It looks like there will be no re-creation of the historic Oakland hotel in downtown Oxford after all.
The Oxford Village Planning Commission May 15 voted 8-0 to deny extension of site plan approval for the three-story, 21,000-square-foot commercial building developer Charles Schneider had planned to construct in downtown’s northwest quadrant between the Healthy Smile Center and Sisters? Hair Care.
‘I’m not in favor of any extensions,? said Commissioner Jeff Ziegelbaur. ‘Too many things have the potential to change.?
A few weeks ago, an angry and frustrated Schneider, who did not attend last week’s planning commission meeting, put his property up for sale after the planning commission failed to approve an extension following three tie votes April 17.
Officials decided to table the issue until last week.
Schneider was planning to build an architectural re-creation of The Oakland, a grand hotel that stood downtown from January 1889 until May 1971.
Time appeared to be the main reason behind the planning commission’s unanimous denial of the extension ? time elapsed since the project’s site plan was originally approved in January 2005 and time until it would be constructed if granted a one-year extension as requested by Schneider.
If approved, it would have been the developer’s second one-year extension on the project.
‘If we book our decision on a 12-month project and then are subject to an extension for another 12 months, that’s a whole different lifetime in terms of the market and in turns of the dynamics of the community,? noted Commissioner Paul Cervenak.
Some commissioners were concerned about that fact that only four of the board’s eight members were serving at the time of the project’s approval two years ago.
‘This board has people on it today that did not sit on the site plan review,? said Commissioner John DuVal, noting those members have ‘no memory? of any ‘conversations, discussions or reasoning? as to what was agreed upon and why.
‘It isn’t fair to a future planning commission board to tie them to a site plan that they had no firsthand involvement in,? he added.
One such commissioner was Teri Stiles.
‘I have no idea what Mr. Schneider’s plans entail,? she said. ‘I have never seen them.?
‘I don’t think it’s right for people that are new to this planning commission to blindly accept something a year or two years after somebody else has,? noted Ziegelbaur.
DuVal was concerned what kind of problems could arise during the building’s construction should a second extension be granted.
He noted that recent buildings that have begun construction immediately after site plan approval have been fraught with problems.
‘We’ve had two significant (developments) that have gone up in the last 18 months,? he said, referring to the Centennial Commerce Center and Broadway Plaza. ‘Those went up immediately upon approval of the site plan. Both those came littered with many, many, many major issues, at least in my mind . . .We have had a real problem with what is going up versus what was on that site plan.?
To take Schneider’s project and ‘stretch it out three years from where that site plan was seen until ground is broken? could lead to more problems in DuVal’s opinion.
Commissioner Sue Bossardet, who also serves on the Downtown Development Authority board, said both the planning commission and the DDA ‘need to take another look at (the site plan) rather than extending it.?
‘The dynamics are changing downtown,? she noted.
Based on ‘very preliminary? findings, Bossardet said the DDA’s market study is ‘not going to indicate that we need more office space, which is what (Schneider) is proposing there.?