Garden Homes Management Corp. has withdrawn its applications for two mobile manufactured communities in Oxford.
“You may dispose or recycle all submitted materials. I will not be re-using them,” Richard K. Freedman, president of Garden Homes Management Corp., wrote in a letter to the Planning and Zoning Commission Sept. 6.
However, the application, which was a subject of a lawsuit between the developer and the town, will return.
Freedman told the Valley Indy Thursday he will submit a new application in a few months.
“We withdrew it to make some design changes,” he said.
The first project called for 99 manufactured double-wide homes on 32 acres at Hurley, Donovan and Oxford Airport roads. It was to be called “Oxford Commons.”
The second project was 14 age-restricted manufactured units on 8.5 acres at Hurley and Donovan roads, called “Donovan Meadows.”
Neither development was popular with residents, First Selectman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers said.
“This has not been a project I’ve been anxious to see come into the Town of Oxford, so I’m not disturbed at this point by any delay in bringing it forward,” Drayton-Rogers said.
Andy Ferrillo, the wetlands enforcement officer, said the company had disagreed over fees that were to be paid in advance to process the applications. Those fees were about $20,000 for the Oxford Conservation Commission and another roughly $14,000 for the Planning and Zoning Commission.
He said the company paid about $35,000 in fees for its original application a couple of years ago, which the Planning and Zoning Commission rejected.
A court overturned the commission’s decision.
The company’s attorney had said in an email on Aug. 16 that it was temporarily withdrawing its applications, and intended to pay the fees after resolving the disagreement and then resubmitting the applications, but Freedman’s letter on Sept. 6 indicated that he would not be re-using any of the materials and they could be disposed.
Freedman said it is true there was a disagreement over fees, but that was not the reason for the withdrawal.
Tanya Carver, co-founder of Keep Oxford Green, a group that opposes high density housing in town, said she believes the developer is waiting to see what happens in the town, with regard to affordable housing regulations that will be written and with regard to who wins the election in November.