Supervisor looks ahead

By Don Rush

Aside from jokes, smiles and a twinkle in his eyes, Jack Curtis is kind of blunt and to the point. At 69, Curtis is in his second year as Oxford Township Supervisor and he sees 2023 as a pivotal year for the community – a year to get ready for the future. Whether that means building a wall around Oxford to keep everybody else out, or accept the inevitable.

“Urban sprawl has been happening forever,” he said. “We I moved here in 1973, there was one traffic light on M-24 from Oxford to Pontiac. We have a lot of people who have moved here because of the country atmosphere, the rural feeling, the farms and now all of a sudden we’re starting to get subdivisions and all of the ancillary things they want.

“I hear people say, ‘I don’t want Oxford to grow.’ Well, who let you in? Who let me in? It’s inevitable, we are going to grow and change, but we can’t do it with our heads in the sand. We have to be ready for the future. Oxford is a township in transition. We are not going to stop people from developing.”

As the large, generational family farms that once made up much of the township are being sold by younger generations, Curtis said some of the township goals for 2023 will be to get ready for development, both residential and commercial/industrial.

“So, we are transitioning into the future and doing it correctly,” he said. “Properties that are zoned for development are going to happen. You’re not going to stop it. What we have to do correctly is, well, I will give you an example. We are completing a water main loop on E. Drahner Road in 2023. We’re going to start this month. Back in the early 2000s, the officials only bonded out for what they needed at the time for water, instead of doing a water system at that time for the whole community. Now that it is growing we need to complete that water system. This connects deadheads in the system which allows the water to flow more efficiently and adds integrity to the system.”

He also said the township is working on installing a sanitary sewer district in the north of the township along M-24, to “protect the environment and correctly address economic development.”

“What I mean by ‘protect the environment’ is we have subdivisions that were built in the 1910s and 1920 era and they were used as cabins and cottages in the summer months and they had septic fields that were only good for two people. Now people are buying these homes, developing nicer homes on those lake properties and they are finding their septics are failing, are not good. We have the headwaters for the Paint Creek, the headwaters of the Clinton River and the headwaters of the Flint River – all of these headwaters are right here in Oxford. Septics, while they are good if you have large amounts of property, but some of these septics were built 100 years ago and that is not good for the environment, so we’re trying to address that.”

Curtis also said Oxford needs to get ready as Orion Township runs out of their commercial and industrial property, developers will come north. “We have thousands of acres of industrial and commercial properties zoned and they are being sought after. Large companies have contacted us and want to come here, but we’re not ready for them. We can’t provide services for, so we have to get ready. We have to do it correctly, balance it, for the future needs of the community. Staying out of some areas that don’t need to be developed, or we will protect what we call the horse country and our agricultural areas. We do have that northern corridor, planned years and years ago for industrial and commercial growth but it is under served by water and sanitary sewer.”

This year, Curtis said, the township will continue working to make the community more walkable. “As you know, CJ (Carnacchio) has garnered many grants to design safety paths. For example, by the high school, after the shooting incidents when kids were running through the woods and stuff, we sought a grant through community funding from Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. We were awarded roughly $350,000. Combine that with the grants and donations, at no cost to the taxpayers we’re going to put in that safety path from the high school west to M-24 by the Meijer. We are a walkable community now thanks to those grants. We have a five mile loop from the township hall, all the way to Market Street, Market Street to M-24, M-24 into the village and then back out to the township. We’re getting a lot of kudos for our paths. There are a lot of people on these paths. However, the biggest thing we’re hearing now is, ‘Why can’t we get a safety path out to Seymour Lake Township Park from downtown?’ Well those things cost a million bucks. It’s kinda hard to just snap your fingers and put a million dollars down towards safety paths. We’re trying to do it through grants, federal funding, we’re trying many, many things to get us out to the park.”

Curtis said the township is working on obtaining all the easements necessary to construct the path from downtown to the park.

Speaking of the Seymour Lake Township Park, Curtis said this spring they will open their Farmers Market. “They want to open that, probably the second week in May,” he said. “In 2023, we’re going to be driving more people to that park. People from the village want to walk there. We’re trying. To me it’s all zip code 48371, I don’t care if it’s the village or the township it’s all zip code 48371. So, we will have to work together to get the path. It will also allow people from the township to get to the village.”

Curtis believes it is important to work with the village, Oxford Downtown Development Authority, the chamber of commerce and Oxford Community Schools as well as with Oakland County to keep the community vibrant and growing.

“We have to work together. It’s just I’m a Republican you’re a Democrat and we’re going to fight over that just cheats Oxford. We worked with Elisa Slotkin for the $350,000 grant. After the shooting the US Department of Justice gave the county and the township $5 million to help with the prosecution and to pay overtime for our first responders. I can’t look at them and say you’re on that side and I’m on this side. We have to work with the government,” he said.

This year the township board has also set up a capital improvement committee. “The committee will look at the buildings, the parking lots, the infrastructure and figure out what we can do to improve what the township has already paid for. Let’s budget these funds so we just don’t wait until things fall apart. The township offices are almost 15 years old, we have some improvements we have to make.

“We’ve got 800 fire hydrants in our community. That’s 800 fire plugs the Oxford Fire Department is responsible for. We’ve been trying to get these things painted by using new hire reserve officers, firefighters, Boy Scouts – in the last 10 years I think we’ve got like 80 painted. They need to be painted. They need to be protected so when we use them they are functional. Rust happens. We have 800 to paint, we’re now ear-marking money to paint them.”

Curtis said he is not giving up on getting the Michigan Department of Health and Services to allow a hospital to be built in Oxford. “People don’t realize it’s 17 miles to the nearest hospital, north or south. Try driving to Pontiac at seven in the morning . . . Oxford is an anomaly. Within 10 miles of Oxford there are over 200,000 people.”

He provided the state with an 80-page document on why the state should grant Oxford’s Certificate of Need (CON) and has traveled to Lansing with others to speak in favor of an Oxford Hospital. The last time was in January and from that meeting the state will review its methodology and how it was done for Oxford. “I haven’t gotten to grant the Certificate of Need, but at least we got them to study the area one more time.”

Curtis said he enjoys communicating with residents. He’s not a fan of seeing people complaining about township issues on social media. “I love Oxford. I owe this town. I’ve been here over 50 years. We had four children graduate from Oxford who all get involved in their communities. I want people to get involved. If you have an issue, come in. My door is open. I answer my phone. You wanna’ come in and constructively talk about an issue. If you have an issue don’t go on Facebook and lambast everybody. If you have a solution about a problem, come see us at the township. We’d love to hear from you. We’d love for you to be a part of the solution. Yes, we have problems, problems that weren’t addressed over the years. We’re trying to fix the problems as we grow.”