A site at the corner of 21 Mile and Hayes roads was the subject of the April 7 Macomb Township Planning Commission meeting. The petitioner planned to build a commercial condominium.
By: Dean Vaglia | Macomb Chronicle | Published April 15, 2026
MACOMB TOWNSHIP — Confusion, insults and questions were aplenty at the April 7 meeting of the Macomb Township Planning Commission, where an incomplete planning document put a halt to a commercial condominium development.
Commissioners voted unanimously to deny WXZ Retail Group’s site plan for a retail condominium located at the southeast corner of 21 Mile and Hayes roads. Brought to the commission by petitioner Equity Homes LLC and represented by architect Joseph Novitsky, the development would be the second unit on the site. A master deed approved in 2008 had two units planned for the space.
Issues began to surface early on in Planning Director Josh Bock’s rundown of the site plan. It began as a minor concern, with Bocks mentioning that one of planning’s requests was to have the lease line removed from the site plan because of its zoning irrelevance. There were discrepancies between the plans and the master deed, which could be worked out between the petitioner and the site owner.
Then came the dimensions of the parking and loading spaces — indicated on similar but different sheets depicting the area — with notes from the applicant insisting the dimensions were included, despite the fact that they were not. When asked to remove one of the documents, some were crossed out but left in the submission by the applicant, which provided comments venting about being asked to remove documents and insulting the township’s planning staff. Data sheets for lighting were said to be submitted, but none were.
But the biggest issue with the site plan was the most legally damaging one.
“The big concern is— well, there’s lots of concerns, I should say,” Bocks said. “One of the most important is evidence indicating ownership. They’ve signed all the application documents and ownership documents indicating that Equity Homes LLC is the property owner, but they have not provided (evidence of) that. They’ve given us a purchase agreement but that doesn’t provide any ownership (proof).”
Township records show Basrah Province LLC as the owner but attempts by the township to contact that entity were futile. According to township records, the owner of the property has not yet paid 2025 and winter 2024 taxes.
While Novitsky asked commissioners to have the item tabled in order to get the documents in order — placing blame on contractors and poor communication and interpreting the department’s questions as hostility — both planning staff and township attorney Benjamin Aloia objected to moving forward with the plans.
“There’s a significant amount of questions as to who the owner of the property is … I believe Mr. Bocks simply asked for proof of ownership — deeds, some kind of owner’s consent written by the true owners. It looks like Equity Partners has signed as the owner — and to my knowledge, after speaking with Mr. Bocks, it was flatly refused to produce this information by this applicant,” Aloia said. “In plain words, it is the applicant’s duty to provide sufficient information in a full and complete application. And it is the applicant’s duty to make sure all the information before planning is complete and accurate and ready for consideration before he requests to be on the agenda. My understanding is he requested to be on the agenda despite the significant amount of comments which have been provided to him. It is not this Planning Commission’s fault or the Planning Department’s fault that he doesn’t have the right plan. It is on the applicant.
“This is truly a waste of time tonight,” Aloia said.
The applicant’s conduct in submitting and handling the site plan won no favors with the Planning Department and the township’s attorney, and there was no friendly audience found among the planning commissioners. Macomb Township Trustee Charles Oliver, who also sits on the Planning Commission, had never seen an ownership issue or as many unresolved issues as those found with the WXZ Retail Group’s plan. Commissioner Michael Tremblay asked Novitsky what the motivation for having the meeting was, to which Novitsky said he was told by ownership that legal issues were resolved and that documentation for landscaping and civil engineering had been submitted. Planning Commission Vice Chair Aaron Tuckfield, who spoke at length with Novitsky, did not mince words when explaining his thoughts to the architect.
“I’ve many, many, many comments from this department,” Tuckfield said. “I believe you took something as negative that was not written negative. There was an excessive amount of comments because there was an excess number of issues, but they were not written negatively nor were they written to attack you. I’ve seen documents when this Planning Department does not want a project. These were not written to deny the project. They were written because the plan, frankly, was poor … And if you want to know why (the Planning Department) probably didn’t talk to you after they didn’t have the drawings, it’s because you wrote probably the most aggressive letter that I have ever seen in any packet in any meeting that I’ve ever been (to) in this township. And you insulted our staff.”
Tuckfield apologized for his frankness in his comments but added “I don’t see evidence from these letters that you are going to listen if I am not clear, and it is very hard for me to read the fact that you’re insulting our employees and not stand up for them.”
To the point of site ownership, Novitsky stated that Equity Homes LLC was “scared to death to buy anything right now” due to the state of the economy and said the LLC “would probably walk” if the plan were denied.
Chair Michael Hardy made the motion to deny the plan, prefacing his motion with his offense at the insults toward the Planning Department and the lack of preparation shown by Novitsky and the petitioner.
“You’ve admitted today that you did not do your due diligence, and this department does their due diligence, or you wouldn’t have come up with 28, 30 items that need to be done,” Hardy said. “Your promises (of fixing the issues) are nice, but I’m not willing to postpone.”
Call Staff Writer Dean Vaglia at (586) 498-1043.