Should 98 S. Glaspie St. be sold and developed for residential use or industrial purposes?

That’s the question the Oxford Village Council is planning to address at its 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22 meeting.

The issue was prompted by the $300,000 offer the village received last week for the 3.42-acre former industrial site purchased by the municipality for $700,000 in March 2006. The prospective buyer, Brian Harrison, founder and owner of MYCO Enterprises, wishes to use it for light industrial purposes.

Harrison told council his company designs and builds ergonomic lift-assist mechanisms for the auto industry. Workers use this equipment to lift heavy objects.

“We don’t build robotics that take operators off the line,” Harrison explained. “Instead, we give them a tool that allows them to lift a 155-pound V-8 engine block off the line for inspection . . . We’re giving them tools to do the job more efficiently.”

“OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) mandates that if you have a part that’s heavier than 18 pounds, you’re not allowed to two-hand lift that cyclically. And pretty much everything on a car is more (than) 18 pounds now,” he noted.

Harrison currently operates out of a building on Adventure Lane, just north of Oakwood Rd. in the township, but he needs more room.

“Business has been booming,” he said. “I have yet to make a sales call (since starting the company).”

“I do employ eight people and we’re bursting at the seams with what we have now, so I need to double, triple and quadruple my space,” Harrison explained.

Harrison’s proposing a 10-year land contract with a 4 percent interest rate. He would put $50,000 down, then pay the village $2,500 per month for 10 years.

But in order to accommodate an industrial use, the property would have to be rezoned.

It consists of two parcels, both of which are currently zoned for single family residential development.

The 2.7-acre parcel is zoned R-1, which requires lots to have a minimum area of 7,200 square feet and a minimum width of 60 feet. The 0.7-acre parcel to the east is zoned R-3, which requires lots to have a minimum area of 12,500 square feet and a minimum width of 90 feet.

Given this latest offer, the real estate professionals from Coldwell Banker Shooltz Realty, who were hired in May to market and sell the property, asked if council is willing to consider industrial uses.

“We do need some sort of direction,” said Realtor Lisa Forbes.

“We’ve had at least 15 to 18 inquiries for industrial (uses). We’ve had numerous people want to make offers,” said Broker/Owner Kathleen Sanchez. “We need to be working in your best interest. You’ve hired us to market this property and bring you the best price (in concert) with what your desires are. We can only take direction from you, folks. We can’t make that decision on our own.”

Village President Sue Bossardet agreed.

“I think council needs to have a discussion (about) whether we’re dead set on residential or we would entertain light industrial,” she said.

“Lisa and I are here to do whatever you folks want done to get you the most amount of money (and) generate whatever you would like to see as the future (for that property),” Sanchez stressed to council. “Just give us that direction and we’ll run with it.”

Prior to the village purchasing the property, it had been used over the years for industrial purposes by Spearing Tool & Manufacturing, Sea Link International and Smith Silo.

The village has been trying to sell the site since November 2012, when residents voted 1,069 to 521 to grant the municipality the authority to do so.

So far, all attempts have failed.

Over the years, uses ranging from light industrial to high density residential have been proposed and considered, but nothing has come to fruition for one reason or another.

Harrison told council his needs would be classified as light industrial. The components for the lift-assist mechanisms are manufactured elsewhere, then his workers in Oxford simply put them together.

“It’s mainly assembly,” he said. He added there are times when some welding needs to be done on-site.

Sanchez and Forbes presented council with one other offer for 98 S. Glaspie St. It was from Bleznak Real Estate Investment Group, a real estate development and management company headquartered in Birmingham that offered $100,000 for the property.