Oxford Village will seek permission from voters to sell two odd-shaped parcels of vacant land the municipality owns off Dayton St., south of Maple St. and west of Pleasant St.

Last week, council voted 3-1 to place the question on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

The parcels total approximately 2.1 acres and are zoned for single family homes.

Councilwoman Maureen Helmuth, who lives on Dayton St. near the parcels, cast the lone dissenting vote.

“I just think this property doesn’t need to be sold,” she said. “This is the only vacant piece of land in the (village’s) northwest quadrant.”

Helmuth pointed out there are no churches, schools or playgrounds in that residential area.

“There’s no vacant land for the kids to play on except this piece,” she said. “I don’t think we need to get rid of it.”

Village President Sue Bossardet noted asking voters to grant the municipality the authority to sell this land doesn’t automatically mean it would be sold. The village would simply have the ability to do so if council ever deemed it desirable or necessary.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have that option? That if we wanted to sell it, we could,” she said.

Voter-approval is required by village charter “to sell any property of value in excess of five dollars per capita, according to the last preceding U.S. Census.”

Based on the 2010 Census, which counted 3,436 people in the village, any property worth more than $17,180 requires a vote of the people.

The village has owned these two parcels since 1995. They, along with another 0.589-acre vacant parcel, were donated to the village by the Oxford Housing Corporation with “the hope” they could be used for “community activities or development,” according to an Oct. 28, 1994 letter from the donor.

A public hearing regarding this land was held in March 2005 and the majority of residents who attended it supported either developing it as a park for neighborhood children or preserving it as open space.

If housing was ever built on the property, the residents who spoke at the hearing favored single family homes and staunchly opposed any type of multiple family development.

The village already has permission to sell two other pieces of property it owns, a 3.6-acre former industrial site located at 98 S. Glaspie St. and the 2-acre municipal complex located on W. Burdick St.

Voters granted this in the November 2012 election, but all attempts to sell them have failed.