to decrease the currently zoned higher-density apartment style town-home units to allow for the development of 20 single condominiums. A revision to the current PUD is needed to revise the approved housing product from multi-family high density residential to detached condominium single-family residential. According to the preliminary site plan the overall density would be decreased by over half.
The developer is proposing the detached condos to meet what they believe is a strong market in Orion Township for maintenance-free?’living, targeting especially empty-nesters and young professionals with first-floor master bedroom condos.
Parallel parking would be provided along one-way streets throughout the community.
According to the site plan, nearly all of the land development has been installed, except pavement replacement, curbs, additional service leads, franchise utility relocation, signage, sidewalks and landscaping.
Each individual unit would be built according to market demand, with the anticipation that the project be completed within an 18 month time frame.
According to the site plan a homeowners association would be created to maintain the specific site amenities.
The Planning Commission will be given the first-reading of the plan at 7:05 p.m. in the basement of township hall located at 2525 Joslyn Rd. on January 7.