Oxford committee approves site-plan review amendment on first reading

The Oxford Township Committee approved ORDINANCE NO. 2025-19 on first reading at its Dec. 17 meeting, changing local site-plan review requirements to exempt some small-scale expansions and limited agricultural improvements from review.

The ordinance amends Chapter 265 of the Township Code to allow individual-lot detached one- or two-dwelling-unit buildings that are part of a minor subdivision, expansions of conforming permitted primary uses under 500 square feet, and expansions of conforming accessory uses to be exempt from site-plan approval. The text also lists agricultural work limited to crop expansion, installation or reconstruction of utilities, and accessory improvements such as fencing or hoop houses as exempt activities.

"The Township of Oxford desires to amend sections of Chapter 265 of the Township Code to exempt small-scale expansions of permitted primary and accessory uses from site plan review," the ordinance states. Committee member Georgette Miller moved to approve the ordinance on first reading; Deputy Mayor Linda Koufodontes seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Under the notice read into the record, the ordinance will be available for public inspection at the municipal clerk’s office and is scheduled for final reading and adoption at a regular Township Committee meeting on Jan. 21, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 11 Green Street, Oxford. Any person wishing to be heard may appear for or against the ordinance at that hearing.

If any part of the ordinance is deemed invalid, the township stated the remainder will remain in effect. The committee did not take public comment on the ordinance during the meeting.