A proposed shopping center just north of the village could bring a Kohl’s department store to Oxford and another traffic signal on M-24.
Preliminary plans for the ‘Oxford North Shopping Center? were brought before the township planning commission last week by Joseph Kosik, Jr., of the Bloomfield Hills-based JFK Investment Company.
A public hearing to discuss the proposed plan was set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 8.
An oddly-shaped, nondescript 24.94-acre site on the east side of M-24 ? just south of E. Market St. and just north of the village limits ? is where Kosik wants to build a shopping center containing eight retail buildings totalling 183,792 square feet.
On the northern end, the center would be anchored by a 24,727-square-foot Tractor Supply Co. with an adjoining 20,000-square-foot sideyard.
The center’s southern end would be anchored by a 96,333-square-foot Kohl’s department store.
Commissioner George Black was not pleased with the proposed architectural design of the Kohl’s.
‘The print you gave us is a duplicate of the Kohl’s that’s sitting in Lapeer now,? he said. ‘Kohl’s has got a very nice building up there in Lapeer, but it’s not Oxford.?
Black said the Lapeer Kohl’s is ‘kind of blank? with just plain walls on both sides the entrance.
Because the planning commission is trying to continue that ‘village character? along M-24 as drivers exit the downtown area, Black said Kohl’s ‘is going to have to be creative? like Meijer was with its village facade.
‘I think if we’re going to have a Kohl’s, we’re going to want a Kohl’s that’s absolutely unique,? he said. ‘This is not just put it up, slam dunk. It’s not going to work with us, I don’t believe … We’re trying to be a little more unique.?
Resident Cecelia Hosner doesn’t mind if a Kohl’s is built, but since it will abut Harriet Street (her street) to the south, she made a few requests of the planning commission on her neighborhood’s behalf.
She told officials the residents of Harriet Street ‘want an eight-foot concrete wall? separating their neighborhood from the Kohl’s along with a ‘zigzag? pattern of trees ‘on our side of the wall.?
‘Let them look at the brick wall. We’ll look at the trees,? Hosner said. ‘We’re not talking about trees that are three-feet tall. I would be dead by the time they got tall enough to do any good. We want them to start out at 10 feet.?
She explained why Harriet Street residents want this buffer. ‘We don’t want the noise. We don’t want to look at their garbage. We don’t want to look at their business and we don’t want to look at their parking lot.?
Hosner explained she and her neighbors also don’t want people ‘who don’t have any business there? walking onto Harriet Street from the shopping center. ‘We don’t want strangers in our neighborhood,? she said.
‘If some wall needs to be incorporated, that’s not a problem, if that is the recommendation of this planning commission,? Kosik said.
Planning commissioners weren’t thrilled with the fact the proposed plan shows the Kohl’s set way back off M-24 with a huge parking lot in front of it.
Commissioner Tom Berger referred to this as a ‘sea of asphalt.? The board previously told Kosik they wanted to see the buildings form more of a ‘streetscape? and be closer to M-24.
But Kosik said he couldn’t sell that idea to Kohl’s.
‘They feel to do the streetscape type ? where you bring the roads up and try to put the parking in the back ? they said that only works in a much higher density environment than you have here (and) works best in a much larger type of development,? Kosik explained.
‘If this property was 50-70 acres in size, where you could truly create that center feel with the buildings around the perimeter, yes they would be more amenable to doing that,? he told officials.
Originally, Kosik’s shopping center called for three entrance/exit points along M-24, but that was scaled back to two ? a main one in the middle and a second at the north end. In front of the main access point, Kosik has proposed, based on an extensive traffic study he conducted, placing a traffic signal to regulate the flow of northbound and southbound M-24.
‘Our study shows and what we feel we will sell to MDOT is that (a) traffic light will better enhance the entire system as you leave Oxford and are heading out to the Ray Road intersection,? he said.
This proposed signal would be located south of the new traffic light at E. Market Street and existing one at Ray Road. It’s in front of Kosik’s property that the speed limit on M-24 begins its drastic change from 55 miles per hour in the township to 25 miles per hour in the village.
Drivers speed up or slow down depending whether they’re heading north or south.
‘Our third light (working in conjunction with the other two) can blend and break up the traffic throughout that entire stretch and do a much more efficient job,? Kosik said. ‘This plan does improve the traffic situation that’s currently out there.?
However, any new traffic signal on M-24 requires the state’s approval and Kosik admitted, ‘I have no idea what MDOT’s going to do.?
‘I’m not enamored with another traffic light now that we have a traffic light at Market Street and Ray Road,? noted Commissioner Black.
‘When I first started this project, I had no intent of putting a traffic light in there,? Kosik explained. ‘God knows I don’t want to pay for a light, but I’m going to have to for this development.?
‘We have done one of the largest traffic studies I’ve ever done for a development in the state of Michigan,? he said. ‘The study showed that another light coordinated with those other two will create the most efficient flow of traffic.?
Black also expressed his displeasure at Kosik’s proposal to close the M-24 turnaround which allows northbound motorists direct access to the parking lot at Kalloway’s Restaurant and Pub. He noted Kalloway’s owner Gary Lepak ‘fought very hard? to keep that open when the median was reconstructed last year.