Plans to build a dormitory to house up to 208 international students in Oxford Township are on hold and it appears issues related to acquisition of the proposed site might be the reason.
‘Please stop the ZBA (zoning board of appeals) process for the Weiming project until further notice,? wrote Stephen Foster in an April 27 e-mail to township Deputy Supervisor Deanna Cushing. ‘Additionally, please refund the appropriate application fees as discussed.?
Foster is senior project architect/manager for Stephen Auger & Associates Architects, the Lake Orion firm that’s been working on the dormitory plans for its client, Weiming Education Group, a company based in the People’s Republic of China.
The May 11 ZBA meeting scheduled to address two variance requests ? approval of which is needed in order for the proposed dormitory project to move forward ? has been cancelled, according to Cushing.
‘Right now, everything’s on hold,? she said.
Without ZBA approval, the dormitory project cannot return to the planning commission for final site plan approval. It was granted preliminary site plan approval last week (see story on Page 1).
Although she’s received nothing else in writing explaining why a halt was called to the ZBA process, Cushing said during a phone conversation with Foster, he told her, ‘The negotiations with Burton-Katzman went south.?
‘That’s all I know,? she told this reporter. ‘That’s what he said.?
Cushing repeated this in an April 27 e-mail to the township engineer and planner ? ‘FYI ? Weiming pulled ? They told Steve Foster that the deal with Burton went South.?
Foster did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Burton-Katzman, a Bingham Farms-based development company, owns the 5-acre site on which Weiming has been looking to build a four-story, 58,279-square-foot, L-shaped dormitory, with classrooms, capable of housing up to 208 foreign students.
The site is located on the west side of N. Oxford Rd., just south of the Oxford High School football stadium.
On Tuesday morning, this reporter contacted Charles DiMaggio, senior vice president of project development for Burton-Katzman, and asked him about all of this.
He was unaware of the ZBA cancellation or any problems regarding negotiations between his company and Weiming.
‘That’s news to me,? DiMaggio said. ‘If you’re telling me that the deal got pulled, that would be news to me, too, at this point.?
‘I know we’ve given (Weiming) permission to go ahead and get their approvals (from the township) while we were finalizing our negotiations on our deal,? he continued. ‘If you’re telling me that they’ve pulled it and the deal’s not going forward, then I’d have to call them and find out what’s going on.?
DiMaggio said as far as he knew, things were still moving forward.
‘There were still issues that we needed to resolve, but I didn’t know that they were unresolvable,? he said. ‘We’ll find out . . . I can tell you that we were still in discussions (with Weiming) over a few of the final points and those discussions were still going on before the (April 23) planning commission meeting and that didn’t get pulled.?
By Tuesday afternoon, DiMaggio had been in contact with the Auger architectural firm.
‘They did pull it off the agenda for Monday (May 11). They did confirm that,? he said. ‘Although I was told it was more of a postponement . . . than a withdrawal.?
‘I haven’t talked to the Chinese representative, but I did speak to the architects and that’s what I was told,? DiMaggio continued. ‘I guess we’re in a little bit of limbo here right now. We’re just going to have to wait and see how we finish up on our negotiations with them.
‘I’m not prepared to say the deal went south. I would say it’s maybe more in neutral than going south. But then again, apparently, I’m not fully aware of everything happening on the other side.?
As for the other potential site for the Weiming dormitory ? a 2.71-acre piece of property on Market St., just east of M-24 and west of OHS ? Cushing said it’s ‘totally off the table.?
Her comment was based on a conversation with Foster.
‘I came right out and asked him where do we stand on property number one?,? Cushing said. ‘He said that is never going to be developed (by Weiming).?
Planning commissioners voted 4-3 to grant preliminary site plan approval for the 2.71-acre site at their March 12 meeting.