House of Providence was on just about everybody’s lips at the Feb. 28 Oxford Township Planning Commission meeting.

Opponents and supporters of the nonprofit organization’s ongoing efforts to open facilities to house and care for foster youth in the township’s northeast quadrant – an area known as horse or hunt country – packed the meeting room to voice their opinions.

“This commercial business could evolve into a juvenile prison, which has far-reaching social and economic implications (for) the neighborhood,” said Jim Unis, an Oxford Township resident who lives on Gardner Rd.

Despite its 501 (c) (3) status with the federal government, a number of folks who spoke against House of Providence (HOP) kept characterizing it as a “commercial institution” and a “business” because it receives money from the state for the children under its care.

Opponents believe such a place does not belong in an agriculturally-zoned area and allowing it will negatively impact the existing rural character and quality of life by increasing population density and traffic on gravel roads.

Ginny Benson, an Oxford Township resident who lives on Barber Rd., told planning commissioners, “Don’t mistake it as any kind of group home or foster home.”

“This is a business. This is a big business,” she said. “If they get all the kids that they want up there, it’s a $1.5 million-a-year business for them.”

But HOP’s supporters don’t see it as a money-making enterprise. They view it as a place focused on compassion and meeting needs.

“There’s nothing to fear here,” said Cathy Black, who resides on S. Baldwin Rd. in Oxford Township. “These children are given love and acceptance (at HOP). And it hurts me that Oxford is not giving them love and acceptance. I just want you to know that not everybody is against (HOP). I am one, but I have many friends that support the House of Providence.”

“This program is absolutely amazing,” said Nicole Mitchell, who lives on Wooley Rd. in Brandon Township. “These people, they just love these kids. (The kids are) not institutionalized. They feel free. They feel loved. They don’t feel like they’re just a child in the system.”

What is HOP and what are its plans?

Founded in 2012 by Jason and Maggie Dunn, HOP provides 24-hour care for foster youth who have been abused, neglected or unable to find a permanent family.

“We’re not an institution,” said Jason Dunn. “We may have a license that’s a CCI, child caring institution, but we’re really just a state-licensed residential facility that works with kids that are 7 to 17 (years old) . . . We create a very familial setting.”

In 2016, HOP paid $800,000 for 118 acres of agriculturally-zoned property at 3921 Barber Rd., which for many years had operated as Hunters Ridge Hunt Club. The organization split the property into four large parcels, the sizes of which are 28 acres, 22 acres and two at 34 acres. The 28-acre parcel came with an existing house, which is where the Dunns live with their own children.

The Dunns previously told the Leader their plan is to build three residential houses – one for foster females, one for foster males and one for disabled foster youth.

Under the current state law, each home can be occupied by up to six youths, but the Dunns are working to change it so they can house up to 10 youths per home. More on that later in the story.

HOP has already constructed an 8,928-square-foot home on the 22-acre parcel. It was granted a temporary certificate of occupancy by the township on Feb. 21.

According to the building permit issued on July 27, 2018, the one-story house consists of 7,547 square feet on the main floor, 450 square feet of basement storage, a 56-square-foot mechanical room, a 462-square-foot covered patio and a 413-square-foot covered front porch. There is no garage.

Can HOP be in agricultural zoning?

Officials say HOP can operate in AG zoning. Township Planner Don Wortman, of the Ann Arbor-based Carlisle/Wortman Associates, said Michigan’s Zoning Enabling Act “states that if you have residential districts,  you have to allow” this type of use within that zoning district “if it’s (housing) six or fewer (individuals).”

“The township’s hands are tied on this matter,” he said. “We have to follow state statute.”

That has been the opinion of Gary Rentrop, township attorney, as well.

In a Nov. 1, 2017 opinion letter, Rentrop explained that licensed child foster family group homes, such as HOP, are “allowed as a matter of right by state statute in all residential zones” and the AG district constitutes a residential district.

He cited the Zoning Enabling Act, which states “a state- licensed residential facility shall be considered a residential use of property for the purposes of zoning and a permitted use in all residential zones.” Rentrop wrote the AG zoning district allows residential use, so “it can be considered a ‘residential zone.’”

The law defines state-licensed residential facilities as places that provide “residential services for 6 or fewer individuals under 24-hour supervision or care.” Private homes with six or fewer foster children are defined as child foster family group homes under Michigan’s Child Care Organizations Act.

Rentrop reiterated this opinion in a Feb. 19, 2019 letter he wrote to the township. In it, he stated the Zoning Enabling Act “preempts local zoning by establishing certain state-licensed residential facilities as permitted uses in all residential zones” and a child caring institution, which is the type of license HOP is seeking for its Oxford home, “falls within the (Zoning Enabling Act) definition of a state-licensed residential facility provided that the number of individuals actually being served does not exceed 6.”

But Kallie Roesner-Meyers, a former planning commissioner who lives on Delano Rd. in Oxford Township, disagrees.

“We’re being told that the child (caring) institution is allowed by right (in AG zoning) because of this act and I will contend that it is not,” she said.

A child caring institution is defined under state law as a place that’s “organized for the purpose of receiving minor children for care, maintenance, and supervision, usually on a 24-hour basis, in buildings maintained by the institution for that purpose, and operates throughout the year.”

Roesner-Meyers said when you read the Zoning Enabling Act, it talks about adult foster care facilities along with family and group child care homes, which are “daycare facilities,” but “nowhere does the preemption in this act refer to a child (caring) institution.”

“I want to make that real clear. They’re not allowed by right,” she said.

Roesner-Meyers asserted that “local zoning applies to child (caring) institutions.”

“If institutional use is not allowed in the zoning district, it’s not allowed by right. It has to get a permit from the township,” she said. “They’re not allowed in our zoning district. Agricultural (zoning) doesn’t permit it.”

Roesner-Meyers noted that if HOP wants to “come in (and apply) for a conditional rezoning, they have the right to do so,” but “that’s not what’s happening here.”

How many foster kids are allowed?

Under the current state law, HOP could have up to six youths living in the 8,928-square-foot home it built and in each of any future homes it constructs on the property.

Jason Dunn told commissioners HOP will adhere to whatever the law is and move in with six kids. However, HOP has been working with state Rep. John Reilly (R-Oakland Twp.) to change the law.

Last year, Reilly introduced House Bill 6499, which sought to amend the Zoning Enabling Act by increasing the maximum number of children allowed to live in a state-licensed residential facility from six to 10 if the facility is licensed under the Child Care Licensing Act and located on a parcel of 20 acres or more.

“We chose 10 on purpose because . . . we want . . . to be familial,” Dunn explained. “We don’t want to warehouse kids. We’re not looking to institutionalize (them) . . . We think 10 works really well.”

Reilly’s bill passed both the state House and Senate, but was vetoed by then-Gov. Rick Snyder on Dec. 28, 2018.

In explaining his reason for the veto, Snyder wrote that the critical needs of foster youth must be “balanced with the ability to effectively provide them with the precious care that they deserve.” He stated his belief that increasing the number to 10 compromised that balance and would ultimately negatively impact the children.

Following the veto, Reilly, on Jan. 24, introduced the same legislation again in the form of House Bill 4095.

Benson accused HOP of trying to increase the number of kids so it can receive more money from the state. “That’s why they’re trying to expand it,” she said.

Concerns over density

Opponents of HOP’s plans believe allowing the organization to operate in AG zoning will adversely affect an area that traditionally has had low population density.

Oxford Twp. resident Barbara Blanock, who lives on Barber Rd., said the 1-mile stretch of her neighborhood between Oakwood and Davison Lake roads contains “a total of five houses,” excluding the HOP property, and “in those five houses, there’s a total of 10 occupants.”

“That’s extremely low density I would say . . . (For the residents) who have lived there since the 1970s (and) the 1950s – we go back a long time – that’s the way we have lived our life and chosen to live our life, in low density,” she said.

“Once the landscape is changed in a community, it’s very hard to bring it back to what it was before the change,” Blanock warned.

Benson, too, expressed her concern over the increased density that she believes will result from HOP’s plans, which she described as a “compound.”

“When the Dunns moved in, they more than doubled the population of our street with just their own kids,” she said. “Now, they want to build three or four other buildings and put as many as 10 (kids) in each one of these buildings.”

Benson said HOP wants to “triple and quadruple the number of people in the neighborhood” and that’s “not fair to us” because it will “definitely lower our property values” and interfere with the privacy and quiet that led people to move there. “I specifically moved where I moved because I couldn’t see another house from where I live,” she said.

Benson noted her road used to have “almost no traffic” and now, “it’s already busier because (HOP is) up there.”

A big house

Although the 8,928-square-foot HOP home was constructed as a single family residence based on the building permit, opponents claim it’s unlike the typical single family dwelling.

Blanock said she finds it “strange” that a single family house has no garage and called it an “oddity” that its bathroom has “five toilets in a row,” five showers and three sinks.

“That’s very unique, isn’t it?” she said.

Blanock pointed out that the five other houses on Barber Rd. are much smaller in size. They range from 1,500 to 3,000 square feet, she said, so HOP’s home is “larger than all the existing homes on  Barber Rd. combined.”

Environmental issues

Opponents of HOP’s plans expressed  concerns over allowing children to live on property that contains lead from all the shooting done during its days as a hunt club.

Unis said “it surprises a lot of people that with the problems” in Flint and Detroit, “anybody would even think of putting children on a lead-soaked ground such as the 118 acres on Barber Rd.”

“Did you know that several other potential buyers of this land walked away from it as soon as they found out about the lead on that property?” said Dryden Township resident Diane Kangas, who lives on Hempstead Rd.

But Jason Dunn said HOP has been working “extremely hard” with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).

“We have NFAs (regarding lead remediation) on two of the parcels that are there,” he said.

NFA stands for No Further Action.

The MDEQ’s Remediation and Redevelopment Division issued an NFA letter concerning one of the 34-acre parcels on March 29, 2018. It issued a second NFA letter regarding the 22-acre parcel, on which the 8,928-square-foot house is built, on April 10, 2018.

The letters constitute MDEQ approval of the NFA reports submitted by HOP. According to state law, an NFA report details the completion of remedial actions and documents the basis for concluding they have been completed.

Both letters contained the disclaimer that “the state reserves the right to take an action against the House of Providence if it discovers at any time, that any material information provided by the House of Providence in the NFA Report was false or misleading.”

An informational meeting regarding the HOP property has been scheduled for 7 p.m.   on Tuesday, April 9 at the township hall. MDEQ representatives will be there and it is open to the public. The hall is at 300 Dunlap Rd.

Support for House of Providence

Roger Sovis, who lives on Coryell Dr. in Oxford Township, said HOP has “a 95 percent success rate” when it comes to helping “troubled youth.”

“Instead of being dependent on the state from cradle to grave, they end up having a chance to contribute . . . to society,” he said. “I’d love to have an organization like that in Oxford.”

Brandon Township resident John Mitchell, who lives on Wooley Rd., told commissioners he’s a convicted felon, who grew up in “the system.” He’s since turned his life around, but he wishes people like the Dunns “would have found me when I was a kid.”

Mitchell said the “heartache” he experienced “for the majority” of his life could have been avoided “if I would have had some people who truly loved me and cared about me and invested in me and told me that I was worth more than what I was doing.”

“If somebody would have loved me when I was a kid, I think that my life would have turned out differently,” he said.

Mitchell said the Dunns “love these kids and it makes a difference” in their lives.

“Oxford should (feel) blessed and honored to have these people out here,” he said.

HOP supporter Pam Hurley, who lives on Harvard Ct. in Oxford Township, said she “was always taught that you can never love too much, you can never care too much, you can never give too much.”

“Oxford, I think that you would be an awesome community if you reach out further than yourselves, further than each other, further than  your own to give, to care and to love,” she said.

Hadley resident Jason Wrosch told commissioners if HOP “is a compound or a prison and Jay and Maggie Dunn are the wardens, then please, take me away.”

“I would be blessed to have grown up in a prison like that,” he said. “I would have a wonderful life, I would have parents that love me and I would have nothing to worry about.”

Addison resident Ricky Giannetti, who serves as treasurer on HOP’s board of directors, agrees with the horse country residents who refer to their area as “God’s country.”

“This is God’s country and these are God’s children and they belong here,” he said.

Jason Dunn accused the people opposed to HOP of spreading “lies” about the organization, its plans and the property on Barber Rd.

“They really just don’t want these kids out in this area and so, that’s why we’ve had a fight from the very beginning,” he said. “Before we actually signed the purchase agreement, the fight began.”

In response to Dunn’s remarks, Oxford resident Cindy Unis, who lives on E. Davison Lake Rd., said when it comes to HOP, “nothing has been done on the straight and narrow.”

“We have boxes and boxes of (documents) that state that many of (these things have) been done illegally,” she said. “This (area) is zoned agricultural and this is not a place to put these kind(s) of homes, in the middle of the agricultural horse country.”

Opponents says it’s not about race or kids

There have been claims that the opposition to HOP from horse country residents and property owners is based on prejudice against foster kids and minorities.

Benson said that’s not true.

“We aren’t concerned with race with these kids,” she said. “It’s been fed to the rest of these people (supporting HOP) because it’s an easy take for them to understand why we don’t want them in the neighborhood.”

“None of us are saying that this house is bad for kids or that they do a terrible job,” Benson continued. “We’re saying (HOP) belongs on a paved road. It belongs where kids can walk to town to the party store, to the movie theater . . . These folks are planning on keeping them six miles from town where the only place they could possibly go is to another neighbor’s house. That does concern us.”

Dryden Township resident John Yarema, who lives on Jonathan Rd., said he has two adopted children from Korea, so “no one is more supportive (of adoption, foster care or helping kids) than we are.”

Yarema noted he and his neighbors are mainly concerned about whether it’s “proper” to have something like HOP in agricultural zoning.

“We’re not a bunch of bad people because we have horses and we moved here to have property,” he said.

Jason Dunn pointed out that one of the reasons HOP purchased the Barber Rd. site was so foster children would have opportunities to interact with horses and other animals.

“It’s very therapeutic,” he said. “It helps kids to heal and to be well.”

Crossroads for Youth

Roesner-Meyers argued that HOP isn’t needed in Oxford because the township already has “an excellent facility” in Crossroads for Youth on E. Drahner Rd.

“That facility is not full,” she said. “It still has plenty of capacity. Putting another residential institution out in this area would be detrimental to the existing use we have here and a burden to the township.”

Her husband, Dr. Bruce Meyers, agreed.

He said Crossroads for Youth has room for 92 or 93 placements and “right now, they hover between 50 and 53.”

“Crossroads is a great program,” Meyers said. “They’ve been around for many, many years. I can’t say enough good things about them.”

He questioned why the township government would allow another facility that would be “in competition” with Crossroads.

This reporter contacted Marc Porter, executive director of Crossroads for Youth, and asked him about the agency’s capacity.

“We are licensed (through) the State of Michigan for 65 beds and that’s across three different units,” he said. “One of them is the achievement center, which is not a neglect-and-abuse home. That’s licensed for 20 (beds). Between the two  (residential) neglect/abuse homes, we’re licensed for 45 (beds). However, there’s another aspect to it and that is the contract we have with the state, which allows for 24 (beds) between the two units. So, even though we’re allowed through licensing to have more kids, we have contracts with the state that stipulate how many kids we’re allowed to have.”

The achievement center houses young men ages 14 to 17 who have been processed through the juvenile justice system.

Abuse/neglect victims are foster youth placed at Crossroads by counties, according to Porter. He noted the current approval for 24 beds in the abuse/neglect homes, of which there’s one for boys and one for girls, can “fluctuate based on need.”

“We can increase (that number) based on the need of the state,” he explained, but that would require additional approval. “We are, at this point, allowed 24.”

With regard to 92-93 capacity figure mentioned at the planning commission meeting, Porter said that was “a prior license that we had based on units that we no longer run.”