Deja vu is the best term to describe last week’s Oxford Township Planning Commission meeting.
Residents showed up to oppose smaller lot sizes in their area and planning commissioners approved a recommendation to allow for them.
In a 4-2 vote, the planning commission recommended the 41.7-acre property located on the north side of Stanton Rd., just east of Baldwin Rd., be rezoned from Suburban Farms (SF-2) to single family residential (R-3).
Such a rezoning would change the minimum residential lot sizes that could be developed from 5 acres to 1 acre.
The recommendation now goes to the township board, which makes the final decision.
One of the reasons given for the planning commission’s decision was the proposed rezoning is ‘consistent? with surrounding land uses to the north and east.
Voting for the rezoning were planning commissioners Jack Curtis, Tom Berger, Mike Young and Chairman Todd Bell.
Casting votes against it were commissioners Kallie Roesner and Ed Hunwick.
Hamlin LLC, a Rochester Hills-based partnership involving members of the Denno family, requested the rezoning because it wants to build 30 single family homes on the site and call the development White Pine Estates.
A previous preliminary plan to build 32 homes on lots ranging from 21,000 to 35,826 square feet (0.48 to 0.82 acre) was recommended for approval by the planning commission in a 4-3 vote last October despite a large amount of opposition from residents at multiple meetings.
The following month, the township board voted 7-0 to deny it because officials felt the small lots did not comply with the master plan.
Last updated in 2011, the master plan shows the future use of this site continuing as 5-acre lots.
Residents who showed up to last week’s planning commission meeting didn’t like the idea of 1-acre lots.
‘I do object to anything less than 5 acres out there,? said Jim Cavellier, Sr., who lives on S. Baldwin Rd. ‘I don’t really understand why we want to change that.?
Todd Eveland, who lives in Twin Lakes Estates, the subdivision bordering the site to the east, expressed his concern that allowing smaller lots and higher density development would negatively impact his property value.
‘It’s going to be bad,? he said. ‘It’s going to hurt my property (value), no doubt about it. I’ve put a whole lot of money out there and I’m not going anywhere. I plan on dying in that house.?
Rand Kulkis, who lives on Stanton Rd., was also opposed to the rezoning request.
‘I would think that at the time that zoning was put into place, there was a good reason for it,? he said.
Kulkis indicated this portion of the township has ‘a uniqueness about it? because of the ‘openness? and the ‘rustic? and ‘wild? character.
Sandra Sutton, a Twin Lakes Estates resident, understands the developer’s desire to maximize profitability.
‘I can appreciate an entrepreneurial spirit,? she said. ‘Our country was built on it.?
However, Sutton said the site was zoned for 5-acre lots when Hamlin acquired it and it’s not right for the developer to expect the township and community to change it so they can make money.
‘To expect everyone else to bend for that to happen is not acceptable,? she said. ‘We have the zoning laws for a reason.?
Sharon Kulkis, who lives on Stanton Rd., expressed her fear that if the rezoning were approved it would pave the way for other properties in that area to be developed with small lots.
‘I just think it’s a bad precedent to set,? she said. ‘They opened the door when they did Twin Lakes against everybody’s objections. I think it ought to stop right there.?
Back in the late 1980s/early 1990s, residents and the township vigorously fought against the development of Twin Lakes Estates.
Opposition to the proposed rezoning wasn’t limited to the audience. Roesner led the charge from her commission seat.
‘There is absolutely no compelling reason to change that (zoning),? she said. ‘Nothing has changed.?
She pointed out Stanton Rd. hasn’t been paved and services such as natural gas, municipal water and municipal sewer are still not available in that area.
‘It’s not an area ripe for development,? Roesner said.
Pointing to the zoning map, Roesner said the ‘majority? of the township is zoned SF-2 and SF-3, which call for residential lot minimums of 5 and 10 acres, respectively.
There are ‘some pockets? of R-3 zoning, according to Roesner, ‘but that’s not the majority of our township. It’s not where our focus is.?
‘Our master plan says that we’re trying to be a rural community,? she said. ‘We’re not trying to overdevelop. Our roads are already congested. Traffic’s already terrible.?
Roesner fears allowing this rezoning could result in similar requests for other properties currently zoned Suburban Farms.
‘Are you prepared for that? I’m not. Our community isn’t. Our roads aren’t,? she said.
But Roesner’s views were in the minority among the commissioners.
‘I think it’s a nice development the way it sits,? Berger said. ‘I don’t think a 1-acre lot is that bad for that property.?
Berger indicated he kept track of resident comments regarding White Pine Estates at previous meetings and ‘almost 50 percent of the people (who spoke) said they wouldn’t have a problem with 1-acre lots.?
‘That is absolutely true,? he said. ‘That’s not me saying that. That was the people saying that.?
Bell backed up Berger. Based on his notes, Bell said 52 percent indicated they would rather see 1-acre lots as opposed to the lots originally proposed, all of which were less than an acre.
Ben Denno, of Hamlin LLC, told the commission his proposed development would ‘add value? to the surrounding properties, particularly Twin Lake Estates. Under his original plan, homes in White Pine Estates would have been priced at $300,000 to $350,000.
‘The home sales that are actually happening in Twin Lakes are a lot less than that,? he said. ‘If you talk to any experienced (real estate agent), they would tell you when you have an upper-scale subdivision that goes in, the neighboring properties? values increase as a result of that. The Twin Lakes properties are not going to go down. They will go up.?
Eveland retorted that Denno’s assertion ‘depends on the community.? He argued that ‘a lot of the reason? many people move to Oxford Township is because they want land with their homes.
‘That’s what our community is trying to preserve,? he said.
Denno pointed out that 42 of the 75 lots in Twin Lakes Estates are between 1 acre and 1.2 acres.
Years ago, residents were opposed to the development of Twin Lakes and expressed similar concerns regarding its potential negative impact on traffic, road conditions and the environment, according to Denno. Ultimately, he said all the ‘fears? they expressed ‘were never realized.?
‘I’m in that same position right now,? he said.
Roesner doesn’t believe the Twin Lakes lot sizes tell the whole story. To her, they don’t represent the true density of the subdivision, which, according to her calculations, is actually close to 3 acres per unit.
Roesner’s calculations include a large tract of land to the north that has no development on it. It was included in the consent judgment that allowed Twin Lakes to be built.
But township planner Brian Oppmann, who works for the Ann Arbor-based Carlisle/Wortman Associates, argued this undeveloped land should not be included in the Twin Lakes density calculation because ‘almost all of that open space is not buildable area.?
Denno said the same thing. That land is a 100-year-old flood plain, which is nonbuildable, and much of it is designated as wetlands, according to him.
Roesner expressed her concern about White Pine Estates? potential impact on the Oxford school district.
She said at a meeting, Superintendent Dr. William Skilling stated Oxford High School is ‘near full.? If White Pine Estates adds more students, it will be up to the taxpayers to fund some sort of school expansion, she argued.
It was pointed out to Roesner that this portion of Oxford Township is actually located in the Lake Orion school district.
Concerns were also expressed over the potential negative impact on Stanton Rd., a gravel road, as a result of the extra vehicles produced by a 30-unit housing development.
Mark Moody, a resident of Twin Lakes Estates, told commissioners how his subdivision paid to have five to 10 truckloads of gravel added to Stanton Rd. because its condition was so bad.
‘The roads are getting destroyed,? he said.
In terms of the amount of daily traffic using it, Roesner said Stanton Rd. is considered ‘overcapacity? by the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC).
When asked about this, RCOC Spokesman Craig Bryson told this reporter, ‘There is no official maximum capacity level for any road.?
With regard to Stanton Rd., Bryson provided some traffic count figures for the section between Coats and Baldwin roads.
Each count represents a single 24-hour period.
Two counts were done in 2012 and they yielded results of 233 and 265 vehicles per day, according to Bryson.
In 2010, the count was 225. In 2008 and 2005, it was 624 and 778, respectively. The count was 713 in 2002 and 268 in 2001.
‘It’s kind of all over the place,? Bryson said. ‘This is just one 24-hour period and there may be things going on that particular day or not going on that particular day that influence those numbers.
Traffic counts in the 600 and 700-vehicle ranges are ‘more than we would prefer to see, but not at all unusual for a gravel road in Oakland County,? according to Bryson.
‘We’ve got (places) where we have 3,000 or 4,000 cars on a gravel road,? he said. ‘Those are the more extreme cases.?
Bryson noted there are engineering standards based on traffic volume concerning when a gravel road should be paved.
‘In an ideal world, they say anything above 500 to 700 cars a day should be paved,? he said. ‘Of course, that standard does not in and of itself provide any money to do that, but that’s the ideal standard.?
As for Stanton Rd., based on the numbers, Bryson said it ‘is certainly by far nowhere near our busiest gravel road by any stretch.?
‘It’s not unusual in its traffic volume compared to many other gravel roads in the county,? he said. ‘I would not use the term overcapacity myself. I’m sure that if you live along the road, it’s probably more traffic than you would like to see, but from our point of view, we don’t define it as overcapacity.?
Eveland noted he doesn’t want to leave Oxford, but he predicted he and others would do so if the proposed rezoning is approved by the township board.
‘I’m sure there’s quite a few of us that would leave,? he said. ‘I’d go to Brandon ? go some place that doesn’t do that.?