DEXTER, MI — City officials in Dexter are haggling over the details of a potential development agreement with a real estate investment firm requesting 45 acres of land in Scio Township be annexed to the city for single-family-homes.

On Monday, Jan 26, Dexter City Council discussed some of their must-haves and potential sticking points in the negotiation, with some city officials expressing frustration with some demands coming from principal investor David Lutton of landowner Baker Road Land Holding, LLC.

The city and investment firm are in the midst of negotiating a binding development agreement that would set some parameters for any future housing proposals on the land, known as the Sloan-Kingsley property. That agreement would come in advance of the firm applying for the annexation to the Michigan State Boundary Commission, which would have the final say.

Any developer would still have to propose a housing project and go through the process of site plan approval through the city, should the land be annexed, including public hearings and review by the city’s planners and council.

The investment firm plans to ready the site for development and sell it to a new owner.

Annexation could also give the city an opportunity to potentially pursue a new municipal water supply well on the property in the future.

“There might be items that are hard nose, either for them or for us,” City Manager Justin Breyer said of negotiations.

Dexter Mayor Shawn Keough indicated during Monday’s meeting that settling on the terms of a pre-annexation development agreement could take some time.

“One of the things that I’d like to do is to re-engage the interaction with Scio Township,” Keough said.

Township officials previously pushed back on the annexation, prioritizing the land for open space preservation.

In 2023, the township passed a resolution declaring that the annexation request “does not promote or meet township goals of open space preservation or pathways.”

In addition, Scio Township consultant Steven Wright, who teaches environmental engineering at the University of Michigan, raised some concerns about potential impacts on nearby drinking water wells, should a municipal well be installed.

While the developer and city do not need approval from Scio Township to pursue the annexation, should township officials give it their blessing, that could speed up the approval process through the State Boundary Commission.

“I think it’s important, as we go forward with whatever we decide to do, that we engage with them and find out where they’re at with things,” Keough said.

Keough said he also wants to engage the State Boundary Commission to learn more about the annexation process.

In terms of the negotiation between the city and Baker Road Land Holdings, there have been several sticking points.

Lutton penned a letter to the city dated Friday, Jan. 23, with five recommended changes to a draft of a potential agreement the city provided.

“I raised objections to the agreement and subsequently reviewed the agreement with my legal counsel,” Lutton said in the letter.

Whether the city would put on a cap on the number of homes that could be built is one point of contention.

In the city’s draft of the agreement, officials proposed a stipulation that the investment firm pay an additional $10,000 per unit above 100 units and that the number of homes should not exceed 120 units.

Lutton has offered to contribute $1 million to go toward the cost of construction water supply facilities, and those payments would be in addition to that.

“This is new and the numbers are arbitrary,” Lutton said in the letter.

An early concept plan showed 119 homes. In his letter, Lutton offered to pay an additional $10,000 per unit above 119 units.

City officials debated whether or not to cap the number of homes at Monday’s meeting.

“For me to vote yes on this, it needs to have a cap,” city council member Joseph Semifero said. Semifero expressed concern that without a cap, a developer could come back with a proposal for a much denser housing development

Semifero noted that Lutton struck a line through that stipulation in his proposed changes.

Striking it through “is not negotiation,” he said, calling it “an ultimatum.”

Lutton also disagreed with requiring a 100-foot buffer zone between homes and property lines, calling it “a surprise.”

Lutton also asked the city to apply jointly to the State Boundary Commission, which Keough and Breyer said they have never heard of being done.

As far as construction traffic, the city wants the investment firm to get permission from Consumers Energy to temporarily pass over a natural gas line on the property to avoid traveling through the Dexter Crossing neighborhood or build a road.

Lutton told city officials he cannot include that in the agreement at this time. He said Consumers Energy’s initial response was to not allow a temporary road over the gas line and the project’s engineer remains in contact with the utility regarding the issue.

City officials will also have to decide how much detail about a potential future well to include in the development agreement.

The city proposed the investment firm pay for designing, constructing and installing a well that meets all American Water Works Association standards for plumbness and serviceability.

Getting the well plumb, aligned to AWWA standards could be problematic. Lutton asked the city to agree to utilize a submersible pump, which he said “eliminates the question of plumbness.”

Keough emphasized that the well is a potential opportunity and would likely take years to plan for and fund.

He said, early on, the question was whether the city could have a municipal well there.

“Hasn’t it been answered?” he said. “There is water there.”

Baker Road Land Holdings originally started off with a plan for about 237 acres off Baker Road.

Since then, the firm sold nearly 90 acres to Many Hands Lifesharing Community, a nonprofit building housing and community spaces for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers.

The remaining land could potentially be purchased by the township to conserve the mature woodlands and connect it by trail to an existing preserve.

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