Harrison expresses their displeasure with city council with a "toilet display". Listen to the background and unusual circumstances behind the issue in an interview with Brian Thomas.  For details, click here to go to the Harrison Front Door Project on Facebook.

Information about the Harrison “High Density Development”
Oakland Hills – Gradison Development / Ryan Homes

Plot Plan:

Key Observations on Plan:

• The size of each home lot compared to the existing homes in the area.
  • These are extremely tiny compared to existing homes.
• It looks like public housing! 243 mini-homes/town houses in a rural setting
  • Rack and stack the homes tightly together.
  • Curious to know if there is any zoning to prevent this development from becoming the next Section 8 disaster zone.
• No plans for the impact to roads, traffic, sewage, schools...

Local Opposition – “The Front Door Project”

• The meetings regarding this development have been packed.
  • The meeting where the decision was made to move forward filled two rooms.
• There was a petition filed to oppose the development with 1,000 signatures!
• Apparently Harrison has other developments from this same team that have not gone well.
  • Comments from Gail Chuck, Chairman of the Harrison Tree Board
    • “The Harrison Tree Board has been working directly with Gradison/Ryan, and Mark Gradison, for well over 6 years. They know this developer/team well. In that time, they have encountered numerous compliance issues, deceptive practices, and a frustrating lack of cooperation.

History

• This proposal was rejected twice at 262 units and 255 units.
• Very little changed from the last rejection except for the makeup of the city council.
  • In January two new board members were appointed – Doug Abrams and Ray Acra
  • The people at the Front Door Project have been told that these appointments were done by the local GOP precinct people which includes Cindy Abrams and one of other City Council members.
• Final vote was 4 to 3 to allow the development
  • The new appointees approved the project along with the husband/wife team of Jerry and Jean Wilson

Main Observations:

• Never in my experience have I seen a public uprising of even a tenth of this size being rejected by the “elected officials”.
  • For reference, the City Council Members of Harrison received roughly 2,300 votes in November 2023.
    • So almost half of those voters signed a petition to stop this development!
• What changed? The plan was nearly identical to the one defeated last time.