An attorney representing landowners in the agricultural and suburban farms zoning districts of northeastern Oxford presented a petition from them requesting zoning ordinance text amendments to the township board at its Dec. 12 meeting.

Located in what is commonly referred to as horse, or hunt, country, the property owners believe these proposed amendments are necessary to help protect their rural atmosphere and way of life from land uses they view as incompatible and undesirable.

They want to eliminate any permitted and special land uses that are not residential or related to agribusiness or horse country.

Edward J. McCabe, an attorney representing horse country, said the township previously committed to making such changes, but to date, has failed to follow through.

“They still do not have the protection that they so desperately sought,” he said. “Interference and overreach by Supervisor Bill Dunn and the deputy supervisor, (Deanna) Cushing, have caused what they believe is an unacceptable delay in putting these amendments in front of the board of trustees.”

McCabe said since the township has not done anything, the petitioners now wish “to take over the role of applicant” for these zoning ordinance changes. This way they “can be assured that they are properly represented and that the entire township will benefit from the protection and preservation of the character of the northeast section,” he said.

The landowners do not wish to be charged by the township, as other applicants would be, for seeking text amendments. “We request that there be a waiver of fees as you’ve already identified this as being important and have committed to doing this,” McCabe said.

The landowners want a public hearing regarding the proposed text amendments scheduled for January, he noted.

McCabe went on to recite a lengthy list of complaints regarding the ways that Dunn, Cushing and the township have allegedly violated state law and local ordinance.

Allegations include violations of the Michigan Planning Enabling Act and Open Meetings Act, altering public records, having meeting minutes that are “deficient, incorrect, misleading or missing” and misuse of position and authority by the supervisor’s office.

McCabe said horse country residents are “not receiving fair treatment and impartial treatment” from the supervisor or his deputy.

“The residents would like to detail the violations of their rights as they see them as residents of this township,” he said.

McCabe told the board this list of allegations is “very serious” and horse country residents would like their complaints to be “investigated and corrected.”

The attorney noted he has “not seen the like except for Detroit, which is not something you want to really be compared with.”

One of those complaints alleged that Dunn and Cushing had represented their opinions as that of the township board without being given the authority to do so.

Dunn was accused of attempting to represent the township by a writing a letter of support for House Bill 6499, a piece of legislation the state House passed 96-13 on Dec. 6. It seeks to amend the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act by increasing the number of children allowed to live at a state-licensed residential facility from six or less to a maximum of 10 if the facility is licensed under the Child Care Licensing Act and located on a parcel of 20 acres or more.

House of Providence, which owns 118.32 acres on Barber Rd. in Oxford Township, testified in support of HB 6499 because it wants to be able to house up to 10 foster youths in each of the three homes it plans to build on its land. One of those homes is currently under construction. It’s a single-story, 8,422-square-foot house. The square footage includes a covered patio and covered porch.

House of Providence houses and cares for foster youth who have been either abused and neglected or unable to find a permanent family.

Horse country residents have been opposed to House of Providence’s plans from the beginning because they believe it’s not an appropriate use for the rural area and will negatively impact it in terms of density and adding traffic to gravel roads.

“Mr. Dunn had written, on behalf of the entire community of Oxford, a letter saying that Oxford approves of this bill and we have no problem with this bill being passed,” said Ginny Benson, who lives on Barber Rd. in Oxford Township. “And I haven’t seen anything on any (meeting) agendas with any public notice to ask if we all approve (of) this. So, I’m wondering how he could do that, too.”

Bruce Meyers, an Oxford Twp. resident on Delano Rd. and husband of Planning Commissioner Kallie Roesner-Meyers, said a group of residents went to Lansing to oppose the bill.

“You can imagine my surprise when our Supervisor Dunn wrote a letter basically stating that he’ll do whatever they want,” Meyers said. “Did you as a board authorize him to write the letter supporting something like this?”

In response to this accusation, Dunn said, “(The state) asked me what I thought. I said in the past, we have followed state law (and) in the future, we will continue to follow state law, period. (It was a) very innocuous statement.”

“There was no recommendation. I would never do anything like that using the township without (the board’s) permission,” the supervisor noted.

Following the meeting, Dunn provided this reporter with copies of two letters he penned regarding HB 6499. Both were sent to State Rep. James Lower, chairman of the House Local Government Committee.

In his Dec. 3 letter, Dunn wrote, “It still stands that the Charter Township of Oxford has been and will continue to follow the Child Care Licensing Act. We believe that the State has the knowledge and resource(s) to act on behalf of children’s best interest. We have no intention of interfering with any changes to the State statute.”

In a Dec. 5 follow-up letter, the supervisor wrote, “The Charter Township of Oxford did not send any representation to Lansing to speak on our behalf. If anyone states they speak for or on behalf of Oxford Township regarding the Child Care Licensing Act they are speaking from a (personal) view. We have no intention to be at any of the readings and leave all the decision in the hands of the State. Again, we believe that the State has the knowledge and resource(s) to act on behalf of children’s best interest and our ordinance supports that decision.”

“We’ve said nothing as a township on supporting House of Providence . . . not one word,” said Dunn during the meeting.

Dunn said “a lot of misstatements” were made by people during the Dec. 12 meeting and “they will be corrected.”

Dunn noted despite some people’s accusations that he’s a House of Providence supporter and doing things on its behalf, he has “nothing to do” with the organization and to claim otherwise is “an absolute false statement.”

Except for once being introduced to the organization’s cofounder, Jason Dunn, when he visited the township office, the supervisor said he’s “never had any contact” with anyone from House of Providence.

“I’ll give anybody $1,000  if they can show me where I’ve had any contact, emails, phone conversations (with people from House of Providence),” the supervisor said.