Special land use and preliminary site plan approvals were granted last week by the Oxford Township Planning Commission for a proposed international student dormitory on N. Oxford Rd., just south of the high school.
Both passed in 4-1 votes.
Voting for it were commissioners Jack Curtis, Mike Young, Ed Hunwick and Chairman Todd Bell. Voting against it was Commissioner Kallie Roesner-Meyers.
Commissioners Tom Berger and Mike Spisz were absent.
Weiming Education Group, a company based in the People’s Republic of China, is looking to build a four-story, 58,279-square-foot, L-shaped dormitory, with classrooms, capable of housing up to 208 students on a 5-acre site zoned Multiple Family (RM) residential located on the west side of N. Oxford Rd., just south of the OHS football stadium.
Weiming has a 20-year deal with the school district through which Oxford agreed to educate 16-to-18-year-old students brought here. Most of these students will be from China, however, dorm rooms will be available for those from other countries as well, according to school officials.
Roesner-Meyers expressed concern about placing a student dormitory on property zoned RM because the purpose of this zoning district is ‘to serve the township’s limited need for higher density residential use.?
‘Obviously, this is higher density residential use, but it’s not the township needs that are being fulfilled (by) this,? she said. ‘Are we taking away what our citizens and what our community needs for multifamily (housing) by doing this because this limits (having) anybody else in this building other than (who) this company is bringing (here).?
Weiming’s proposed facility would have 104 dorm rooms, each containing 120 square feet of space with two beds.
There would also be eight 360-square-foot rooms for teachers/resident assistants, eight 900-square-foot classrooms, kitchen, cafeteria and student commons.
‘This is intended to be an extension of the high school,? explained Stephen Foster, senior project architect/manager for Stephen Auger & Associates Architects, the Lake Orion firm that drafted the dormitory plans. ‘This is the best piece of property for that because it’s directly connected to the high school property.?
Foster noted how a lot of the feedback previously given by planning commissioners regarding the other dormitory plan for a potential 2.71-acre-site located on E. Market St. was incorporated into this site plan. He believes it ‘addresses all of the concerns? that were expressed. ‘We’ve worked with our client to really hear your comments and bring forth a project that would benefit the community and provide all the necessities that we discussed last time,? he said.
For example, the 5-acre site provides much more parking. The plan shows 74 paved spaces, plus the option to add 48 spaces in the future if it’s ever deemed necessary.
Because the cafeteria, which has a maximum capacity of 200, might be used for special events or assemblies, Foster provided commissioners with a letter confirming that OHS will allow the use of 70 of its existing spaces as off-site parking for the dormitory.
Such an arrangement is permitted by township ordinance, which allows for off-site parking within 500 feet of the property.
So, between on-site and off-site parking, the dormitory could have access to a total of 192 spaces, Foster told the commission.
The township’s desire to see more green space and recreational amenities was also fulfilled with the new plan and new site. The proposal includes a sand volleyball court, badminton court and soccer practice field.
Foster said the intent was to give the proposed dormitory ‘a campus-type feel.?
Issues regarding pedestrian access between the dormitory and off-campus destinations were resolved in the new plan.
There would be 8-foot-wide safety paths on the site connected to the existing safety path along the west side of N. Oxford Rd. This path leads to OHS to the north and the village to the south.
In order to ‘maximize the green space? and increase the amount of on-site parking, Foster explained it was necessary to condense the dormitory’s footprint and make it a four-story building as opposed to the two-story one shown on the original 2.71-acre site.
True, the 5-acre site is bigger, but it’s not all usable. A good chunk of the land on the site’s east side is ‘unbuildable due to the grading,? according to Foster.
‘That’s part of the site constraint,? he explained. ‘Even though it’s now a much larger piece of property, due to the grading off of (N.) Oxford Rd., that area compresses the buildable area.?
The township zoning ordinance limits the number of stories a multiple family building can have to three. Also, Oxford currently has no four-story buildings in either the township or the village.
Concerns about this were expressed by Commissioner Roesner-Meyers.
She noted the intent and goals of the township’s master plan are to maintain a ‘rural character? and extend the ‘village look? outward as a transition into the township.
Roesner-Meyers believes the proposed Weiming dormitory ‘is so far removed? from this intent that it’s changing the master plan ‘to something that’s substantially different.?
?(The proposed dormitory is) bigger, taller and more unique than anything we have in the township and it’s setting a new starting point as opposed to continuing what we have,? she said.
Foster pointed out that although the building contains four stories, it’s proposed to be 45 feet tall, which meets the maximum height requirement of the township zoning ordinance for multiple family buildings.
He explained portions of OHS exceed this height. It’s highest point is 74 feet and there are other areas that are 50 feet or more tall.
It should be noted public school facilities are not subject to local zoning ordinances nor are they required to receive any approvals from local planning commissions. Everything is handled at the state level and subject to state requirements.
Foster showed commissioners a photo of a building in downtown Oxford with a height exceeding 50 feet. It’s the building that currently houses the Kindred Spirits Quilt Shoppe (3 S. Washington St.), next door to Patterson Prescription Pharmacy. It was built over 100 years old.
It was explained by township Planner Brian Oppmann, who works for the Ann Arbor-based Carlisle-Wortman Associates, that it’s not an either-or thing when it comes to maximum building height in terms of feet and stories. They are two separate ordinance requirements.
‘They have to meet both of those,? Oppmann said.
In other words, a multiple family building must be no taller than 45 feet and contain no more than three stories under the township zoning ordinance.
That’s why the proposed dormitory must receive a variance from the zoning board of appeals (ZBA) in order to have a fourth story.
Planning commissioners made receiving this variance a condition of preliminary site plan approval as well as receiving a second variance concerning the building’s length.
Under township ordinance, no multiple family building can exceed 200 feet in length. The proposed dormitory is 251.5 feet long.
A ZBA meeting to address both variance requests was originally scheduled for May 11, but it has been cancelled (see story Page 1).
According to Fire Chief Pete Scholz, ordinances concerning building height in the township and village were written based on the fact that at one time, the fire department’s longest ladder was 45 feet. ‘That’s where the language came from,? he said.
However, in 2002, the department purchased a 95-foot aerial platform ladder truck that allows firefighters to handle taller buildings. As a result, the village, in 2006, amended its ordinance to allow taller buildings. Buildings on Washington St. between East and Broadway streets can be a maximum of 64 feet fall and five stories, while buildings on Washington St. between Broadway and Ensley streets can have heights up to 52 feet and four stories.
Scholz indicated in addition to Oxford’s aerial truck, the department has access to aerial trucks from neighboring departments, such as Addison and Orion, through mutual aid agreements. ‘I could have five aerials here within 20 minutes,? he said.
Although the proposed dormitory would be four stories, it would not tower over everything else around it, according to Foster.
That’s because the site is lower than N. Oxford Rd. and the OHS property.
He explained that N. Oxford Rd. sits 25 feet above the grade plane of the proposed building. ‘The theory is even if you were standing on (North) Oxford Rd., at most you’re seeing 20 feet (or two stories) worth of building,? Foster said.
The same would hold true if a person was standing in the south endzone of the OHS football stadium, he said. Foster explained there would be a berm separating OHS property from the dormitory site and this berm would be topped with trees.
There’s a 40-foot differential between the high school’s southern parking lot and the dormitory, so Foster said, ‘You’re not going to see much of that building except if you’re looking down.?
Providing ample landscaping along N. Oxford Rd. to screen the dormitory from its residential neighbors to the east was a big concern for Commissioner Curtis. He suggested planting ‘fast-growing canopy trees.?
‘If this is going to be an integral part of an educational campus, we should make it start looking like downtown Ann Arbor,? he said.
‘I agree wholeheartedly,? Foster replied. ‘I’m an advocate of lots of natural landscaping.?
As part of preliminary site plan approval, commissioners placed a condition requiring ‘heavy? landscape screening on the proposed dormitory site’s east and north sides.