001okay like to call to order tonight's Charter Township of Oxford Planning Commission regular meeting Thursday March 13 2025 if we could start the meeting uh by standing and paying respects to the flag congratulations to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and thank you very much um item number three can we note the role noted there is a quorum thank you item number four approval of tonight's agenda um one note we are going to need to make an adjustment to is it 12b or where do we need to add that to appoint uh it would be under new business under new business so 9 C 9 C okay okay somebody would like to make a motion for the agenda
002Mr chair have a motion to approve tonight's agenda with the n9c adjustment yes with the NC adjustment I'll second okay we have a motion we have a 2 to adopt tonight's agenda adding 9 c um any discussion all in favor any opposed okay that motion carries uh item number five conflict of interest exp parte does anybody have anything to bring up or discuss okay seeing none number six approval of the minutes Planning Commission regular meeting February 27 2025 Mr chair make a motion to move the make a motion to approve the minutes from February 27th 2025 second okay we have a motion we have a second any discussion any corrections all in favor I any opposed that carries Mr chair could you please make sure your microphone is turned on thank you very much now
003that my mic is on all right number seven public comment for items not scheduled for public hearing or on tonight's agenda see nobody from the public I we move to number eight commissioner comments does anybody have anything they would like to bring up discuss questions Mr chair last meeting I was not able to attend I'd like to um I talk to Mato go through the draft okay master plan and just I have a few notes and comments i' like to add to that okay we can get to that you want go um if you want you want to when I do my planning update at the end of the evening we can addit are you talking about going through some notes now oh no no no I I'd like to as we talked earlier i'
004like to go through them um provide them to you on Monday just a few yeah I want to go through the draft see if there's anything that from the 2019 that should be potentially carried into the 2024 2025 master plan okay that's all I think it's minor stuff but um there's just some good wording in the 19 that I'd like to carry forward okay okay anything anybody else okay seeing none uh we will move into number nine public hearing and actions um 9A we have a petition to rezone parcel ID 353 028 970 South leir and 35329 990 South leir from uh office to C2 General commercial is the petitioner ready or you want to start your stuff uh if it's whichever order is fine I would say if you want to kind of get
005our feedback Jim's feedback and sure you kind of go from theirs which JY love the applicant yeah both you know which one Mr up here Danielle do they have to like make a motion to open the public hearing no public hearing um is after your review okay yep sorry okay all right good evening Paka we uh car Wartman Associates we're the planning consultants for the township uh so this evening one of the items under the public hearing is the review of application to reone two lots in the northwest corner of drainer and leir from office to commercial 2 or C2 one parcel has a banket bank on site the other has a single family home uh when combined the parcels are approximately 1.76 Acres uh if the rezonings were approved this evening the bank lot
006would conform to C2 but the single family house lot would not uh if they were combined after the resoning they would meet the C2 requirements as far as lot size front edge things of that nature properties that suround the parcels are zoned office C2 and single family residential uh we did provide a list of permitted and special uses in the review uh for the Planning Commission uh though the applicant did indicate on the application that they uh that they're their primary interest in the resoning would be to potentially construct a one-story multi-tenant retail center with a drive-thru gr this tonight's conversation is about C2 is C2 appropriate for this site based on the criteria in the ordinance um and based on the feedback from the public and so while that information is there and you
007are welcome to ask questions about it your consideration tonight is really about C2 over over the office zoning uh the process for this is that the Planning Commission would recommend an approval or denial and then it would go to the Township board for final uh approval or denial um when we look at the site naturally feature-wise uh the s's already been developed or the sites have already been developed uh there's they're relatively flat with no major uh Wetland woodland or water bodies on the property so there aren't any major natural feature considerations whenever we're looking at a rezoning the master plan is a very important consideration um when you look at the master plan at least your current 2019 master plan the future land use designation for these two sites is office service and Village
008Residential the back portion of the triangle lot is has two designations on it the office Frontage along with pier and then the residential along the back um these these designations don't anticipate commercial activities in the future at the site however we we did want to knowe that the 2019 plan was adopted obviously before the covid-19 pandemic and didn't anticipate um I guess that Global of a shift in office use in you know throughout the world really um so with that in mind and given that the township is nearing completion of the adoption of an updated master plan we thought it fair to consider what that draft future future land use map calls for and currently while not adopted the future land use draft calls for this area to be a mixed use designation which contemplates
009any mixture of commercial retail residential on the site it's not Apples to Apples retail but it it it indicates that at least in draft form the township is Shifting away a little bit from the from the strictly office design um and so as it relates to the master plan again current Master plans 2019 futured land use map uh draft kind of contemplates a shift away from these office uses um when we look at the development potential for the site um you know I stated earlier if it's rezoned all the permitted all the permitted and special land uses in C2 uh under the right circumstances could go on the site again when we look at C2 and all the various use it's a pretty broad array and so there there are uses I mean you're allowed
010to do a 60,000 foot retail Center that's not happening on these sites so when you kind of look at those uses you have to kind of put it in context of what could reasonably go on the site um but that's why we provide that list is so you can understand if this goes C2 these are all the things that could happen here at least the ones reasonably that would fit on the site um again on the application there was a statement regarding the interest in developing a single story multi-tenant retail center with a drive-thru that use is permitted on the site uh there are some additional standards that come with that type of a development that's really just a context of a not again we don't have a site plan to review this evening but
011from a use perspective what they have indicated is permitted on the site um yeah sorry in my notes I rambled on about that point a little bit more than what needs repeating but again it's a consideration of C at the site so from there your ordinance provides specific specific guidelines in considering a resoning for a map Amendment so there's two types there's a map Amendment which is like a zoning change and then a text Amendment which is actually things we'll be talking about later in the evening so with that I'll kind of go through our review uh for each of those standards some information that we cited for consideration um and then from there uh we plan commission to invite either Jim up uh to talk next um so the first standard is consistent with
012the master plan and consideration for current conditions we kind of went through the master plan conversation 2019 the current draft and current market current market conditions would lean more towards like a retail commercial type use than necessarily an office use compatibility with environmental features um and all uses in the propose Zone we don't cite any major environmental challenges uh in the land being able to support C C2 developments um as it relates to the lot size compatibility with uses and proposed District adjacent uses environment density traffic Aesthetics infrastructure and influence on property values um properties located around that intersection are C2 as well um C2 is typically found in the township along 24 along in other communities uh similar zoning types are found along the major thars um they're attracted to traffic um office uses
013uh the current zoning is definitely a less intense use but are also in pretty low demand um you know again as reference not that anybody needs a mining but the site currently has a vacant bake on it that I Believe been bacing for approximately two years um capacity for utilities and services the fire department and Engineering haven't cited any major uh concerns as it relates to the C2 rezoning Street capacity and traffic um the uses allowed under C2 offer a wide array of potential traffic generation uh this particular intersection of leir and drainer is one of the busiest and one of the most hazardous in the community and that's that's no secret I'm not I'm not uh blowing the top off of anybody here by saying that we all know that um but because we
014are a Township and that is leir road and drainer road any project that um is seeking site approval is going to need to get M and rclc approval to do so um we can't speak necessarily to what those requirements or comments would be um but we do cite it as um a pretty strong level of oversight getting things approved at that corner demand for C2 and the overall presence of the district and Community um C2 again is prevalent to Long laer Road uh that's probably where it's most appropriate uh retail occupancy with the town shop Township is strong I mean again retail is is slowly crawling its way back from covid um but it does uh there is a strong Market along the pier Road um recent Community feedback from the master plane process has
015indicated that residents are in favor of more retail options in the community um the proposed Lots with Will conform to proposed zoning standards again as we talked about if if the Lots the bank lot would conformed to C2 the house lot would not um we are highly recommending that should the rezoning go through that the Lots be combined um I do believe that that would be the intent of the applicant but I'll let them speak to that the proposed district is more appropriate than others C2 is in a higher demand thin office um again citing it's it's conducive along Le Road of major thorough faires um C1 is another red like retail option that the community has it's more geared towards smaller Boutique Mom and Pop Style shops um and it's more restrictive on what
016uses can go on the site um residential would be a challenge here just from access to the roads and traffic noise things of that nature and Industrial this the Lots aren't large enough for industrial and that would be that would be too close to spot zoning there's there's no basis for industrial can I ask you a question too you got to ask yeah um you mentioned C2 is more restrictive or less restrictive than C1 it's less restrictive it it you can do you every you can do everything in C2 that you can do in C1 you cannot do everything in C1 that you can do in C2 C2 is again a smaller scale style retail more mom and po So reading through the notes or the uses you like a drive-thru restaurant fast food establishment
017those types of things could be allowed right and we know that a drive-through is being asked for right it's indicated on the application you don't have a site plan but yes it's indicated on the application so as it relates to traffic um you said mad and our open County Road Commission would be going through that um you of course one of the things or things we talk about every week is traffic or every other week when we meet is traffic and the at that corner um do you know what the process might be what it might look like that the road commission would go through our do as they receive this information from the applicant and how they would look at this proposal and but and look at how traffic might or need to be
018controlled you know I look at this and think Northbound and Le traffic um past drainer going north past drainer if there's an entrance into the site that a driver may want to turn left you know at that intersection that could be it appears that could be a pretty big problem with cars you know flying up through that intersection um so I'm just trying to understand you know what that process might look like um from a traffic Flo stand Point yeah and I can't speak to the exact stages or review process that MD or RC would go through when reviewing a site like this I mean you bring up very valid points about the PO design uh and how that might work I know that is it is more typical and again I'll JY chart may
019be able to offer more insight on this and maybe even the applicant could offer more insight on this it it's more likely when rcoc m. review is not necessarily to come out and say no you cannot do this it's more likely to come out to say if you want to do this you're adding this you're going to do that it's it's more of a getting trying to mitigate as many of the negative effects as possible and requiring the development to do those things as opposed to saying you can't do this there just too much damic that's my to Dell Lane South bomber 24 before a person turns right into the yeah I mean you know the addition of um you know the addition of shoulders or extensions or Dell Lanes um you know sometimes you
020can make the stipulation as far as traffic exiting the property no left turns you know things of that nature when you say you who's you well I'm we we could be in a position to require that of the development okay um again but that's not that's when we actually get a site plan and we look at specific right now it's C2 yes or no correct okay and it's sorry and just to clarify drive-thru I mean my first thought is you know like a big one in McDonald's or something like that but I mean it could be a pharmacy with one of the little bottles that goes out and back it could be a Tropical Smoothie type where so I mean drive-thru could mean yeah when it comes to the concern of traffic right it we
021kind of go back to that list of all the things that could reasonably exist there and kind of the wide array of of traffic they would generate the challenge the challenge with 24 is is the traffic is what makes it desirable to certain uses right like demographically they're looking for that kind of traffic to support the businesses so it's going to draw them to the traffic whereas on the we're on the flip side saying like Okay we get that we also understand this this is a troubled intersection and we're not looking to make it worse so the traffic part of it is again something where we don't we can't really get into the Super nitty-gritty of it until we have a site plan to review but in general if there are some uses if there's
022if there's so many uses in C2 where there's a unanimous feeling that that that that is just is going to overburden the system and things of that nature then the Planning Commission could consider that making your decision Mr chairman is this time for questions I'm almost done I mean if unless you right let's get through the rest of yours and then we'll we'll do all right where was it okay um does it create spot zoning again um all of the properties at the intersection or C2 uh if it was reson it would be adjacent to the office to the north but C to an office next to each other aren't necessarily conflicting land uses um the application has not been submitted uh less than a year you can't submit it within a year of each
023other so this is a fresh application there has been no application for these rezonings um in over a year and uh other criteria determined by the board uh and PC regarding health safety welfare public private investment overall engagement of the community here you know our notes were basically just short that the bank is vacant um you know the longer it's vacant it will deteriorate um and that that in and of itself could present a challenge to property values and safety with the community um again Banks Banks are decreasing their physical footprint and there is not a lot of demand for new office development again these are considerations for the market um in summary uh we feel as though the resoning would be compatible with Market demands the location um um does seem conducive with C2
024uses um there is a conflict with the 2019 master plan and that we discussed the office service designation um but the current draft does does contemplate this area moving away from a strict office service use um with that I'm happy to answer any questions happy to hand over the quing for the next folks however you want to go you yeah I have a question so when was the last study done on the demand for office usage I couldn't speak to that even me like a local context I mean even overall so there's a there's a large demand now being four years removed from covid for people to return to office space is that changing the demand so that's why I asked the question of when's the last study been done because as we're seeing the
025push back to the office um does that actually drive up the demand and are we behind as a government entity not catching the market as it's changing or has already changed that's my concern there so I'm just curious I know we're making statements about there's not as much demand for office space anymore but I'm questioning that I guess to some degree just to understand better about when our study was done and if that's still true today I can't speak to I can't speak to a study specific to Oxford Township as it relates to office use more or less can speak from just experience working in the metro area and the lack of interest that we're seeing in it I'm not discounting what you're saying the rhetoric of return to office is there um what the
026reality looks like numerically I could speak to Okay so are is the statements being made in our packet tonight based on Ox for Township then as being less demand for office space at this time I think it's I think it's really a statement about looking at the region as a whole but then also looking at these Parcels as zoned as office and even if if there was demand for office would it would you see it there in the essence of the bank being potentially removed and not leased again as a bank and the single family house again a lot of the single family homes along that stretch have been converted to office space um so I can't really speak to the feasibility of that one property being that but the statements that we're making are
027I would say more or less based again on a a regional context but also taking into a account what type of office what type of office space you currently offer and and is there interest in new office space coming in I mean based on our work at the Township PA we we haven't garnered a lot of it I'm not going to Discount that it's not there I just haven't seen it does the I did look through the packet to see what type of designations F under C2 um under the current office zoning do medical offices apply in that zoning currently I believe so i' have to I can double check I'd have to I can look while we're talking all right thank you yeah okay question Yeah question so would the applicants propos land use
028apply under the proposed mixed use zoning in the master plan I would it's it's difficult to say I mean mix use in like just rolling off of your tongue indicates that you're looking at uses on the same site right so there's there's horizontal mixed use where you have two separate buildings on the site on the same site that function differently one's commercial one's retail or whatever it might be there's vertical where it's the same building no apartments above I would say that commercial alone under the future land use designation would be one of the one of the weaker uses for it that there would need to be some other element that comes with that use but I do believe that the future land use as it's drafted now does does would allow for strictly commcial
029uses on the site but maybe a mixture of what those uses would be does that make sense okay would it allow drive-throughs and I don't know the drive like that usually your future land use designations don't go into that much detail I don't I don't believe that those words are cited specifically but I don't know that any specific uses like drilled down that deep arless in the future L's designation under the current draft sure uh isn't that the last residence of that area that's not commercial that's so that's one thing I went off the AFC and I I do believe the house functions as a as a home right now yes I think it's a rental property yes okay it would be legal nonconformity any other questions okay you all set yeah all right let
030Mr Sharp come up and then we'll go through the whole I'm good evening me good evening Commissioners Jim Shariff sharff engineering Township engineer um when we're looking at resoning again we let Mato really dive deep into the uses and so forth I'm looking at it more from a infrastructure type of standpoint so my letter that's in your packet is pretty short I'm just going to hit it real quick um with regards to the sanitary sewer um both Parcels are located in the current sanitary sewer district obviously they all service by sewer right now um so there wouldn't be any problem should this be reson to to uh C2 same with the water both Parcels are in the Township's water district and so they're and they're connected so there wouldn't be any problems with uh additional
031the the water capacity there storm sewer again we don't have a sight plan in front of us there there is a pond that exists on the triangular shaped portion um to the west but whatever they come up with whether they do a pond or obviously today A lot of people do that underground storm water detention because they run out of space and they need it um but again not that would be something that would be dealt with during the engineering phase with regards to Pavements and I know there were some discussions regarding the uh you know the accesses again M do on M24 Ro Commission on the South Side um there may or may not have been a traffic study done um I don't want to maybe I'll let the applicant bring that up um
032I don't know that we need to get into that because again that's not really a part of the resoning itself um but mot and Road Commission are certainly going to require some improvements on those roadways um and with regards to safety pths there's current safety paths on both the um M24 side and on the road commission uh on the drain of road side as well so in in summary um you know we believe that there's sufficient infrastructure to service the C2 development on the property should it be reasoned um obviously moving forward site plan engineering drawings and all that we would have to work through those um should it be approved or should site plan be submitted to move forward so any questions really and this I know I know traffic's the big one for
033you guys and uh the rest of the infrastructure is there so I will turn it back to Mr biley uh I have a question sure just so if we decided to rezone this property and the road commission took a look at it especially after the site plan is approved and they noticed that uh there would be increased volume of traffic due to this business being there or these businesses in this case right uh at that point would Road Commission then maybe start looking at mitigating some of the issues that are existing today on drainer and M24 intersection you will be from your when you say mitigate um so any kind of safety hazard yes exactly you know they look at our inter that intersection there is being hazardous and if we're going to add additional
034uh traffic volumes based on the new businesses that are going to be there I'm just asking in your opinion you feel they would look at that and then start to maybe look at mitigating some of the Hazardous correct as Mato indicated you know um we have no jurisdiction over this and generally you're not going to say you know there's an existing business there not say oh we're not going to give you a driveway there will likely be one driveway on M24 and they'll probably currently there's two driveways on drainer road they'll probably ask them to reduce that to one driveway um and then there could be possible extensions of turn Lanes um you know whether it be a right turn in or extending the left turn lane on drainer road and then pass I know
035that I think it goes into a full right turn lane there on southbound M24 maybe they make them extend that a little bit so they will there will have to be some improvements made I'm pretty confident of that to exactly what extent I'm not sure and we don't have control of that but I would say that they're going to try to mitigate if you want to say that and try to improve that intersection to the best of their abilities you know so they're not going to make them put a roundabout in you know so you knew where I was going so so I guess the question would be there would be things that they press upon the development side of it right would they then also look at their their own responsibility to reducing the
036hazard that's being driven by the development yeah absolutely and it could be not just improvements to the roadway it could be something to do with the signalization at the intersection there I moved out here in 1995 and at the time draer Road just had one you if you're heading um westbound to M24 just had one lane to turn on to M2 24 well now it's got two lanes that turn on to M24 there and I've seen changes in the signals and things so it is a uh it is a quite hazardous intersection they try to do what they can um unfortunately unless they were to end that or Ro commission or to acquire those properties around there there's really not much more they could do they're just running out of space in terms of turning
037movements I guess it is but but does that answer your question hopefully yep I than you okay answer it very well thank you anybody else any other questions all right thank you all right then what we will do is just kind of going through we're going to do number one presentation by the petitioner uh once that is complete we will then open up public hearing um get feedback from the the public um once that is done we will close the public hearing um we'll take any last comments from the township consultants and staff uh review any correspondents that mayor not have come in we'll have a discussion and discuss the motion and vote on the uh Topic at hand so with that something magical I need to do to make this present plugged in yeah
038what's the magic sorry plugged in there we go good evening uh Jim Butler paa Group address is 1849 Pond Run Auburn Hills Michigan 48326 um I'm civil engineering consultant for the applicant uh he's the owner of the two lots uh draer Development LLC as Matel and Jim has spoken we're here this evening requesting resoning of 970 and 990 um South Road from Office toc2 s is contain of two two separate Parcels uh first parcel will be about 1.3 Acres which is right on a hard Corner um of draer and Le Road and there's a045 Acre Site immediately to the north um that contains 045 Acres so total in sum is 1.76 Acres irregularly shaped um piece of property as Matel pointed out obviously the zoning map of the township speaks of this being currently zoned
039office um as you can see the diagram to the right um depicts uh the red zonations which are the site surrounded by commercial um the intent of the developer um should he be successful with the commercial res zoning would be the construction of a sing single story uh retail building it would combine the two Parcels because obviously they can't be one can be developed without uh the other so we're going to combine them together so we don't have any objection that being completed um as related to Traffic um we took the initiative to have a a preliminary traffic study completed um we went to mot Michigan Department of Transportation and rcoc and ask them for a what we call scop of work they what do you want us to study tell us exactly what you
040want to study and we'll go study and we did study that and obviously the slite is challenging um I an oxra Township resident I've lived here 20 years I've driven through this intersection more than I care i' admit and yes it's challenging site and the results of that study is they are going to limit access on to drain a road to one one connection and then as you could probably imagine if you're thinking that we're going to make a left-and turn or a leftand turn going north out of there or a turn going um into it it's not going to happen that access point onto leir Road will most likely be a right in and a right out for that interception um we have not gone and submitted a plan yet to them but they
041gave us a scope of work the results of the study are we will have to make an improvement on to draa Road we'll have to extend the left turn Lan past St entry point onto draer Road and then there'll be a taper Lan on draer that's what the results in the study are so is it related to the study related to the traffic you know there's going to be improvements there's some signalization um requirements they're talking about some optimization so that will also be included with that I think mat did a really good job going through all the requirements of um the resoning criteria you know site is zoned office has a commercial Bank building onor that's been vacant for many years the sites to the north is probably the last home that's for rent
042and it is currently for rent all the other office uses along there are being homes are our homes are for single single story office put an office there I don't see the new office building being constructed in that location I'm not necessarily sure it's viable um not even before the pandemic I've been doing this for 38 years we are not seeing a lot of speculative type office being developed in Metropolitan Detroit there's a glood of office space available yeah people are coming back to work my own company we have probably 20% of our staff still works robotically so I think there's still going to be somewhat of a hybrid but I don't know if there's really a demand especially an action for a small office on that hard corner so with that I'll be happy
043to answer any questions may have y um the uh the residential lot my res the residential lot um to the west of the development I think you get the general idea the one immediately um kind of surrounded by it um what kind of things can be done to help lessen the impact of this rezone to that residential so you are talking in show that one right there this lot right here yep because just to make sure I'm clear this is the uh you got it so this person here this whoever owns this lot yep is it residential I it's a residentially own line and I just want to make sure that you know we we don't have an impact or we we lessen the impact or maybe even improve would be better yet to um
044to that neighbor I'm sure they don't like to have a vacant Bank next to them um and I just want to make sure we're looking out for our when we do a development like this well your ordinance under the C2 and C1 and C2 um there's a requirement for a 20 foot green Bel buffer so we would be required to have a buffer around the the off Zone parcel to the North and then the single family would also have a 20 foot buffer of screen buffer um as you could imagine this building is going to be parallel and facing leir road because of the geometrics of the property it's not going to it won't fit realistically if you turn and face it on drain a road um so thatly that corner piece um the triangle
045shaped piece will probably be most likely be parking in that area most of the bulk of the parking for this development will Ur occur along theier and portions of during a road okay in the back I would Envision we've like I said we've done a a conceptual plan for it and really the only along that common property line with the residential would essentially just be the drive-through Lane there's just not enough room to put any parking back there it all wants to be on the front should here so I think your ordinance is a pretty good job with the requirements that are there um I know there's screening requirements opacity requirements but the 20ft puffer we can do a lot of a lot of that screening and I know that was a concern if you
046look at um the dispensary it's not open but the dispensary that we had on the old bonic site that was a concern they have they had their own Street wall in there but we all o reinforce that with with Landscaping so there's 20 puffer there do you um what do you envision for the corner and maybe I might be going off a little bit off of the C2 discussion should I Mr chair should I stay no you're good goad I'm thinking about you know this is kind of the gateway to our community and as people are driving up you what do you envision them seeing as they they go up 24 in this direction they'll be you know because of the the OD geometrics of the site I'm envisioning that there's going to be probably
047a very nice green belted area with a sign is my vision for that area excellent thank you and just so that you know the applicant is the they're the leasy of Uncle boas they currently run they run that development they lease that from Jose say they also own uh the gas station in Downtown lake orian with the Dunkin donutes that's there development um they also were're working on Oxford State Bank in front of Myers down in lower Oxford Lake Oran um you're right so they're redeveloping that um they do high quality development this will be very from an architectural standpoint it's going to be very contemporary um but it'll match as far as materiality of what was across the street the Oxford marketplace where the override a is and the Strip Center is so from
048that point they do again really high quality stuff questions maybe this this might be more for a TA would we be able to limit the building on this we If This Were Zone C2 would we be able to limit the building to be a single story building no uh C2 uh height uh is probably I want to say 30t 35t so you could get two stories out of a C2 development there at least two stories okay yeah the issue obviously with the volume right you parking yeah yeah yeah I just thinking about you know there's a lot of single family homes there to the Northwest South well if you want a big hulking building potentially ending up over there it's two stories of 35 ft 35 yeah and again you know the in the construction
049world to build a two story building there's a lot that goes into it a lot more cost we just don't have the square footage to really support that probably Park in the park it I was going to say we park it yeah any more questions the only one that I had and I know traffic keeps coming up but um I'll kind of maybe go added a different direction what do you see and and I know we don't know exactly what's going in there just the C2 building is this something that's going to draw more traffic or is it just mitigating the traffic that's there that might be turning into it because personally I don't see this as oh hey we're going to see another two three four thousand cars a day because of what we
050put there but it's you know making the turn how do we mitigate that do you really see a big increase or change in the traffic because of whatever goes in here I mean usually you'll see an increase in traffic if you have something that's a destination right where people are coming from elsewhere to here um a lot of the traffic that's generated the trips the daily trips on on developments like this is what's called passer by traffic it's people who are already in the network Say Hey I want to go here I want to go do this I don't see think you're going to see a significant increase in traffic generated more trips more people coming into the network because of this and that's what I was thinking but I wanted some clarification thank you
051okay any more questions before we I just have a comment um thanks for the clarification on what's pending to go there something else okay I think we're good we'll uh commissioner baile can I address the podium for a quick second maybe two flip yeah than no I just wanted there were some questions asked I couldn't answer them right here but I can answer them now medical is permitted in office currently and the future land use designation of mixed use contemplates commercial retail um office and residential on the site in kind of any mixture uses okay with that I'll I'll take a motion to open the public hearing motion to open the public hearing second okay we have a motion we have a second any discussion all in favor I any opposed okay public hearing is
052open at 1914 uh we will open up for public testimony um just to kind of go through the rules for anybody that may wish to speak um any members of the public wishing to address the commission during a public hearing give their name address and position on the issue under discussion uh you will have three minutes to uh discuss whatever it is you would like all speakers will direct their questions comments to the chair only uh no person will be permitted to speak twice on the same issue unless everybody wishing to be heard has had a chance to speak uh no person other than the commission member Township consultant or staff will be allowed to be addressed during public hearing so with that I will take any questions from anyone in the public that wishes
053to speak on this okay seeing none I guess we'll take a motion to close public hearing I'll make a motion to close the public hearing second okay we have a motion we have a second any discussion all in favor I any opposed okay the public hearing is closed at 1916 I guess we will start with any last comments from the Consultants or team I have nothing nothing okay um I guess I take it just one last well just we say again a lot of like pre questions uh healthy conversation about what potentially could go there your determination tonight is C2 over office just yeah okay um I guess number seven commissioner uh commission discussion I guess we can open it up any topic any concerns any last questions you like address I have one yes
054sir so in light of Matteo's clarification um I'm going to defer to the Oxford residents uh favoring retail more retail space in the township any discussion I I personally would like to see something go in I agree with with more retail um I know anytime you even mention the word drainer the topic of traffic com comes up um in this case you know at first I was a little concerned um but you know the more I look at it the more I think about it I don't see this as something that's going to be drawing hundreds more cars that we're going to have to deal with it's the ones that might be turning in and out and it'll just take some time to get used to and work with the road commission to to make
055sure that's safe um I won't go into details about how I wish they would turn that into a roundabout I I'm in the minority in Oxford but I will leave that one alone but this is a a point in time and if we change the zoning it opens the door to get the road commission and the state of Michigan to maybe look at the intersection and maybe do some things to try to help and improve it I agree if we don't do anything zoning wise we get what we've always got so this is a roundabout way of getting them to wow good I I would make a motion if I could just keep have been conversation around that topic yeah good one keep the B jokes going hey I don't have good jokes I just
056got a lot of okay any last questions any topics I'll comment that i' would like to see something else go into that space as well as an Oxford Township resident I drive through that intersection wondering when we're going to do something with that vacant property especially as uh don pointed out that it's the Gateway into our community and having a vacant property there isn't isn't great and with the right across the street that's now vacant this is welcome I just want to thank them for actually being proactive and doing study for the entrance way so we know a little bit more because that really helped my decision thank you all right I guess with that I'll entertain a motion to approve or deny the uh topic recommend to the Township Board to recommend to the
057township yep Mr chair I'd like to make a recommendation now or move to recommend approval of the zoning request 790 and 990 South Le Road partial numbers 353 028 and 04 26353 029 from Office District to C2 community business district based on the findings of fact outlined in section 18.6 of the zoning ordinance set the discussion of the Planning Commission on on the record which confirm that the request meets the eligibility requirements for resing I'll second okay we have a motion we have a second any last discussions okay can we get a roll call vote please blank ship yes dur yes Turner yes Wagner yes Austin yes BLK yes Bailey yes okay motion carries to recommend to the Township board thank you very much thank you sir thank you thank you okay we will move
058on to 9B zoning ordinance text amendments to update article two with definitions relating to domestic pets and farm animals deleted definitions include exotic and wild animal item two Tic or I'm sorry article two a definition to comply with the child care licensing act Amendments of 2022 amended definitions include child Family Daycare home and child group daycare home added definitions include private home and increased capacity and article three to make automobile convenience Mars Mars special land use in the i1 light industrial and I2 General industrial Zone districts it's all you sir okay so the second item we have uh for tonight and another public hearing uh schedule is for the text amendments proposed uh this evening and in front of you that are animal definitions and the child care uh language are kind of carryovers from
059the orc last year um the animal definitions uh I believe was born out of just a better a better way in which code enforcement can code enforcement and the Township in general can can categorize animals and make decisions accordingly as it relates to there there certain that are permitted in the larger residential districts there's some that are not been in the smaller de uh districts this was before my time on the ORS see uh so I might lean on Mr Turner if there are questions uh but animal definitions uh was was meant for clarification on that um the child daycare facilities language uh that was basically a reaction to the updating on the state law of the state has regulations um that supersede local control over certain uses as it relates to home dayc carees
060and things of that nature they updated the law so what we're doing this evening with the language in front of you is just coming into conformance with what the state has said and then the final one is um allowing or making convenience autoc convenience Mars special land uses in your industrial districts your industrial districts currently allow for gas stations but not the convenient marks that are associated with them the language is a little dated from the perspective that all gas stations nowadays are also convenience Mars um and so the thought process there was to kind of clean up the ordinance and just make it more more common sense for today's market um so with that I'm happy to entertain any questions you may have about the three text amendments in Fray this evening any questions
061I know we've talked about this quite a bit during orc meetings except today when I was that's why we approved it today yeah okay part of these are really updates uh the other thing is uh the definition of animals or pets versus Farm livestock has changed somewhat in the area and so we tried to bring that up today things that make sense you know there are in the township people that have po belly pigs just use the word Pig are you talking about a billy pig or you talking about 400 pound pig so we we had tried to update things to make them more hurt with what we see is going on in the country and also there was some discussion about horses and wonder what was there could be Mis interpret that you could
062keep a horse in your house and uh well I keep mining my eyes but so we triy to change that wording and make it more make it clearer easier thank you any questions I were there any gas stations at all with in Oxford that do not have a market still attached to them I guess the except that you want to Def find market I would say probably not I think most of you do that there's one in Lake Oran uh haded Northbound on 24 that is like the old school like the guy the the the owner of the business or the the employee there literally sits in a bubble with like their little speaker then they can talk to you through Myers something gas Yeah just something gas that's an that's what would be permitted
063in your industrial districts right now but gas stations aren't built like that anymore so is one on Myers or the Myers one is that out of compliance the one at Meer yeah that is a conven smart Associated it does is it it Zone i1 I2 no no that's a commercial District okay so what's allowed under that so the gas station allowed under that correct like the auto so they're they're two separate things ironically they're kind of the same but yes they areed under that we speciales all right and then to approve these we have to go through a public hearing as well correct okay all right so we will go through the same steps uh we just saw the presentation by the petitioner um so I will take a motion to open public hearing on
064this motion to open public hearing a second we have a motion we have a second any discussion all in favor I any opposed okay we will open the public hearing at 1928 anybody wishing to speak from the public seeing none I guess we will take a motion to close the public hearing motion to close public hearing second all in favor any opposed okay we will close the public hearing at 1928 um any last comment from the township consultants and Team all right we'll move on to commissioner discussions any questions things you want to bring up on the wording of those anything you agree with don't agree with I have a good question sure what do we Define playful personalities and the domestic pets definition I I actually it's funny because I recall the coment meeting
065I can't again that was before my time but I do recall that coming up one we Mr attorne do you recall the conversation about playful the use of that terminology in the in the ordinance I mean vers play I guess I just ask because it's an ordinance right so what seems it to not be a place personality become somewhat lawyer I think some of that was wording that we took verbatim from the state okay as it relates to MCL 287 291 yeah yeah that could be my apologies I'll stop my head I can't state for sure that that's what it is but it does reference the the Michigan code there so it's a Michigan definition it's not something we threw in I can't definitely say yes or no but that that seems appropriate given that
066it's cited to me in I don't see that I just object a little because it says a service animal pursuance MCL 287 oh the I don't think that that's in necessarily Michigan particular yeah so I just you know if we don't know that I just I don't want to leave us open to interpretation from an ordinance standpoint right um if you have a pet and you get into a situation a neighbor or something and playful personality comes up that just seems a little ambiguous to me and your your actions this evening can be to to to table specific language and ask that it be brought back with certain revisions so it's not a it's not a take it or leave it if you if you table it because you'd like to see tweaks in the
067language here there we can work on that and bring it back to it another public hearing um you know you can recommend denial you can table and have it come back to you or you can recommend approval because the Township Board is the official approving body for any text amendments could we recommend approval of text evit with the condition yeah yeah if it was if it was the condition that that that those words be removed specifically then yes we could make that change and send it out to the board speed up the process okay any last questions or I guess I have one more sure so um the the language around the it auto marks right that's going to help in case a new gas station with Convenience Center attach this this update will help
068move that along a little quicker it'll allow it in your industrial districts um we have fielded interest in those areas for this type of use um and youring ordinance as it is would permit the station under special land you so again still got to go through kind of a subjective review by the Planning Commission um but it would add the auto Auto convenience Mark to that special Landings consideration okay would that apply to the vacant gas station and drainer 24 as well is that zone that's C2 that's C2 yeah okay okay that's all I have thank you sure okay I guess if there's no more discussion we'll uh entertain a motion all right take a cut at it I see everyone else is just chopping up a bit all right so motion to approve the
069zoning ordinance text amendments to update including article two with definitions related to domestic pets form animals deleted definitions including exotic or wild with the condition that the playful personalities text is removed and it's a it's a it's a recommendation to approve recommendation to approve okay and then recommendation also to approve the article two with definitions to comply child care licensing act amendments amended definitions include child Family Daycare home child grou daycare home added definitions include private home increase capacity and then the updates to article three to make Automotive convenience Mar special land uses in the i1 light Industrial in I2 General I second okay we have a motion we have a second any discussion no can we get a roll call vote on that one as well Bailey yes BLK yes Austin yes Wagner yes
070Turner yes dur yes lincol sh yes okay motion carries okay we will move on to 9C the added uh topic appointment of Patty dur to the orc now this isn't anything that requires a vote it's just an appointment correct um you'll still need to vote on it correct okay and you're still after today's me willing to go through that torture okay with that I will take a motion to appoint Patty dur to the ordinance Review Committee motion to appoint Patty D to the ordinance Review Committee second we have a motion we have a second any discussion yes what do we do about you do we make you an alternate now I am still the alternate and I can only be there when one of you is not which like today I didn't come because that
071would put four of us in the building that's a a quum so yes I will is alternate okay so I get time and a half when one of he doesn't show up I guess yes at least deduction yeah okay uh roll call vote on that please L yes dur yes Turner yes Wagner yes Austin yes BLK yes Bailey yes congratulations well thank you okay any unfinished business we have none uh new business none um any communication or committee reports uh what about the economic development we don't have anything going there um ordinance review uh update on your meeting today so let's have a update so last night to the Township Board we provided the or orc ordinance work plan and and motion was made at that point to fund the work plan now there was
072quite a bit of discussion on the proposed ordinances and the board had quite a number of issues with with several of those items including but but not exclusively but Woodlands traffic The Woodlands ordinance the traffic impact and environmental impact ordinances just to name a few um it was concern that some of the ordinances really only impact a few they weren't Broad in nature from a community standpoint they really want us to look at more impactful CommunityWide issues they want to make things easier not harder um as a result the the motion made to fund the ordinance failed and so we've gone back and we started today to look at revising that ordinance work plan to something that's a little bit more palatable and something that we can accomplish this year with approval from the Township
073Board okay any update on the plan or is that something you're still working on something we we started to work on today okay and we have some ideas and got some actions go look at a couple items and and we we'll pull together the big impact will come once we've got approval for the new Master Plan okay because that will drive work in the area of devising ordinances so that will fill parts of the workload in that we don't know what they are today does any of that affect what we've already done and are close to being finished with the master plan no okay Mr chair did you have a question yeah I just wanted to make a comment this is um ordinance review board discussion is that right I was passionate about a few
074months ago about the The Woodlands discussion and I'm pulling a comment out of the 2019 master plan about preserving existing tree roads and Woodlands wherever possible possibly through an amendment to the zoning ordinance including tree protection and replacement standards so I only want to mention that because we've come across a few developments lately where the developer basically had to a clearcut and some of the existing homes we're looking at basically completely devastated areas you know I maybe Devastation is a bad word to use if you know what I mean but some of the some of the people from the community that were here um T use words like war zone and um I'm hoping that not to over complicate or make things more difficult through getting to development going but that we can um that
075development can look at the existing people around them and take in consideration what they would be experiencing as that development happens and this tree exist preserving existing tree roads I think is potentially an opportunity to help um with that without um making those neighbors that are right adjacent to those new developments upset so I I hope that there's some opportunity maybe to still do something so I think there may be potentially some opportunity but I think that's after approval of the uh the master plan and when we start looking at putting ordinances to that there may be some opportunity to to do what's some what you're suggesting for example okay thank you by itself it was a non with the the board yeah I understand that in the past it's it's it's a complicated thing
076to to implement and I know it's a difficult discussion I think it's been discussed for some time this is from 2019 yeah you know note um that was put in there some time ago but it really resonated with me once I read this and then as we've had some developments come our way over the years um or yeah recent years um for a year and a half but uh anyway I just would U yeah look forward to seeing something that do for our community to help preserve existing free roads as development happen around those and that opportunity May manifest itself within within the design guidelines themselves so there may be when when you need start looking at what organizm it takes to implement those buers and things things like that it it may fit into
077that something like that thank you thank you Mr chair okay anything else I'd like to I'd like to second that com just because I come from a community that the tree was literally on the sign for the township that I came from I cut all the trees down in the township as well so there was a lot of consternation in the community about taking that tree off the sign because it was more of like a a show we're upset took all our trees take off the sign kind of thing so um I think as we as we work through development in the township which I think is welcome to grow our community and make it better for the residents that are here but preserving some of the natural of Northern open County would be advantageous
078so I just wanted to add that comment thank you thank you okay we'll move on to 13 uh planner and engineer reports you do know he runs these meeting I was gonna say kind I'm figuring that out uh again in your packet you should have a list of uh Township Municipal projects and the status of some of the private development projects that you guys have approved orone going through the pipeline just here to answer any questions on that if you have any any question I appreciate you putting the that in the packet that does help having that read ahead of time yeah I keep you updated on again what's what's happening and or some of the things that you've approved even to see where their Acts just a roundabout way to get me up here
079like how you're thinking uh so for us um you all have in front of you a printed copy of the master plan with updates from the meeting from two weeks ago um I know that there were still there's still a handful of uh comments out there that I've collected this evening from a few of you so the goal is to have this on the agenda for the 27th uh to have you vote to send it to the Township Board um again the last few uh comments that we've received we'll do our best to get them in there um make those adjustments uh make those adjustments you know present to you at the 27th meeting uh also at the 27th we're planning a uh an annual Planning Commission training session so my firm and the Township's
080legal um legal council will be here with some presentations that kind of walk you through like the general ins and outs of being a planning commissioner your authorities your actions how to make motions all that fun stuff um I did want to try to gauge uh there's been some comments about you know spring break and things like that I want to make sure that we would have an appropriate quum to take the step with the master plan I know commissioner Austin you've said that you will not be here on the 27th okay are there any of the Commissioners aware of any potential attendance conflicts again life happens but just trying to make sure we have an appropriate quum for you to make a recommendation and it could be approval or denial of the master plan
081draft that's been worked on over the last year and a half year and a half and you know and I'm I'm not opposed to canceling these uh spring break things uh only because we're going the 29th okay so you'll be here I'll be here for the 27th and you know I think you know everybody should make a priority and to provide provide some context of how that would go is if if you do vote to send it to the Township Board they'll see it in April um that is kind of a a a goal that the Township board has set to see this in April um so if if if we are able to take our vote on the 27th that will not happen um but Township Board sees it if they vote to then
082distributed to the neighboring communities the state law states of the Township Board of the approving Authority at that time votes to have it distributed to your neighboring communities uh utilities railroads a lot of different parties and then they have the ability to comment it for 63 days so your kind it's kind of a waiting period for 63 days after the 63 days the Planning Commission can then hold a public hearing uh if they choose if you get comments back from the neighboring communities that you want to take into consideration they can kind of go back to the drafting board and get Incorporated if not then the Planning Commission would hold a public hearing after the 63 days days taking any last public comments and then make a final recommendation to the board which would then
083vote to adopt um or reject the master plan so if everything moves kind of next meeting to next meeting to next meeting you're probably looking at adoption in July or August okay so so I think the message there is I mean obviously not have to sway anybody one way or the other but between now and the 27th I mean spend some time looking through this um any that you want to pass on to Mato you know get it to him as early as possible so that you know on the 27th we're we're ready to move forward uh if everything's been answered and everything's acceptable except you yeah absolutely uh I did I did quite a few changes but don't take that you don't have to change that that was just my recommendation so no no
084no I mean it's Megan's been working on a lot she's kind of been the heavy lift behind me on that project so if there's any kind of if there's if we need any clarifications on what you proposed just to make sure we understand we find so can you kind of just address I guess my concern is I want to move this along on the 27th as much as everybody else does so in order to do that um with the understanding that the commission here will get the changes in quickly to you guys so that maybe we can get a turnaround so we won't have a meeting before then to be able to have everybody review it one last time once the final draft is ready to go and then that way if there's any objection
085anything that's been put in there because I noticed that every time something gets added or wording and you know there seems to be a lot of conversation around that right so I just don't want to get to the 27th and somebody comes to the to the meeting and says I haven't seen this yet or or whatever right there's some late ads and now we're not able to vote on it to recommend it to the Township board so I just can you just address how we can maybe do that so that we can get it done in time it beforehand so we have to have the board packets finalized the Thursday before the meeting so in essence the packet for two weeks from now will go out next Thursday um I know that there's again some
086potential for some last minute tweaks here and there I believe what we can I will talk with um Megan about it and I can follow up an email as well to best answer your question how we can do that um if it's possible we could we could present whatever last minute edits go in as a red line to the full document that you have and you're able to kind of see what those are and if they're if those will label them as minor tweaks are acceptable then you know you can vote on the red line as the draft that you want to send to the Township Board and we can clean it up between now and then or if those red Lin are spark enough conversation that bring you concern you don't have to vote
087to send it to the to the Township board on the 27th yeah like I said I'm just trying to avoid that due to that particular reason right so I don't know if it's something that when these uh comments are being made that everybody can be emailed on them so if there's any objection and way way people can ask questions or get clarification whatever because as current right I don't know that everybody on the commission has seen the additions that have been sent to you other than we got the the new copy tonight right so we had to wait until tonight to get that I'm just trying to avoid that for the next meeting right so if it's possible to get you know in time enough that there'll be more or less agreement on The Language
088by the time we get to that meeting seems how we're trying to create a deadline here to get this completed right so let's do this because I don't want to get I don't want to get ahead of offering multiple copies well I want I want to offer something I can't deliver I'll leave it at this for now if if there are we've collected your comments Don I think you were trying to put some correct yeah I just have a few things I want to make sure when I say make sure it's my recommendation to add that's all and I know that the memo that was included in the uh pack or with the print and copy highlights what we were able to get to and we're still updating um I'll offer up tonight that if
089if I have every last comment that you'd like to provide by newon Monday that we can turn that around to be in the packet that you received the week before the 27th and then you you've got it all in front of you in time to prep for the meeting um if there's an issue with meeting that turnaround I will follow up with an email tomorrow and one thing was that am I addressing the concern that you're having yeah you're definitely addressing it I just hopeful that it'll it'll prevent the lack of being able to vote sure and one thing that I will say is if you have questions when Mato sends the the packet out if you have something or questions you want to address reply to him don't hit reply all because technically that
090becomes a meeting it's an open meetings act violation um you can copy me on but the minute that more than three people are on that email it's a quorum it's a violation so if you want to copy me on and send questions to Mato back and forth that's fine just don't hit reply all my apologies that's a fair clarification good to know thank you you had one yeah thank you you're clarified and I was going to try to build off a Mark I could have if I have comments could I take those comments maybe reference the section I'd like to see them potentially put in at Journey at Matteo and then by Monday newon right okay just make sure it's not a reply at all yep thank you and that goes for text messages or
091anything and again I have a meeting tomorrow with the folks working on this if what I've offered up this evening is not feasible I will communicate tomorrow thank you thank you appreciate it yeah anything else all right with that I'll take a motion for adjournment motion to adjourn second all in favor we are adjourned