Two recommended appointments to the Oxford Township Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) were left up in the air at the Jan. 28 township board meeting.
Supervisor Bill Dunn’s recommendation to appoint resident Thomas Berger to the planning commission was tabled while his recommendation to appoint resident James Butler to the ZBA was defeated in a 2-2 deadlock.
Berger’s appointment was tabled because officials were unsure which planning commission seat Dunn meant the Coryell Road resident to fill. The supervisor was absent from the meeting as he was attending the Michigan Townships Association convention in Lansing.
There are currently two planning commission seats with expired terms, one held by George Black and the other held by Dan Clark.
The supervisor chose not to recommend Clark for reappointment and his two attempts to reappoint Black have been defeated by 3-2 and 3-3 votes of the township board.
Dunn said he will bring the issue of Black’s appointment back to the board until he either gets four ‘yes’ or four ‘no’ votes.
Treasurer Joe Ferrari said Dunn told him verbally that he meant Berger to fill Clark’s seat, however, the supervisor failed to put his intent in writing, which left officials unsure and unwilling to vote on it that night.
Dunn told this reporter on Feb. 3 that he does intend for Berger to fill Clark’s seat and did tell Ferrari that.
Based on Berger’s more than 13 years experience as the Building Official for Orion Township, Trustee Shirley Clancy said, “I think he’d be an outstanding planning commissioner.”
A total of three residents applied for the planning commission, the other two being Christopher Bishop and Jack Curtis.
Butler’s appointment to the ZBA failed in a 2-2 deadlock because the gentleman resides in Waterstone.
Trustee Charles Kniffen and Clerk Clara Sanderson noted if Butler was appointed, there would be two Waterstone residents sitting on the ZBA. Current ZBA member Dan Myrick lives in Waterstone.
Kniffen said it’s “not advisable” to have two ZBA members from Waterstone because the development has resulted in a “lot of problems” for the township.
Sanderson was concerned about keeping the membership makeup of the ZBA representative of the township as a whole.
The township Zoning Act states, “The members selected (for the ZBA) shall be representative of the population distribution and of the various interests present in the township.”
Township attorney Chris Kaye told this reporter it’s his opinion the Zoning Act’s language would not specifically or legally prohibit two Waterstone residents from serving on the ZBA because it’s “vague” and lacks any “strict standards” for the membership makeup.
Also, Kaye noted he’s not aware of any case law in which a ZBA appointment has been challenged based on that Act’s provision or which states exactly how the board’s membership makeup is supposed to be distributed.
He said the Act’s provision is simply meant to be a “guideline” for the board to follow.
“Ultimately, it’s a judgement the board needs to make,” Kaye said.
Kniffen recommended tabling Butler’s appointment until a full board is present.
However, Clancy motioned for a vote because she believed Butler to be qualified for the job due to his 17 years experience as a civil engineer who’s appeared before varous ZBAs, planning commissions and township boards in other communities.
“I feel that these experiences will allow me to provide an educated prespective on zoning ordinance issues,” Butler wrote in a Jan. 16 letter to Dunn.
A total of three residents applied for the ZBA position, the others being Robert O. Platz and Trina Lawrence.
Both appointments will be revisited by the board at its Feb. 11 meeting.