Decision Time Looms for $97M Development

LYON TOWNSHIP, MI-Trustees will have to decide on whether to raise resident ire by approving a new 189-acre residential and light industrial project, or risk a lawsuit by developer Schonsheck Inc. of Wixom. Public outcry resulted in a recent township planning commission deadlocked 3-3.

Now, the board of trustees will consider a rezoning request for the land at 7 p.m. June 3 in the township hall.

Chris Olson, the township superintendent, tells GlobeSt.com the property is zoned at R1.0, meaning one home per acre is allowed. Schonsheck is asking to rezone about 80 of the acres in the north part of the property to light industrial, and about 100 acres to the south to R.5, allowing a residential development with two homes per acre.

The Mill River project, proposed for an area west of Milford Road, will cost $97 million to build, according to the company.

A company official told GlobeSt.com in December the plan is to build 30 lots of research and light industrial buildings on the site. The buildings, build-to-suit or lease facilities, would each be about 35,000 sf. The other half of the site would hold about 80 high-end homes costing about $400,000.

However, almost 1,000 residents signed a lengthy petition against the project.

According to the petition, the development plans should be stopped because they do not conform to the township’s zoning and 1999 adopted master plan.

Residents say they are concerned about a decrease in property values, and the benefits of having an industrial development would be diminished if the cost of enforcement and monitoring were considered as well.

“It is unlikely that income generated from this parcel alone will make or break the financial future of the township,” residents say in their petition.

Ian Schonsheck, president of the company, did not return a call for comment.

There have been different plans for development of the parcel in the works for at least four years, Olson says.