A 26-unit site condominium development proposed to be built in the southeast corner of Oxford Township cleared its first hurdle in the approval process last week.

Planning commissioners voted 6-1, with a list of conditions, to recommend to the township board that preliminary site plan approval be granted for the North Oakland Woods project. The developers are Oxford residents Peter Barachkov II and his wife Regan.

“We’re going to develop this piece of property and make it nice,” Peter Barachkov told this reporter. “We’re going to try to (have) as natural (a) setting as possible and preserve everything that we can.”

The site is located on the south side of E. Drahner Rd., west of Barr Rd. and north of Indian Lake Rd.

The preliminary site plan calls for constructing 24 site condominiums on four separate parcels, totalling approximately 95 acres. The 26-unit total includes two existing houses that would become part of the development.

All of the units would be single-family and completely detached from each other. They would sit on lots varying in size from 2.5 acres to 11.08 acres.

This conforms to the current zoning, Suburban Farms (SF-1), which requires all lots be at least 2.5 acres.

Water and sewer services would be provided by individual well and septic systems.

Although it hasn’t been finalized, it was mentioned at the meeting that the condos would range from 2,200 to 5,000 square feet.

“We want to be able to build affordable homes, but we want them to look sharp and fit into this area,” Barachkov told this reporter.

In order for this development to be built as depicted on the preliminary site plan, it’s going to need the zoning board of appeals to grant a variance pertaining to road length.

Right now, the only way to access the property is via Shephards Lane, a private gravel road off E. Drahner Rd. The road is a 1,300-foot-long cul-de-sac that runs north-south.

The preliminary plan calls for extending this existing road by approximately 1,100 feet to the south where it would still end in a cul-de-sac.

It also calls for constructing a second private road, to be named Larkspur Lane, running east-west. It would connect Shephards Lane to Barr Rd.

The distance from the proposed intersection at Shephards and Larkspur lanes to the end of the cul-de-sac would be 1,478 feet.

Because the current township zoning ordinance states “dead-end private roads shall not exceed 1,000 feet in length,” the proposed 1,478-foot cul-de-sac cannot be approved and built unless the ZBA grants a variance allowing it.

“This site is a little bit unique in that there really is no alternative to lay this out a different way that would conform to your 1,000-foot maximum cul-de-sac length,” explained Jim Scharl, president of the Clarkston-based Kieft Engineering, a firm working on the project.

“If there was any other alternative (way) to lay this thing out, we would certainly have done that,” Scharl noted.

It was stated during the meeting that a variance was previously granted by the ZBA for the existing 1,300-foot cul-de-sac.

There was another issue that would have required a variance, but it appears to be a moot point now. The developers originally wanted all of North Oakland Woods’ private roads to have gravel surfaces.

But the township zoning ordinance states, “all private roads . . . shall be paved with either asphalt or concrete.” The only exception is private roads serving 10 or fewer single-family residences on lots 2.5 acres or larger.

Barachkov told this reporter they’ve had a change of heart since the meeting. “I believe we’re going to end up paving the roads,” he said. “We just want to cooperate (and comply) with whatever the township wants.”

Commissioners Ed Hunwick and Kallie Roesner-Meyers, who also serves on the ZBA, made it clear they’re opposed to this development having gravel roads.

“I think the roads should be paved and I think (Shephards Lane) should be the proper length,” Roesner-Meyers said.

“If the ZBA says, ‘Yeah, they don’t have to have the roads paved,’ I’ll vote no on the final (site plan),” Hunwick noted.