By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com

Plans for a proposed apartment complex in Green Oak Township are again on hold as developers continue to try and bridge the gap to what officials find acceptable.

Howard Fingeroot, President of Vector Development, was again before the Green Oak Planning Commission with a conditional rezoning request for The Parc at Green Oak. The Parc would be located on 20 acres off of Maltby Road near the cemetery and existing garden center. Current plans call for 23 two-story buildings with 230 total units. Fingeroot had originally requested a planned unit development and then straight rezoning.

The property is currently zoned as Research Office. Fingeroot offered 8 conditions for conditional rezoning to Residential Multi-family (RM). With conditional rezoning, only the developer can offer conditions, they cannot, by law, come from the municipality. Of the conditions given were the number of buildings and units being no more than 23 and 230; the inclusion of a club house that could be used as a voting location; a connection to public water and sewer; 3 public parking spaces will be provided for the adjacent cemetery; all RM zoning requirements will be met; trees used as landscape buffer will be upsized if the parcel is designated as “woodlands” on the township’s natural features map; and it will be developed in accordance to their site plan submitted in October.

During a previous meeting, neighboring residents were concerned about what an apartment complex would do to property values. Commissioner Lary Marshall said he did some research, and is considering it “a wash” Marshall said of 14 studies he found, 6 showed a decrease in property values near a new apartment development, 5 showed an increase in values, and 3 showed no change.

Commissioner Keith Lee questioned the amount of available parking- a concern that was echoed by several of his peers on the board. Each unit will have a one-car garage and additional parking space. Project Manager Nikki Jeffries said they are at 2.6 spaces per unit, with only 2 being required by ordinance. Planning Commissioners weren’t convinced this was enough though if a family had two parents with vehicles and a child of driving age. The small size of the proposed garages also came into question with regards to how garbage disposal will be handled in the development. With only one dumpster on the provided plan, it was assumed that curb carts would be needed and that the size of the garages would be a big challenge in storing those carts in addition to bikes or other storage.

Facing a third postponement, Fingeroot asked if would be possible to meet with a subcommittee to work out how they might better come together to make this project a reality. The Planning Commission did vote to postpone until they could meet like that or the plans were resubmitted.