Owners of Briarwood Estates request minor subdivision of parcels; residents express dissatisfaction with management
PLYMOUTH—DURING the Plymouth Plan commission, the owners of Briarwood Estates requested a minor subdivision of one of the outlining lots in their “condominium regime,” zoned R-3 Residential. after much discussion, the Plan commission voted to approve the request, but with much reservation. The lot in question, 2706 Briarwood ave., is currently sitting on two parcels and is the office for Briarwood Estates. It is owned by Dave crantz and carla Jetton of MHP, LLC.
Briarwood Estates, which is off of Hoham Dr., is a homeowners association (HOA) in which residents purchase a mobile home and manufactured home, then pay HOA fees for the lot on which the house sits. In recent years, the Estates has fallen into some disrepair with one resident during the meeting claiming that the road through the property, which is privately owned by the applicants, has over 100 potholes.
Bernie Feeney, a surveyor for Wightman associates in Plymouth, spoke to the commission on the applicants’ behalf, explaining that the subdivision of the building and the surrounding 0.48 acres would enable the lot to be sold. The money would then be used to improve the rest of Briarwood Estates, especially the “roads and other elements out there that have gone unimproved for some period of time.”
The applicants’ legal counsel, Tammy Workman explained that the applicants, who are based in Pheonix, az
obtained the property in November, 2021 in a deal that exchanged the property for a foreclosure debt. “They clearly inherited a difficult project, a community effort that I have learned about since that time,” Workman said. She also said that when MPH received the property, they were unaware of most of the issues with the Estates. “as problems have come up, as they have identified them they have taken steps to remedy those problems,” she claimed. This was strongly and loudly contradicted by the Briarwood Estates residents in the audience, which resulted in commission President Doug Feece reminding the audience to not interrupt and save their comments for the public hearing.
Workman went on to say that the owners’ next steps included bringing the road up to par and that they were trying to find a resident manager for the property, which the commission agreed was important. “Part of the problem has been that nobody has been in residence to market and maintain it,” said commissioner Fred Webster.
The commission was also informed that the property has several easements, including the driveway access, which becomes the road that leads to Briarwood Estates; a 75-foot easement to the legal drain; and a city utility easement. Because of these, the new owner will be severely restricted. “Whoever does use this property are very limited on what they can do with it. Probably can’t even expand the build
ing or anything of that nature,” explained Ralph Booker, the Plymouth Planning Consultant.
He also reported on the Technical Review Committee’s (TRC) finds on this request during their meeting on Jan. 14, during which it was determined that this property met the requirements for subdivision. After some research, it was also determined that state law does not require a mobile and manufactured home park to have a tornado shelter on-site and thereby does not need this building. The TRC also discussed the road easement. “There needs to be an agreement of who’s going to maintain that road,” Booker said. “I would say it needs to be maintained by the applicant… The city will not accept it—and they [the applicant] would have to ask—unless they bring it up to city standards.”
During the public hearing, one of the residents, who has lived there since 2016, spoke against the owners’ management of the property, complaining about the ever-rising monthly dues to “unmanageable” levels. “They started at $117, which is pretty reasonable. Went to $250 immediately, before we even knew they had bought the HOA, and then it’s $375 now,” he said, explaining that trash service, sewage, and water are no longer included as of the last rate raise. “I’m disabled; I’m on a fixed income. There’s no way I can continue to live there and I do not have a backup plan. I cannot continue to live there at that rate and I am almost 100% positive that it will go up again.”
He also spoke to the road situation. “As time went by, each successive owner—which they’re the third—has said they’re going to take care of. Nobody’s done it.” He went on to express strong consternation about the owners’ motives and goals, calling into question even their ethics regarding the management of the property. He was the only one to speak, but others sitting in the audience declined to speak, explaining that his comments expressed the opinions of all in attendance.
After hearing these remarks, the commissioners clarified with Booker that the purpose of the proposal was to divide off one lot from the rest and had no effect on the management of Briarwood Estates. “Dividing off the lot, whether that happens or does not happen, all these other situations he’s talking about will still continue,” Booker agreed. “It’s the lot only. The way I read the law, it’s kind of a ministerial kind of agreement. If it meets all of our subdivision requirements, it takes quite a question to not do it. Now… if you can say that it’s going to cause injury and negative things to the community, you can deny this request. Now the applicant has 30 days to go into the circuit court from this day if they feel like you denied them for the wrong reasons, and you have to prove whatever reason you denied it on.”
Webster moved to approve the request. “Since the issue is the lot and the lot only, I will will make a motion to approve this, although I will not be very popular in the room. But we are only working with the lots that need to be taken care of.” After some more discussion, the vote passed six-to-one with one abstaining. However, almost all the commissioners noted reservations and dissatisfaction with the situation.