Rumors are flying about the corner of Main Street and Waldon after the lot was recently cleared of most trees and scrub brush.
Land owners Ed Adler and Deanna Olsen said last summer they received a letter from the City of the Village of Clarkston demanding the lot be cleaned up so that is exactly what happened.
The property, currently zoned residential, is jointly owned by Olsen and Adler. Both insist no plans are in place for the lot.
Cara Catallo from the Historic District Commission was appalled the trees were removed and insisted an ordinance should be adopted in the city to prevent large areas of trees being cleared in the future without permission from the HDC. She spoke out about it at a March council meeting.
City officials said all the proper permits, from the Department of Natural Resources and another for soil erosion, were pulled for the tree clearing work.
Many of the trees on the lot were dead and infested with bugs. Some of the wood was ‘junk” and could not even be sold for firewood.
Robert Roth, business partner of property owner Adler at the Clarkston investment firm Washington Management, said property owners like Adler, Olsen and the Sutherland Building owners have a right to develop or clear property they pay taxes on.
“If people want a park there, someone should make them an offer, buy the lot, and build a park themselves,” Olsen suggested
Over the years, various projects were proposed for the lot including an assisted living center, condo’s and an office building and the projects were denied by the city.
Olsen said one of the projects, an the office building was Greek Revival style, would have fit in beautifully downtown project.
Olsen and Adler purchased the lot from Independence Township. Fire Station No. 1 was proposed for the site, but instead it was built on Citation Drive in the township, farther south off of M-15.
Roth said one man offered to buy the lot and build a house. Olsen and Roth added, in their opinion, the lot is not appropriate for residential.
Under its current zoning, the state of Michigan considers the parcel as five residential lots.
‘I would like to see mixed use development there. The bottom floor being a business, the top floor, residential. People want to live in town,” Roth said. ‘Right now there is not anything happening there. No plans. There are ideas. There are lots of ideas, but there is nothing planned yet.?
The real story here, is what do people think should be there, Roth asked.
When it comes properties like Olsen and Adler’s lot or the Sutherland Building, the people speaking out don’t own it, and they are not paying the taxes, Roth said, adding they pay over $6,000 in taxes a year on the property.
‘Think about that – over 10 years paying $6,000 a year adds up to $60,000, and nothing was there but trees. At some point an investor has to do something to make money,? he said.
Some communities have trees ordinances, which oversee tree removal .
Catallo said the clearing of the trees should have gone through the HDC to maintain the appearance of downtown, and the city should think about adopting rules to handle projects like that going forward.
For now, any commercial plans would have a ways to go. For any plans other than residential, the property would have to be re-zoned, an expensive and sometimes lengthy process, Roth said.
‘It costs a lot money to rezone. You have to create plans and drawings. Then there will always be opposition to the project,” he added.
Olsen said the master plan includes a recommendation the parcel be zoned something other than residential.
‘There is so much going on in the city, it’s exciting, but nothing exciting is going on with the property,? insisted Olsen.