For the second time in four months, the Oxford Village Council okayed a purchase agreement for the municipal-owned property located at 98 S. Glaspie St.
Last week, council voted 5-0 to approve a $225,000 purchase agreement with local developer Chuck Schneider, who intends to transform the former industrial site into a mix of 76 residential units.
Council had already approved an agreement in May, but Schneider was dissatisfied with a few of the terms, so they were renegotiated, according to village Manager Joe Young.
Schneider wants to construct a three-story multiple family complex containing 36 condominium units, plus 40 two-story, attached single-family row houses. Everything would be part of a planned unit development (PUD) that would require approval from both the planning commission and village council.
One of the big changes to the purchase agreement was the removal of language giving the village 60 days after closing to relocate the historic Smith silo that’s stood on the property for many years.
The Smith Silo Co. was once one of the leading silo manufacturers in the Midwest. The family business moved to Oxford in 1930 to be close to the gravel pits and was located at 98 S. Glaspie St. through the 1970s. Today, a Smith silo stands in Seymour Lake Twp. Park, where it’s used as a pavilion. Another was donated to the Henry Ford Museum in 1976.
Unfortunately, the S. Glaspie St. silo cannot be preserved.
‘The building is a mess and I give up on trying to save it,? explained village President Sue Bossardet, who’s also a member of the Northeast Oakland Historical Society. ‘I don’t think we can get it moved without it falling down. It needs a lot of repairs.?
Bossardet noted she is going to attempt to save a ‘marker stone? from the building. Her intention is to display it in downtown Oxford’s historical museum.
Some of the letters are missing, but the stone used to read, ‘The Smith Silo Co. Oxford, Mich.?
‘Before they completely knock it down, we’re going to try and get that piece out,? she said.
Based on calculations provided by Young, if the property were developed as Schneider proposes, it would generate an estimated $44,816 in additional property tax revenue for the village based on the current 10.62-mill rate.
Purchased by the village for $700,000 in March 2006, the 98 S. Glaspie St. site consists of approximately 3.5 acres and two attached, dilapidated buildings totalling 21,400 square feet.
Schneider plans to demolish them along with the silo, which will cost $76,100 based on a proposal he obtained from the Lapeer-based North American Dismantling Corp.
In November 2012, village residents voted 1,069 to 521 to grant the municipality the authority to sell the site, which was appraised at $305,000 last year.
Other than Schneider, interest in the site has been limited to a couple of light industrial companies looking to relocate and a nonprofit entity that wanted to use it to build senior citizen housing for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. All of those offers fell through for one reason or another.
Officials have said the main reason the village originally bought the property was because of its close proximity to the municipal wellfield. They didn’t want to risk another industrial user moving in and possibly contaminating the groundwater supply.
Right now, the property is zoned for single family residential use (R-1 and R-3). Schneider wants the portion zoned R-1 to stay as is, but he’s planning to request the R-3 portion be rezoned to multiple family (RM-1).