42 condominiums planned for new neighborhood
By Jim Newell
Managing Editor
jnewell@mihomepaper.com
ORION TWP. — A new neighborhood is coming to Orion Township after the township board of trustees voted 5-0 on Monday to approve the second reading and adoption of the Villas at Forest Glen Final Planned Unit Development.
Supervisor Chris Barnett and Clerk Julia Dalrymple were absent from the meeting.
Pulte Homes of Michigan, LLC is developing the site located on a vacant parcel east of 310 Waldon Rd. and west of 270 Waldon Rd. and plans to build 42 single-family detached condominium homes. The development is on the north side of Waldon Road just west of Lapeer Road (M-24)
The site was zoned Suburban Estates (SE) and Residential-2 (R2) before the board approved and adopted the PUD.
“By utilizing the township’s planned unit development entitlement option, the Villas at Forest Glen can provide a creative layout for a development that preserves natural beauty and infuses new life into the surrounding area,” the developer wrote in the project narrative submitted to the township.
The construction of the site will not be a phased development; instead, all homes will be built before being sold. Construction is anticipated to begin this summer, according to township documents.
The development is an “adult-targeted residential community” that fulfills a housing need. “The homes that are proposed in the development help address the aging demographic within the township by providing an independent living option with no maintenance,” the development plan stated.
The development plan also lists offsite drainage improvements; preservation of natural features, including preservation of some wooded areas as a buffer to surrounding homes; and new plantings (i.e., trees, plant, etc.) native to the area among the benefits of the development.
Jason Brown, president of the Waldon Meadows Homeowners Association, spoke on behalf of the HOA saying that residents were concerned about the additional traffic the development would create, especially at the Waldon and Lapeer roads intersection.
“We mentioned previously that the road there (where) Waldon ends up into Lapeer, there’s no light, there’s no roundabout, there’s nothing there. In the morning, for rush hour, you can get literally 20-30 cars deep waiting to pull out onto Lapeer. At 60-70 mile an hour traffic there’s accidents there all the time,” Brown said. “So, we don’t feel like the concern for that extra traffic that is being added has been addressed.”
Matthew Bush, an engineering consultant at Atwell LLC, said the developer had received approvals “from all of the agencies. We got road commission approvals recently.”
On Jan. 15, the Orion Township Planning Commission forwarded a recommendation to conditionally approve PC-24-03, Villas at Forest Glen Final PUD. The board of trustees held and approved the first reading on March 3.