City Commission approves first reading for PUD at 111 N. Alexander

ROYAL OAK — The Royal Oak City Commission approved the first reading for a planned unit development at 111 N. Alexander Ave., north of 11 Mile Road.

The owner of 111 N. Alexander Ave. has requested that the property be rezoned from one-family residential to planned unit development to construct two new buildings. 

The matter was discussed during the Jan. 12 City Commission meeting, where it was approved by the commissioners in a 5-2 vote. Woody Gontina and Paul Bastian voted no. 

The owner is proposing to build a two-story 21.5-foot detached single-family dwelling at the front of the property, and a three-story 30-foot building containing two dwellings above ground-level parking toward the rear end of the property. 

This project has been in the works since Jan. 13, 2025, when the first reading was held at the City Commission meeting that day. A motion to postpone the item was adopted. In December of 2025, there was also a public hearing held at a Planning Commission meeting. 

According to Joseph Murphy, director of planning, the petitioner has several different approval processes available in order to try to achieve or request what they are seeking to do. 

“Those four processes include to seek the necessary variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals; to seek what we call a traditional rezoning of the property to something like multiple family; a conditional rezoning; and the last item that they have chosen, which is planned unit development,” Murphy said. 

Dennis Cowan, attorney at Dennis Cowan PC, spoke representing the owner of the lot. 

“This is a very unique lot. It’s at the end of the block of budding commercials, it’s bordered on two sides by commercial, not one, which is typical of properties in this location,” Cowan said. “Its southern border includes a commercial parking lot and dumpster, and also the house on the property has always been oriented towards 11 Mile since it was built in 1937.”

Cowan said that the petitioner and himself believe that the property would coexist nicely with the neighboring buildings and businesses. 

“We did meet with our neighbors back in December of 2024 at the Village Grill, and we had good support,” he said. “There were people that came to the Planning Commission meeting and spoke for and against it, but most importantly the gentleman who lived right across the street who had just built a brand-new home directly across from this lot, came out on a cold December night to say he supported it.”

Cowan also said that it is a thoughtful proposal, and a small response to the larger issue in the 2025 master plan that was passed in May of 2025. 

“Which is looking at more housing options in our community, especially for folks who are working people,” he said. 

Woody Gontina, a member of the City Commission, does not approve of the proposal. 

“I’m struggling with the project a little bit from a PUD perspective, and I appreciate Mr. Murphy sort of laid out the path, because this was the path that was chosen, and by choosing that path, it does establish a higher bar,” he said. “Part of that bar is that there needs to be a recognizable and material benefit to the residents of the project and to the community where such benefit would otherwise be unfeasible or unlikely to be achieved without application of the PUD.”

Gontina said that the benefits mentioned by the petitioner, which are providing housing options, reducing energy use, natural means of water management, and native climate-tolerant landscaping, are not necessarily unfeasible given its current use. 

Mayor Michael Fournier said that he thinks the property of 111 N. Alexander is a unique property that makes for a good location for the proposal. 

“My support of this project came down to a few factors. One, I didn’t get hung up on the PUD part of it. … I felt that a unique parcel demands a unique approach,” he said. “I really think this is one of the situations where we have said we need housing in the city, we have said that along our commercial corridors we need to look at opportunities to bring in density and to bring in appropriate housing.”

The project still needs to come back before the commission for a second reading after the development contract with the city and owner is ready, according to City Commissioner Brandon Kolo, which usually takes around a month. 

Kolo predicted that construction would begin in the springtime. For more information, visit romi.gov.