The proposed Heritage Pointe subdivision — long a subject of dissension in the area — has received the go-ahead from the Chelsea Village Planning Commission.

Planners voted Dec. 16 to recommend the construction of the first 76 homes on land commonly referred to as the Martin Merkel farm, located north of Railroad Street and east of Taylor Lane, off Dexter-Chelsea Road.

The approval of Heritage Pointe follows nearly four years of give and take between the commission and developer Steven Fisher of FFH Enterprises, as well as efforts by an ad hoc citizens group, the Committee for Chelsea Parks, to preserve the land for open space.

Commissioners Ann Valle, Kim Soule-Broekhuizen and Richard Haugen voted against the majority.

The recommendation will be forwarded to the Village Council for consideration.

The 76 units on 26.2 acres, a combination of detached housing and condominiums, are likely to be the first installment of a five-phase development plan that is expected to encompass 147 acres and 352 homes.

An additional 10 acres has been dedicated to the village for the expansion of its water treatment plant.

After the completion of the first phase, a traffic study will be conducted at the developer’s expense to see how further phases will affect traffic on Dexter-Chelsea Road.

After the meeting, Valle said being in the minority on the vote was frustrating because this is the last large tract of land left in the village.

She said the planned-unit-development agreement, which was crafted by the council, ignored too many recommendations by the commission. A PUD allows both the developer and the municipality to work around the underlying zoning restrictions.

Valle said there was no mention of the commission’s architectural recommendations in the council-composed agreement, leaving too much of the aesthetics in the hands of the developer.

"When it appears that we do not have control over development, I ask myself, ‘What is our job, anyway?’" Valle said.

Commissioner Peter Feeney said, as a longtime resident of Chelsea, he would like to see its rural character maintained.

Once the land was annexed from Lima Township, he said, it was ripe for a developer to legitimately request a rezoning. The Planning Commission could then only negotiate criteria for the development the best it could in accordance with the ordinance.

Feeney said the presence at the meetings of a court recorder — hired by the developer — was a clear indication that a multi-million-dollar lawsuit would have followed if the commission overstepped its bounds.