An Oakland County judge Nov. 22 ordered the removal of all the materials used by the Knauf family to block off their property in downtown Oxford’s northeast parking lot.
‘The parking lot will be open for the parade, so that’s good news,? said Oxford Village Manager Joe Young, referring to the Oxford Area Chamber of Commerce annual Christmas Parade Dec. 2.
Knauf Family Properties has until noon Friday, Dec. 1 to ‘remove any and all barricades from the property including the orange construction barrels, yellow caution tape, metal drums marked contaminated and old concrete curbs,? according to Circuit Court Judge Fred Mester’s order.
Lee Knauf, local attorney and part owner the parking lot, refused to comment to this newspaper.
Until the issue of which party will own the lot ? the Kanufs or the village ? is decided by the court, village attorney Bob Davis said he asked the judge to ‘in the interim . . . return this thing to its prior neutral state because it sure is ugly out there.?
‘We were looking, quite frankly, at the parade date,? Davis explained. ‘I told the judge I’ve got to have this stuff out. I think it would be nicer if it was gone.?
A majority of the approximately 28,000-square-foot area the Knaufs currently own, which contains roughly 56 parking spaces, has been closed to the public and physically blocked off since Aug. 4, the day before Celebrate Oxford.
The Knaufs purchased the property for an undisclosed amount from the Grove family in April.
Mester further ordered that the Knaufs ‘shall not alter, change, develop or modify the property at issue in any manner not consistent with the status quo, i.e. a free public parking area consistent with the configuration at the time of condemnation in July 2002.?
Future ownership of the property ? whether the Knaufs will get to keep it and turn it into pay-to-park facility along with a commercial building or the village will be able to condemn it and use it for free public parking ? must still be decided by Judge Mester.
‘It’s not the most straight-forward situation right now,? Davis said.
Mester originally ruled in 2004 that the village ‘abused its discretion? by determining free parking to be a necessity and using that as a basis to condemn the property. The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld Mester’s decision in February.
An Oct. 20 ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals? ruling and remanded the case back to circuit court for further proceedings.
‘What the Supreme Court now has said is you don’t look at this whole paid or free public parking (issue),? Davis said. ‘You really just look at whether the property selected by the community is appropriate for the use. How are they going to argue that property in the middle of an existing parking lot is not well-suited for a parking lot??
‘There’s some argument that because the ruling against necessity has been reversed that you go back to the declaration of taking (from July 2002),? Davis explained. ‘Generally, when you condemn a property, the municipality does take possessory interest (ownership) right when you condemn subject to valuation, subject to (determining) a fair price. Here you have that glitch in the middle where they ruled against us on necessity so that took away our ownership and we never had to get the value.?
‘The issue of necessity has yet to be finalized,? Davis noted. ‘If and when it is, if it’s in favor of the village, then the only issue would be the price and we would have some sort of a hearing or trial on value.?
An appraisal paid for by the village in 2002 set the property’s value at $170,000. An appraisal done for the DDA last year determined the value to be $561,720.
The Knaufs believe the property is worth somewhere between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Davis said the court indicated it wants the necessity issue ‘decided in January.?
‘So, they’re not going to let it linger,? he said.
Northeast quadrant business owners were pleased with the Mester’s decision to have the parking lot cleared out and re-opened.
Wendy Brabo, owner of A&A Flowers and Gifts, said she and husband Ron were ‘delighted? by the news, but still ‘a little leery? of the whole situation.
‘You’re afraid to get too happy because you don’t know what’s next,? she said.
‘Cautiously happy? is how Ron described their feelings.
‘Certainly, I’m happy about it,? said Brett Knapp, owner of Red Knapp’s American Grill. ‘It’s so ugly back there. At least this is going to clean it up. I’m just hoping they can get this resolved for the long run.?