At the April 8th Township Board meeting, Supervisor Gonser stated:

“I am suggesting that the way it (Oakland Township) has been zoned does not preclude significant development. It is up to this Board to change that so it does not develop into Rochester Hills and Troy. RIght now, that is not necessarily true!”.  

This post compares zoning information for Oakland Township, Rochester Hills and Troy.  The facts demonstrate that Supervisor Gonser was wrong.  His inaccurate statement raise questions about his competence as our leader and what he envisions for our Township.

As stated above, Supervisor Gonser stated that Oakland Township could develop into a community like Rochester Hills or Troy due to our zoning ordinance.  A previous post shows his complete statement.  Trustee Bailey vigorously challenged the accuracy of Gonser’s statement.

In order to help inform the citizens of Oakland Township with the facts, zoning maps and a number of comparative charts have been created and shared here.

Here are the zoning maps for each of the three communities.  Please click on the maps to view a larger version of them.

Oakland Township –  please note:

• Large portion of township dedicated to Parks and Recreational Conservation – (Green)
• Large portion of township dedicated to residential (Shades of yellow and Orange as well as light blue) – especially Very Low Residential Density (VLRD)- (Light Yellow)
• Low level of Business – (Red)
• Low level of Office – (Pink)

Rochester Hills – please note:

• High level of Business and Commercial – (Pink, Red and Purple)
• High level of Office Research and Technology – (Blue)
• No Parks or Recreation Conservation zoning

 

Troy – please note:

• High level of Business and Industrial (Red, Pink and Grey)
• High level of Office (Blue)
• Low level of Environmental Protection (Green)

The following chart shows the minimum lot size for each of the five single family residential districts in each of the three communities.  Oakland Township and Troy have different minimum lot sizes depending upon whether the land is serviced by sewers.  Rochester Hills does not differentiate minimum lot size based on sewer availability.  Please note that Oakland Township’s  minimum lot sizes are much larger than either Rochester Hills or Troy.  Here is the chart (click on chart to view enlarged version):

The chart clearly shows that Oakland Township has significantly larger minimum lot sizes than other communities.  This did not occur by accident.  Previous Planning Commissions and Township Boards established these levels in order to maintain the rural atmosphere of our Township while preserving the property rights of the land owners and wetlands.

Estimates were made on how much land in Oakland Township is in each of the our Zoning Districts.  The analysis indicates that approximately 44 % of the Township is zoned VLRD with a minimum lot size of almost 1.7 (with sewers) to 2.5 (w/o sewers) acres – hardly anything close to the density allowed in Rochester Hills or Troy.  Here is the graph showing the results of that analysis (click on graph to view enlarged version) :

The data presented clearly demonstrates that Supervisor Gonser’s statement about our zoning is not only false, but extremely misleading.

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township?  Supervisor Gonser’s inaccurate statement indicates that his stated desire to change the Zoning in Oakland Township is not base on facts, but on some, yet undisclosed, concept or ideology.  The current Zoning of our Township was based on years of critical review by our citizens.  The Township Board and the Planning Commission have the power to change it dramatically.  Gonser and the Board have made appointments to fill the two Township Board vacancies and made new appointments to the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals with individuals with similar points of view as Gonser’s. They are ‘stacking the deck’ with extremists to further their ‘agenda’.  Citizens need to voice their opinions this fall when other appointed commission and board positions come up for appointments.  We need to encourage the Board members to understand the facts before making changes to our Zoning Map and Ordinance.

For related articles, please read:

Gonser’s desire to change zoning

Zoning Board of Appeals member John Markel’s comments on zoning

Gonser’s belief in a Global UN conspiracy in Oakland Township

Richard Michalski