Members of the Oxford Planning and Zoning Commission will consider rezoning the town’s “Corporate Business Park Zone” at their March 17 meeting.
The town is poised to make the change because Garden Homes, a development company, won the right to build a 113-unit housing complex along 41-acres along Donovan and Hurley Roads. About 35 of the units were to be classified as “affordable,” under state law.
In a written decision against Oxford, a judge said Oxford did little to promote affordable housing in town, despite a 1991 state law urging towns to do so.
Oxford had argued in court that the Garden Homes site was in the town’s corporate business park zone, a zone not meant for residential housing.
However, the judge said the town’s reasons did not outweigh the need for affordable housing in Oxford. The decision also cited a lack of clarity in the town’s zoning regulations.
So, Brian J. Miller, the town’s planning consultant, using input from an attorney, has suggested the town create a new zone, to be called “Industrial 2.”
The new zone will would be created in the areas of Christian Street and Donovan Road, stretching up toward Interstate 84. It would continue south to Hawley Road. The rezone, however, would not include the land owned by Garden Homes.
“One of the major points is to ensure that there be no ambiguity on the fact that residential uses are not permitted in Oxford’s industrial areas,” Miller wrote in a memo to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Miller’s memo is posted below. Article continues after the document.
The Planning and Zoning Commission had been scheduled to hold a public hearing on the new zoning language Feb. 17. However, the commission didn’t have enough members to hold the meeting.
The town is also exploring whether to create an incentive housing zone in an attempt to gain control over where affordable housing projects are located in Oxford.
