Didn't enjoy seeing this in the paper this morning. Just a few miles northwest of this site, a developer is in the really early stages of trying to put up a massive development of low-density homes along Whitmore Lake Road in Northfield Township:
Quote:
Company targets 460 acres north of Ann Arbor for residential development
By Lizzy Alfs | MLive.com
August 5, 2014
A Birmingham-based real estate firm has targeted 460 acres of land in Northfield Township for a residential development.
Biltmore Development is exploring the possibility of assembling nine properties and building housing along Whitmore Lake Road just west of US-23 and north of Joy Road. Biltmore has an option to purchase the properties from the seven different owners.
But because the Northfield Township master plan designates the land as agriculture, Biltmore is asking for a master plan map amendment to zone the land for medium density residential. Northfield Township’s current master plan was adopted in 2012.
Biltmore’s plans are in very preliminary stages, and the company has not determined the type of housing or how many units would be constructed on the site. A medium density residential zoning would allow Biltmore to develop housing on quarter-acre lot sizes.
The first step, said Biltmore’s David Stollman, is to see whether Northfield Township officials want the land developed for housing.
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The nine properties Biltmore wants to develop consist of vacant land and very low density single-family residential. There are extensive wetland systems on the site. The current agricultural zoning allows for single-family dwellings on five-acre parcels.
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Northfield needs to tell them to take a hike. This is pure, unapologetic sprawl. It's not even on the right side of the freeway (i.e. where the planned commuter rail service will eventually come through). The very last thing suburban Ann Arbor needs is anything that helps is sprawl up towards the sprawl of Livingston County, and quarter-acre lots, no less. This is crazy. US-23 is already a nightmare enough as it is.