Developer seeks final OK for live-work units

MILFORD — Developers are seeking final approval this week to create more than a dozen live-work units —the first such offerings in the city — in buildings at Marsh Hill Business Park off Oxford Road.

Oxford Condos, LLC, has proposed creation of 14 live-work units at the 4 Oxford Road site. The Planning and Zoning Board listed several conditions the developers must meet prior to any approval. Among the conditions were to present a full property survey, floor plans for each unit, parking table with bedroom count and a site plan application.

The board set the conditions for the project during its December meeting last year, and now the developers are returning before the Planning and Zoning Board on Tuesday to push for final approval.

The plan calls for creating four units in Building C and 10 units in Building D of the Marsh Hill Business Park into a live-work community where empty nesters, young professionals and established service providers would be able to run small businesses from home. Commercial use can be more than 50 percent of the unit.

Currently, there are two offices in Building C and five offices in Building D.

Attorney Kevin Curseaden, representing the developers, said the applicants own 92 to 95 percent of the units on the site. The original concept was to have all the units turned into live-work spaces.

“We thought we could do the whole space, but bringing this forward through the city channels, we figured this was a big undertaking and a new concept, and we decided to propose something much smaller,” said David Marasow of Oxford Condos, LLC.

The original proposal came before the P&Z board on Nov. 3, 2021, as a special exception to allow the live-work dwelling units because housing is prohibited in the current zone regulations at 4 Oxford Road.

The conversion of the 14 units to live-work properties will take place over time because there are tenants in some of the units, and Curseaden said they have leases that extend over several years.

What makes this different from a regular residence is the front of the unit has a room where the work section is located.

“There’s a screen and sliding door that separates that from the rest of the building,” said Fernando Pastor of Oxford Condos, LLC. “On the left side, there is a stair that takes you to the two bedrooms and the living room and kitchen area in the private zone behind the sliding doors.”