ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Royal Oak residents plan to gather Monday night at City Hall for a City Commission meeting on the ongoing drama surrounding the proposed development along Vinsetta Boulevard.
Kevin Baird, who is a real estate agent and developer, purchased two homes on Vinsetta Boulevard which sit on large lots with plenty of trees and space. Behind the homes, however, is where the real gold is: land facing Webster Road.
Baird would very much like to build new homes on the space. Neighbors are not happy with the plan which, depending on how you measure the lots, could yield more new homes than they want to see.
Baird briefly looked for the zoning board to measure his way -- on an angle. The zoning board said no. Baird took the city to court.
Meanwhile, Maureen Dunphy, who is speaking for the neighbors who are lining up against the Baird development, is deeply concerned.
"There's a lot of anxiety that we should suddenly be dealing with eight houses total instead of two, and there's no one who we've talked to in the whole neighborhood who feels that's appropriate or that our neighborhood could support that kind of traffic," she said.
Baird now is looking to figure out a way to make both the city and the people who live in the area happy. While he wouldn't appear on camera, he told Local 4 he is resubmitting a plan which would knock down one home with a rebuild, put only three new homes on Webster Road and keep one existing home on Vinsetta Boulevard.
"People want to live here, and I can understand that, but part of what makes this a special neighborhood is that there has been a lot of attention over the years to keeping the character of the neighborhood," said Dunphy.
Baird said he is happy to drop his zoning appeal if the planning department approves his new treatment of the land which measures on a 90-degree angle and conforms to the city's legal requirements.
He said he is not a "ruthless developer."