Oxford got one step closer last week to having a Kohl’s department store move into the township.
‘I feel we’ve presented a quality project for this community,? said Joseph Kosik, Jr., of the Bloomfield Hills-based JFK Investment Company. ‘We want to build something that we’re proud of.?
Planning commissioners last week voted 5-2 to recommend to the township board preliminary approval of Planned Unit Development site plan for the Oxford North Shopping Center.
‘This is conceptual. There’s nothing etched in stone,? said Commissioner Todd Bell.
‘This is really the first step of three more steps,? noted Commissioner Jack Curtis.
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 retail 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.
‘Kohl’s is a top quality tenant to have in your community,? Kosik said. ‘There’s a lot of retail out there that’s not of their caliber that I don’t think you want in the community.?
Not everyone agreed.
‘The best thing you could do is take this project and scrap it,? said resident Jim Graves, of Lincoln Street. ‘The way my house is, when I look out my window, I can take a rock and hit the Kohl’s ? no problem at all. That’s how close it is.?
‘Is this community going to be able to support all of this?? asked resident Cecelia Hosner, of Harriet Street. ‘I still don’t understand why we have to have a Kohl’s every 14 miles neither does anyone else that I know.?
Several residents of Harriet and Lincoln streets, which border the proposed shopping center to the south, attended the meeting to listen to the proposed plans, ask questions and give their input.
Preliminary plans call for the residential area to be buffered from the development by a boulder wall facing the neighborhood and pine trees facing the shopping center.
‘Sorry, we want the trees on our side,? Hosner said. ‘We don’t want to look at a wall . . .You can have the wall on your side.?
Hosner noted the residents also want to see ‘tall trees? planted atop a berm.
‘Not short trees, because I don’t want to be dead by the time they’re full grown,? she said.
‘We’re always willing to work with municipalities to do a little bit more to buffer between our store and residential (areas),? said Brian Tobiczyk, a representative from Kohl’s.
When ‘backing up to residential? areas, Tobiczyk said Kohl’s strives to have a ‘low impact? on neighborhoods and uses landscaping to ‘mitigate? residents? view of its stores
‘My hope is nobody’s actually going to see it,? he said.
Some commissioners expressed their desire to ensure there’s adequate buffering between the shopping center and residential streets.
‘When you look at a Kohl’s store on the end, it’s just a blob, it’s just a wall,? said Commissioner Tom Berger. ‘It doesn’t look pretty. It doesn’t look anything; I don’t want (the homeowners) to see it.?
Berger noted he’s opposed to Kosik building a boulder wall as a buffer because they don’t require an engineered design so there’s ‘nothing that says it won’t fail? structurally. ‘I won’t even approve that,? he said.
Commissioner Bell expressed his concerns that the proposed parking lot lighting near the residential development is brighter than allowed by township ordinance.
Kosik told the commission he would do his best to work on the lighting issue and adjust things, but ‘you’re ordinance has created a bit of impossibility for anybody that’s next to residential.?
Several commissioners also expressed concern over the fact that Kosik hasn’t obtained any approval or direction from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) regarding the proposed locations of the center’s two entrance/exit points and possible improvements to M-24 such as a traffic signal in front of the main entrance to his center.
MDOT’s input and blessing is required for this project to move forward.
‘I’m at their mercy as we all are,? Kosik said.
The developer noted he’s asked MDOT ‘point-blank many times? what does the state want him ‘to do out there so I can plan accordingly? and they ‘can’t tell? him until his traffic study is done the way they want it.
Kosik noted his traffic study is already ‘approximately 3 inches thick and getting thicker.?
Commissioner Black noted that if MDOT decides to move all the entrance/exit points to the southern end of the site or limits the center to just one, instead of two, ‘you’re entire site plan changes . . . every building in it, every entrance, all the parking.?
‘That’s my biggest hang-up,? Black said.
Although he didn’t obtain anything in writing, Kosik said when he spoke with MDOT, it was indicated to him that the entrance/exit point will ‘probably and substantially? stay where they are on the plan ‘no matter what we do to M-24.?
As for the possibility of MDOT moving them to the south where the right-of-way narrows, Kosik said, ‘It’s just not going to happen.?