If at first you don’t succeed, go to the village.

An assisted living development rejected by Oxford Township’s planning commission earlier this year was accepted by the village planning commission last week.

Commissioners voted unanimously to grant special land use approval and site plan approval for phase one to BeeHive Homes, a Boise, Idaho-based franchisor of assisted living homes. BeeHive wants to develop a 6.16-acre parcel of land located on the west side of N. Glaspie St., north of Powell St. and the Polly Ann Trail, on the village-township border.

“This land’s vacant and it’s been vacant for a long time,” said village Planner Chris Khorey, of the Northville-based McKenna Associates.

BeeHive is planning to construct five single-story, congregate-style homes for a total of 100 senior citizens in need of memory care services. Each home will contain 20 units, each with a bedroom and bathroom.

“Density-wise, I think this is appropriate, especially given the fact that the memory care patients will not be driving,” Khorey said. “There will be visitors and there will be staff producing auto traffic here, but there’s not really a traffic concern.”

BeeHive Homes built its first facility in 1987 in Meridian, Idaho and now has more than 160 homes across 18 states.

Based on the site plan, BeeHive wants to construct one 12,977-square-foot building and four 11,787-square-foot buildings to form a campus setting.

“They look like big single-family homes,” Khorey said.

The project will be built in five phases with each home constituting a single phase.

“Typically, you’re looking at about one year for each phase,” said Michael Kingsley, one of BeeHive’s owners.

Site plan approval was granted for the 12,977-square-foot building, but the other four buildings (or phases) will require individual site plan approvals.

To access the development, BeeHive plans to construct a private road extending from N. Glaspie St. to a dead-end at the west end of the property. The proposed name is BeeHive Court and the entrance to this private road would be located approximately 300 feet north of Powell St.

There was some discussion about the possibility of someday extending the village’s Division St. northward and connecting it to BeeHive Court. Division currently ends at Powell St.

“This will actually integrate into the village (street) grid pretty nicely, in my opinion,” Khorey said.

Fire Chief Pete Scholz recommended that “when the fifth phase is built,” Division St. be “connected” to BeeHive Court “at that point” in order to make it easier for emergency vehicles to get in and out of the development. He estimated the fire department could end up handling 80 to 100 calls annually involving ambulance transports.

Commissioner Maureen Helmuth, who also serves on the village council, fears connecting the streets could create a new traffic problem.

“I think every Oxford High School student will zip down Division, cut through BeeHive over to N. Oxford Rd. trying to beat their buddy who’s coming out from Glaspie St.,” she said. “It’s going to be a very interesting site to deal with when they extend Division (Street) because every high school student in the world will use it. It’s just my opinion. Because they do it now, (from) Division to Powell.”

Khorey disagreed. He doesn’t think it’s going to attract cut-through traffic.

He argued that teenage drivers tend to “avoid” areas that are “impractical” to use as cut-throughs, such as streets “with a bunch of stop signs on them.” Since BeeHive plans to have parking spaces that will require users to back out onto BeeHive Ct., Khorey believes that’s the “functional equivalent” of stop signs.

“I can’t zip down the street because there’s people pulling out,” he said. “It’s like going through a parking lot – you’re not going to go that fast.”

Kingsley noted the placement of speed bumps on BeeHive Ct. is being considered as a way to slow traffic.

Given the potential connection of these two streets is something that wouldn’t be able to happen for at least five years, Helmuth said, “It’s a future problem that we probably don’t have to think about right now, but it’s something we’re going to want to think about when we get to that (point).”

The site plan shows a total of 63 parking spaces, which is 38 more than the zoning ordinance requires for BeeHive’s 100 residents.

BeeHive plans to install a sidewalk to connect its development to the nearby Polly Ann Trail, so its residents can utilize the non-motorized, pedestrian path.

Some concern was expressed about the safety of BeeHive residents, to which Kingsley responded, “They will not be allowed out on their own because they have memory care issues. So, somebody will be with them all the time.”

Kingsley noted “every possible precaution is put into place” to ensure residents cannot leave without supervision.

When completed, BeeHive’s Oxford development will employ approximately 60 to 65 certified nurse aides, four to six people to oversee activities for residents, one or two maintenance staffers and probably one nurse to assess residents, according to Kingsley.

“Seventy jobs is monumental,” said Commissioner Jack Curtis.

The BeeHive property is located in the village’s newest zoning district.

“This is the first application we’ve had in the Flex zoning district since we created that district,” Khorey said.

Earlier this year, the village approved a number of significant and broad revisions to its zoning ordinance and map, which included the establishment of the Flex district.

This district consists of vacant land located north of the Polly Ann Trail in the northeast corner of the village, on the west and east sides of N. Glaspie St. Nowhere else in the village has this zoning designation.

In the Flex district, almost any use permitted by the zoning ordinance is allowed, but only after special use approval is granted by the planning commission. Special use approval requires a public hearing and the notification of surrounding property owners.

Earlier this year, BeeHive Homes proposed, as part of a Planned Unit Development (PUD), constructing four buildings to house a total of 80 senior citizens on a 4.85-acre vacant parcel in the township. The land is located at the south end of Gateway Drive, just west of M-24 and north of the village.

The township planning commission voted to recommend denial of the preliminary PUD plan based on its failure to meet eligibility requirements outlined in the zoning ordinance.

Following that, BeeHive Homes turned to the village. “The village is happy to have it,” Khorey said.