A zoning error made years ago concerning two parcels along N. Baldwin Rd. is in the process of being corrected by Oxford Township.

Last week, the planning commission voted 6-1 to recommend the township initiate the rezoning of 2740 and 2750 N. Baldwin Rd. from SF-2 to R-1.

R-1 is single-family residential zoning where the lots must be a minimum of 12,000 square feet. SF-2 stands for Suburban Farms and this zoning requires lots be a minimum of 5 acres.

Both parcels are currently zoned SF-2, but that’s the result of a mistake, not any decisions made by the township, according to township Planner Matthew Lonnerstater, of the Ann Arbor-based Carlisle/Wortman, Inc., who researched the issue.

“Somewhere along the line a zoning map error was made and everything got zoned to SF-2,” he said.

Based on Lonnerstater’s research, the township’s zoning map for 1971-83 designates all of 2750 N. Baldwin Rd. as R-1. Today, the Oxford Wedding Chapel sits there.

As for 2740 N. Baldwin Rd., which contains a house, it was split-zoned – the western portion was shown as R-1, while the eastern portion was zoned SF.

These same zoning designations are also depicted on the township’s zoning map for 1988-94.

A change occurred in the 2001-03 zoning map which labels both parcels as SF-2. That same zoning continues to be shown on the current map.

“This implies that the properties were rezoned sometime between 1994 and 2001,” Lonnerstater wrote in a Dec. 21 memo to the township Supervisor Bill Dunn. “However, we were not able to locate township files denoting a formal rezoning of these properties. Therefore, we assume the original mapping error took place sometime between 1994 and 2001.”

“I couldn’t find it on record, so I’m assuming that it was a mistake on the computer,” Lonnerstater told the planning commission. “There was no formal rezoning ever recorded that would have rezoned it from that split-zoning to all SF-2.”

Instead of simply correcting the mistake by rezoning the parcels back to what they historically were, Lonnerstater suggested eliminating the split-zoning.

“Split-zoning’s awful. I hate it. It causes a lot of problems (with regard to future lot splits and setbacks),” he said. “We could use this opportunity to rezone the whole thing as R-1.”

Lonnerstater noted “the current owner (of both parcels) thought it was all R-1.”

“They didn’t realize that it was split-zoned,” she said.

Commissioner Tom Berger agreed with Lonnerstater.

“I don’t want it split-zoned,” he said. “It just convolutes everything when you do that. It just makes it too hard to do anything later.”

“I think we all can agree we don’t want the split. Right?” said Commission Chairman Mike Young.

In light of this, Berger said, “I’m all for R-1.”

He explained that “everything north of there is R-1,” so “it’s consistent then with the rest of the properties along Baldwin Rd.”

It was pointed out that surrounding properties to the south and east are zoned SF-2. But Berger said those parcels are “huge” compared to 2740 and 2750 N. Baldwin Rd.

“They’re a lot longer and they’re a lot larger,” he said.

Commissioner Jack Curtis agreed those surrounding SF-2 parcels are “monstrous” in comparison.

“We’re going to have to draw the line (between R-1 and SF-2 zoning) somewhere,” noted Berger, who felt it might as well be with these two smaller parcels.

Lonnerstater initially believed this whole situation was the result of a “clerical error,” so he thought “we could just go back and change the map to what it should be.”

But township attorney Gary Rentrop advised it would require a lot more than that.

Because the current zoning map was “officially signed by the township clerk,” which certifies its adoption by the township board on March 14, 2007, Lonnerstater wrote in his memo that it is Rentrop’s opinion “the incorrect zoning designations on the current map cannot be viewed as a clerical error subject to administrative modification.”

In order to rectify this situation a formal rezoning must now take place, including a public hearing at the planning commission level, a recommendation from the planning commission and formal adoption of any zoning changes by the township board.