Wixom council approves sale of 1593 Chanticleer to Pine Cove Investments for $150,000

WIXOM, Mich. — The Wixom City Council approved a purchase agreement to sell city-owned property at 1593 Chanticleer Circle to Pine Cove Investments LLC for $150,000 after a public hearing and council discussion on conditions tied to the sale.

Assistant City Manager Drew Benson opened the public hearing and described the site as a 1.3-acre parcel on the city’s eastern edge along Loon Lake Road that formerly contained a well house. Benson said the well house was abandoned in the early 2000s after the city connected to the Great Lakes Water Authority system and that the city had previously tried several times to sell the parcel without success. In October the city received an unsolicited offer to develop two single-family homes on the site and negotiated a purchase agreement for council consideration.

The purchase agreement calls for the city to subdivide the parcel before the sale, dedicate the southern portion as Loon Lake Road right-of-way, retain a water-main easement on the southern subdivided parcel, and transfer the two resulting lots to the buyer. Benson said the purchaser would be required to address the old well-house stub on-site during the buyers’ building-permit process.

Haitham Omid, representing Pine Cove Investments and Pine Cove Building, told council he and his father have developed in Wixom since the late 1990s and that they intend to work with the neighborhood association. "That's our intent," Omid said. "If this goes through, then I will negotiate with them to add these two lots to that association."

Council members pressed several practical points: whether driveways would access Chanticleer (the developer confirmed they would), that the city would split and dedicate the right-of-way before conveyance, and how inclusion in the adjacent Highgate on the Lake homeowners association (HOA) would be handled. Benson said administration had held proactive conversations with the HOA and its attorney and that agreement could be reached, but he emphasized HOA acceptance is ultimately a private party decision. He said the city and prospective purchaser had discussed the HOA matter and that the city could seek written confirmation from the HOA prior to closing if council wished to make the approval conditional.

Benson and Omid said the negotiated sale limits development to two single-family homes; the city will not transfer the property in a configuration that would allow a third lot under current zoning. Omid described likely product types as two-story colonial-style homes similar to recent Pine Cove work; he said lots would be comparatively large — “around half an acre a piece” — and likely larger than typical R-3 lots nearby.

The council moved to approve the purchase agreement with Pine Cove Investments LLC for the sale of the city-owned parcel at 1593 Chanticleer Circle (property identification number 17-28-329-027) for $150,000 in accordance with the city code provision governing sale of economic development property. The motion carried on a voice vote.

The sale remains subject to the purchaser’s due diligence, required engineering and survey splitting, and any HOA arrangements or easements the parties choose to complete before closing. Benson said administration will continue due-diligence work, update GIS records, and bring any necessary easement or dedication items back to council for authorization before transfer.

The public hearing drew one written comment read into the record from Angela and Joseph Bridal of 1316 Kenniport Circle asking the council to (1) limit the site to two homes, (2) restrict new construction to modest single-family homes consistent with the neighborhood, and (3) allow the new homes to be part of the Highgate on the Lake HOA so new owners could access shared amenities. The council discussed those concerns during deliberations and discussed potential conditions and steps administration could take to make HOA inclusion more likely before conveyance.