A proposed site plan that seeks to transform 98 S. Glaspie St. from a defunct industrial site into a small residential neighborhood is expected to be on the agenda for the 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 16 meeting of the Oxford Village Planning Commission.

The Sterling Heights-based Clearview Homes, LLC wants to build 16 single-family homes on the 3.582-acre site purchased by the village for $700,000 in March 2006.

In late January, council voted 5-0 to approve a $305,000 purchase agreement with Clearview Homes. The village has been trying to sell the property since November 2012 when residents voted 1,069-to-521 to grant the municipality the authority to do so.

The property is zoned for R-1 single-family residential use. R-1 zoning requires lots to have a minimum area of 7,200 square feet and a minimum width of 60 feet.

In his April 25 review, village Planner Chris Khorey, of the Northville-based McKenna Associates, wrote “all” of the proposed lots exceed the minimum size and width.

“Based on my review of the plans, the single family lots meet the standards of the Ordinance, and are consistent with nearby lots along Glaspie and Thornehill Trail (in the Oxford Lakes subdivision),” wrote Khorey in an April 28 e-mail to this reporter.

A single dead-end street would run east-west through the proposed development and it would have a 5-foot-wide sidewalk along both sides of it. There would be nine homes on the north side of the street and seven homes on the south side.

The property is surrounded by the village’s Scripter Park to the north and east; the village Department of Public Works (DPW) garage/yard, water tower and water treatment plant to the south; and single-family homes to the west along S. Glaspie St.

To separate the proposed residential development from the DPW and municipal water facilities, Clearview Homes wants to construct a 6-foot-tall vinyl fence behind the seven southern lots.

“The fence is acceptable,” Khorey wrote.

As for the existing homes along the west side of S. Glaspie St., Khorey wrote, “We see no reason the new homes would negatively impact those homes.”

The plans show a new storm sewer pipe and filter that would drain filtered stormwater runoff into wetlands located to the north.

“This arrangement will avoid water draining into Round Lake, which is an important priority,” Khorey wrote.

Use of Round Lake is shared by the Oxford Lakes subdivision homeowners who live on it and visitors to Scripter Park.

98 S. Glaspie St. does not border Round Lake because there is park property separating the site from the water. So, Clearview Homes’ proposed development does not include any waterfront homes.

All previous attempts to sell and develop this former industrial site have failed. Over the years, uses ranging from light industrial to multiple-family residential were proposed and considered, but nothing ever came to fruition for one reason or another.

Local developer Chuck Schneider previously proposed building a 76-unit multifamily housing project there, but council rejected his plan due to its high density, which was the target of vehement opposition from homeowners along S. Glaspie St. and in the Oxford Lakes subdivision.

Officials claim the main reason the village bought this site was because of its close proximity to the municipal wellfield. They said they didn’t want to risk another industrial user moving in and possibly contaminating the village’s groundwater.