Lot Split Question Cuts to Core of City's Character and Charm. Part One. February.

What happened ?
 A  lot split  agenda item took a detour when a resident of the City, spoke against it at the planning commission meeting in February.

At first no one  seemed to be  paying attention to the woman. She spoke from a middle to back row with a slight voice What she said was very compelling and even the Mayor who began the agenda item with  a shuffle of papers and selected documents with all the enthusiasm of one getting an early start on 2013 Christmas Cards was forced to look up. Others found themselves equally compelled.


The speaker was Margret Brophy who is one of the more influential women in the City's recent History. When she talks people listen. In fact it has been said that if you were mailing packages at the post office (when the City had one) and happened to be second in a long line when Margret Brophy joined it, you'd be wise to drop out and get behind her to get her take on the City, .

If it weren't for Margret Brophy you would not be reading this publication, Mayor McClure might not have been elected to City Commission and a half dozen other residents who made a contributions to our City, probably wouldn't have been heard of either.How so ? Margret Brophy is a letter writer who's mass mailings urged citizens to attend  meetings and take an interest in City affairs. My twenty years of civic apathy ended when my wife  took a Margret Brophy  letter, scrawled "go to meetings" on it and tossed it in my chore box. I can tell you the  exact day that happened. Tuesday April 21st 2009. History records that I even had something to say.

At the Planning Commission of  Tuesday  8th 2013, Ms. Brophy had said something to say as well which involved a major and minor concern.
The minor was that despite living more or less across the street from the proposed developmentshe had not received  notification of the meeting in the mail as is required. Amy Burton the City's very efficient City Manager, left meeting to check and reported back that Ms. Brophy and family had indeed been noticed by mail. Thus a most unusual situation  Mrs Brophy has a long history of indicating she knows her way around mailings and envelopes. She also knows what official City Correspondence looks like since her husband was the prior Chairman of the City Planning Commission.  On the other hand it is hard to believe that despite her interest and  dedication to the City Mrs. Brophy would rank high enough to rate placement on an enemies exclusion list. A third possibility and probably most probable  is that the city which notices no more than the absolute required minimum set in motion a miscalculation which occurred at the far end of Cranbrook road, one of the City's longest streets.

The second concern was the the lot split would  change for  the worse the character of the the neighborhood and the City.
Almost  everyone else said it wouldn't, So questions were asked. Even by the Mayor who upon recognizing Mrs. Brophy snappd to.

The gist of prior comments was that everything was zoned  A-3  Single family dwelling of an Acre or more but not two which is more or less how the whole City with a few exceptions is zoned.  So nothing usual there. Instead of a big house on a big lot you would  have a big house on a smaller lot. Instead of three acres  it would be 1.6 and 1.4 acres  which would be comparable to a  large lot in say Rudgate. Jonna Luxury Homes would do well for the City and said we should trust them.

Part of the problem was semantic. Cranbrook is a big word with big impact. A spike Property values is discernible.

Then there is the word "luxury". One of the anomalies of The City of Bloomfield Hills is that it is not pretentious or particularly snooty. You can drive an old Oldsmobile or have a hole in the elbow of your flannel shirt and no one with possible exception of my wife will freak out.
                  
Living in A-3 is OK. Living in a Luxury home is not.Nobody in the City of Bloomfield Hills lives in a luxury home.They just live in homes. Luxury homes are those French Chateaux in the Loire or something.

If anybody understood semantics it would Planning Commissioner Mary Kapur who reads carefully and assumes the placement of words involves a certain amount of intent by the author. It was part of her professional career and one she caries over to concerned city resident  as well. Her reading of the language af the situation was that since  Joanna Luxury Homes met all the legal requirements  we could not refuse their request to split the lot. that was also the the reading of the City Attorney as well. A look of pure triumph overcame Ms. Kapur and if a tennis net were anywhere in vicinity she would have been in midair. Game, Set and Match but just yet.

Newly appointed planning commissioner Mary Juras who had been listening intently wondered what was rush. Planning Commissioner Walter Cuetler had expressed reservations about possible previous splits the property had had and wanted the opportunity to study the matter further. By a vote of 9 to 2 with Mary Kapur and City Manager Jay Cravens voting no, the Commission tabled the matter to the March meeting.

A move that irritated the Jonna Luxury Homes who now saw the matter as done deal now which would require them to wait another 30 days and come back again,

Everyone knew the City would not win. The Attorney said so and as a rule they like to keep the City happy. The City Manager was not happy and glowered.  He may have thought that if that little old lady hadn't showed up the agenda item would have been approved. If that was the case, he was correct. Few if any knew what the Agenda item said or where in the heck 2230 Cranbrook Road was.

The Agenda item was not the real issue. At stake was character of the City which is more than a monotonous stretch of A-3 No one knew that better than Margret Brophy.
 And no one realized what English Language words when strung together meant, than Mary Kapur. 

Both women live on opposite sides of town, Literally southwest and northeast. Both live in distinctive  A-3 neighborhoods which add to the City's charm.

Ms. Kapur lives in what is called colloquially called the Hunt Club. Kingsley trail is the main drag. The Hunt Club neighborhood is Leave it to Beaver Land come to life and the friendly neighbors of the 1950's abound. There  is  more  than one neighborhood  association and once there was even a secession involving a tree regulations that was later patched up, and the details in decades long gone forgotten. In the Spring or summer  front doors are left open. People work in their yard and talk to neighbors walking the dog. If the garage is open and the neighbor is fooling with the car or puttering the garden  it is OK to ask if you can borrow a tool.

In the Cranbrook area where MS. Brophy lives the property values are substantially higher than the Hunt Club as befitting the square footage and proximity of the City's most famous attraction. The neighbors are however more distant. You would not  knock on the door next door to borrow a cup of flour or a monkey wrench, or see if any one was  watching the Tiger game. There would be a certain formality implied but never stated  which for the neighborhood of quarter acre walks to the front door, is quite appropriate.

If you attend in the various Board and Commission meetings the City has you often see building contractors, developers and even the consultants the City employs fail realize the city's unique  neighborhoods. If a house is a house wherever it is located then City of Bloomfield Hills would be Levittowm

A-3 or not Hunt Club and Cranbrok are two unique and different neighborhoods in a charming City like no other. Diminish one and you diminish both and if  nothing else the City had gained a month to think about it.