Another salvo was fired last week in the battle over downtown Oxford’s northeast parking lot.
Armed with an opinion from its attorney, the village had its DPW workers Friday morning move the rusted metal barrels, strung with yellow caution tape, that had been used to cordon off the two parcels owned by Knauf Family Properties, LLC.
‘I did tell the DPW, based on the attorney’s comment, that they could be cleared out of there,? said Manager Joe Young.
‘They haven’t received any site plan approval to cordon that area off,? said village attorney Bob Davis.
Purchased by the Knaufs in April, the parcels contain more than 50 parking spaces, a thru-way that allows vehicles to travel between the lot’s north and south ends, a loading zone and portions of the sidewalk behind some businesses in the northeast quadrant.
The Knaufs closed all their property from Aug. 4-6, but then agreed to reopen a portion of the loading area and some parking, including handicapped spaces, on Monday, Aug. 7.
As a result of the DPW’s moving of the barrels Friday morning, the property essentially became open to the public again.
‘Every space in the parking lot was full when I went through,? said local attorney Lee Knauf, who’s acting as spokesperson for his family. ‘It’s totally open now and that wasn’t the deal.?
Davis said the Knaufs have two options and neither involves using barrels and tape ? 1) apply for a permit and submit a site plan to erect a fence around it or 2) submit a site plan to make the area pay-to-park and follow-up on it.
Knauf previously indicated it’s his family’s intention to turn the larger parcel into a pay-to-park facility and construct a commercial building on the smaller one, which contains the loading zone and sidewalk area.
‘If they want to do (pay) parking, then apply for parking,? Davis said. ‘If they want to put up a fence, apply for a fence. If they want to use their property in some other manner, apply to use the property in some other manner.?
‘Let’s treat it like any other development.?
‘This is an exercise to let everybody know it’s his property, right?? said Davis, referring to the barrels and tape. ‘So, if it’s your property, then do the right thing with it . . . Whatever he plans to do, he needs to go through the regular process.?
Given the warning sticker found on one of the barrels the Knaufs used to cordon off their property (see photo on Page 4), Davis said there were some environmental and safety concerns as well.
Th sticker read, ‘Attention!! this container hazardous when empty.? It also read, ‘Empty containers may contain explosive vapors or dangerous residues? and ‘Do not reuse ‘EMPTY? container without commercial cleaning or reconditioning.?
‘We don’t even know where the barrels are from,? Davis said. ‘I don’t know if it rains, if they’re going to leak out oil and other contaminants. And it’s just unsightly.?
But Knauf said the barrels were no threat.
‘They’re just empty barrels,? he said. ‘They’ve all been cleaned and they’re ready for disposal. There’s nothing wrong with them.?
When asked what they used to contain, Knauf replied, ‘I have no idea what was in them.?
A northeast quadrant business owner lodged a complaint about the barrels with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
‘We had our environmental people talk to the DEQ this morning (Friday) and get that squared away,? Knauf said.
Barrels aside, Knauf is concerned and upset that the village police apparently won’t do anything to secure his property against trespassers.
‘They’re not enforcing any laws concerning trespassing,? he said. ‘It doesn’t seem to be a concern to the police.?
‘It’s obvious the police are doing the village’s bidding,? according to Knauf. ‘I wanted the police to go over there and get rid of the trespassers off our property. The police told me I had to talk to the village manager and I told the police I’d like to talk to them.?
‘But after I waited for 40 minutes to talk to an officer (on Friday), I left because it was obvious to me I wasn’t going to talk to anybody.?
‘They couldn’t get to him because they had so many calls backed up and he left after 20 minutes,? claimed Manager Young, who said that’s what he was told by village dispatch.
Young said the police can’t get rid of trespassers for the Knaufs because their property is ‘not posted? nor is it ‘clearly marked.? The manager also noted that the ‘police have other priorities.?
Knauf said it appears his family has two options at the moment. One is to ‘just continue to let people be on our property because they want to and the village and the police won’t do anything about it.?
The other ‘would be a self-help-type of remedy, but I suspect the police won’t do anything with the trespassers on the property,? Knauf said. ‘I got a feeling if we try to secure the property, they’ll probably arrest us.?
‘It’s just very aggravating to me.?