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Oxford area residents WE NEED YOU TONIGHT! Wed, 8/14.

29K views 356 replies 72 participants last post by  swampjeep 
#1 · (Edited)
UPDATE 8/8/13
Oakland County parks & rec is making the proposal to the township board next week, August 13 & 14th. Please turn out and be willing to let the township board that you are a resident and you support this park.:thumb:


If you are in support of the new ORV area, please make it to the Oxford Village municipal complex (22 W. Burdick St.) Thursday night for the 3rd of 3 meetings.

Last week there were several locals who voiced opposition and I suspect they will be rallying their neighbors. So, we need you.:thumb:

****** OK all you LOUD mouths .......... - Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest

Meeting tonight to discuss Oakland County ORV park in Oxford - Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest
 
#115 ·
Meeting tomorrow at 7pm. There will be a cold keg at the Metemora Chop shop afterwards for all who attend, please contact trailrail302 for wristbands at the Veterans Civic Center. There will also be trophies for various categories. This is for serious and chevotass approved.
 
#124 ·
As much as it's appreciated, I don't think anyone who is more than an hour away should make the drive. If the thousands of local wheelers can't show up, fukem. I can afford to drive a couple hours to R&V or Bundy. What's amazing to me is the number of people who complain that they can't afford gas money to go north and then won't even drive down the street to support a new park.:confused:

I'm very disappointed in the turnout for something that could be awesome in our own back yard. I fully understand those who can't make it for work or personal reasons. But if half could and half couldn't, we still should have had the parking lot full of supporters.............. but........... we didn't. :(
 
#127 ·
Last night was before the villiage council.
Tonight is before the township board.

Both venues must approve it going forward or the project dies.

The input from OCPR was that if you can only do one or the other, make it Wednesday. My hope was that more would attempt to do both. My suspicion is they didn't expect the locals to turn out as much as they did. But, they should have known based on previous meetings.

I have no idea if there is other dialog with the council behind the scenes and the meetings are just a formality. But, if last night was the deciding night for the council, if I were in their chairs it would not be a hard decision.
 
#129 ·
24000 members. 4000 views of this thread. Only 10 of us found that this is important enough to show up last night. Jim said IF you can only make it one night, that Wednesday is the night. It's a shame that there are so many lazy web wheelers here that give zero fucks about having a decent legal place to wheel practically IN their backyard. I hope tonight you people prove that you care.
 
#133 ·
We need to have a meet and great early, so we fill the seats and everyone can talk and meet members that they may not already know before the meeting. WE dont want to get stuck in the hallway tonight! :thumb:
 
#143 ·
Kelly, you are right, I focused on Oxford residents because there is the "you don't live here" mentality so I was hoping for a push back.

I'm not mad at anyone specific and maybe I didn't get the point across properly. My bad I guess. But I figured with all the discussion about this over the past month that there would be a better turnout.

In addition, I have not had the inside track throughout the whole process. I'm learning as I go. Here is how it has gone.
I got deeply involved at the mounds when Pat Kinne stepped away. That's how I got hooked up with Doug from Rowe Engineering. I went to the first public meeting for Oxford which Doug emailed me about and asked me to come. It was the first time I had actually seen the proposed plan. During the meetings, I spoke up on more than one occasion. I then went to the SCAMP wine tasting fund raiser at the OC market and ran into the CEO of OC parks. He recognized me and thanked me for "bringing a voice of reason" to the meetings. Next thing I knew is I was invited to tour the property with them as the "ORV representative". Oddly, they have never contacted any user groups for input on this project. To date, I am the only user they have had direct contact with. (go figure, it's the government)
Only yesterday did I find out last night's meeting was before the villiage council and it could be a deal breaker. If I had known, I would have explained it different. Also yesterday I was asked if I would sit as an ORV representative on an advisory board of users if the park goes forward. I have also been asked to help coordinate the activities if/when it gets to a sound testing phase.

So, I'm not the expert, just an involved citizen.
 
#147 ·
Kelly, you are right, I focused on Oxford residents because there is the "you don't live here" mentality so I was hoping for a push back.
.

I'd have gone last night if I wasn't sitting in a dentist chair having a steel post put into my jaw at that time. Unfortuately for me with this process, Wednesdays aren't possible for me to get up there..
 
#150 ·
Sounds like there were some serious chairperson issues last night. Everyone that shows up should have the opportunity to speak, or a group with the same concerns should be designate one spokesperson. Hopefully it goes better with the different council tonight.

So this is proposed by the Parks and Recreation Commission? Do they have supporting plans and documentation, including previous public hearings, which show resident support for the park? (i.e. a Parks and Recreation Master Plan?) I couldn't find anything on the Oxford Township or Village website. I can't even find a notice of public hearing. Was it published in the newspaper to let all of the residents know about this, and not just the neighbors who are against it?

Is it a Special Use by zoning? If so, the focus should be on standards of approval (impact analysis) intended to limit negative impacts such as noise, dust, or vibration on surrounding properties. If the design reasonably meets these standards then it should be approved.

What's the area zoned and planned for? Can you convince people that the off-road park will have lesser or more controllable impact than a use that could otherwise be established? Can conditions be attached that would limit adverse impact? If you owned the property (rather than the Parks Commission) and wanted to build a private park how would a developer pitch this as a reasonable use of the land?
 
#152 ·
All good points and I can't answer them. OCPR is seriously considered one of the best park systems in the country. So, they have their act together with all teh prep work but I don't think it was presented that way last night. However, I'm pretty sure the boards have more knowledge of the project thany they let on last night. They were very impartial.

Regarding everyone speaking, those in the hall had a hard time getting into the room and since all in the room said the same things over and over, the chairman finally said this is getting redundant, we have other business to attend to.

In simple terms, you can't convince the adjoining neighbors of anything, as they are convinced that the noise and traffic will be horrendous and that's all there is to talk about.

I suspect if we get a strong turnout tonight things will be OK. I just got an email from one of the OC parks people who said that last night was NOT a deal breaker and tonight should be different.:thumb:
 
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