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A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
4
April 11, 2013
©2013 IndependenceVillages are
managed and lovingly cared
for by Senior Village Management.
RET I REMENT COMMUNI TY | INDEPENDENT AND ASS I STED L I V ING
IndependenceVillage of Plymouth
14707 Northville Road, Plymouth, MI
South of 5 Mile Road
www.SeniorVillages.com
734-453-2600
There’s a bright, exciting world waiting for you at an Independence Village
community. Our residents tell us all the time how life has truly changed for
them since moving here — and for the better! We are cer tain that once
you tour our beautiful surroundings and meet our happy residents,
you’ll agree that this is the place to be. Come smile with us!
The grass is always greener on our side of the fence!
Greener!
Our grass is
always
N
ORTHVILLE
- P
LYMOUTH
Company pays $1 for
all salvage at jail site
City seeks input on new lights
Antennas removed from tower
The landscape at Five Mile and Beck
roads in Northville will soon change, fol-
lowing approval of a contract to demolish
the former Robert Scott Correctional
Facility located at the site.
The township purchased the 53-acre
site which includes several out-buildings
from the State of Michigan for $1 in
September. Now, the contract for demoli-
tion of the buildings and structures at the
site will repay that purchase price to the
township, according to the contract
approved by the board of trustees last
week.
The contract was awarded to Adamo
Group who will pay the township $1 and
then be able to sell off all thematerials sal-
vaged from the site. The sale of salvage at
the site could net as much as $400,000 on
the open market and will include various
building materials and equipment, includ-
ing a huge generator, steel, concrete rubble
andpiping.
Bids previously received for the demoli-
tionwould have cost the township as much
as $177,600.
Adamo is based in Detroit and is a glob-
al company that was responsible for the
demolition of the former Ford Wixom
plant. Adamo will have one year to com-
plete the demolition although township
officials said they are hoping the work is
completed sooner.
The $1 payment is particularly attrac-
tive since the township could face the loss
of the land back to the State of Michigan if
state officials do not approve of whatever
final use is made of the site should it be
sold to a third party. The City of Detroit,
which sold the land to the state, could also
exercise a clause in the sales documents
which allows them the right of first refusal
on the property, but would have to pay full
market price for the land.
Officials have said they expect to have
the state issue solved in the near future.
The township is expected to market the
land for amixeduse development.
According to a press release from the
office of City Manager Paul Sincock,
Plymouth is continuing to test different
styles of retro-fitted LED street lights. The
city is considering a proposal from DTE
Energy to retro-fit all of the DTE residential
street lightswithnewLED light fixtures.
“Last August, DTE installed two different
styled LED fixtures as a part of a demonstra-
tion project and we asked for public opinion
on those lights at that time. We received sev-
eral email comments from our residents.
Since August; DTEhas determined that they
will use a totally different style LED light fix-
ture than previously demonstrated. As a
result of this change on the part of DTE
Energy, they have installed the new retro-fit
kit on the street lights at AnnArbor Trail and
Harvey,” the release states.
Once again, the city is asking for public
comment related to the type of lighting, the
“look” of the lighting, brightness, the affect
on the neighborhood and would you want
this style of light on your residential street,
the release stated.
To send comments related to the newly
installed LED Fixtures at Ann Arbor Trail
and Harvey please forward your comments
to citymanager@ci.plymouth.m.us [mail
to:citymanager@ci.plymouth.m.us].
Contract workers from Texas used a rent-
ed aerial boom to remove antenna panels
from the Lake Pointe water tower in
Plymouth Township last week. Nextel had
been leasing the space for the antennas from
the township for about $1,900monthly.
Following the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) approval of a $36 million
merger between Nextel and Sprint, more
than 30,000 outdated Nextel cell sites are
being removed from installations like the
one inPlymouthTownship.
Sprint contracted Advanced Texas
Electrical Contracting Services of Houston
to recover nine, 8-foot, panels that have been
decommissioned and are incompatible with
the newSprint network technology. The pan-
els surrounded the base of the water tower
at aheight of 130 feet.
Many of the antennas were used for
Nextel's push-to-talk cellular phones, which
have grown unpopular in recent years.
Sprint used the freed-up spectrum from its
2G Nextel network to launch a newer 4G-
LTEnetwork last year.
Elimination of the Nextel brand is part of
theNetwork Vision transition programsince
it took over Nextel in 2008. Sprint says 5,000
duplicate sites will be terminated and the
landowners were notified that cell towers
and cell tower ground leases are no longer
needed.
In 2006 the Plymouth Township Board of
Trustees was approached by T-Mobile and
Metro PCS who wanted a lease to install cell
towers in the township park and golf course.
The board members decided against the
proposal citing aesthetics.
At the time, Treasurer Ron Edwards said
the township was receiving revenue from
the cell tower at the DPW site in the amount
of $16,000 per year and the Lake Pointe
water tower lease was, "over $1,900 per
month."
It is not knownwhether Sprint-Nextel has
terminated the township lease or there have
been offers from other carriers to utilize the
LakePointe site.
A spokesperson for Advanced Texas
Electrical said all Nextel towers inMichigan
were coming down, whichwouldmake them
available to other carriers.
Workers used a he aerial boom to remove outdated Nextel antenna panels from the Lake
Pointe water tower last week.
Photo by Don Howard