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“I do not want an amphitheater in my
back yard. I do not want the noise. I do not
want the litter. I do not want the activities
taking away from the community. I do not
want the traffic,” she said at a recent board
meeting.
Options discussed during the meeting of
citizens last week included seeking legal
remedies although homeowners had several
questions for the two attorneys. Residents
cited theMichigan Charter Township Act 359
which states that bonds shall not be issued
for local improvements without the vote of
the electors.
Funds for the $1.9 million recreation proj-
ect, including the $350,000 outdoor
amphitheater, a $650,000 year-around picnic
pavilion-warming station, improvements to
the township owned golf course, footbridge,
playscape, spray-scape and other projects
came from bond sale approved by a 4-3 vote
of the board of trustees.
Bonds are being used to pay for $1.77 mil-
lion in additional expenses added to the 2013
capital improvement budget. Officials said
they could obtain $524,000 in government
grants and private and corporate donations
toward the projects. The vote increased the
township capital projects budget from
$785,000 to $2.55 million. Bond repayment
will be fromgeneral fund tax dollars over the
next decade.”It's all about transparency, said
Hunter. “I don't want to accuse the board of
anything.”
“I didn't know this project existed and the
more questions I asked the less I knew and
the more insulted I became. From 2010 to
2014 I can't find any discussion of the
amphitheater. The project went from $18,000
to $28,000 to $40,000 and in 2013 to $1.9 mil-
lion.”
Plymouth Township Trustee Bob
Doroshewitz agreed with Hunter that
trustees, residents and voters should have
been apprised of the depth and details of the
project before any building or financial com-
mitmentsweremade.
Doroshewitz, who attended the meeting
with Trustee Chuck Curmi said he feels the
whole project needs a “critical review.”
“We had no discussion (of the details) until
the meeting on April 23, 2013. This was done
intentionally. By the time youwere informed-
the decision had been made. By the time I
knewabout it, it was a done deal.”
Stewart concurred.
“We need to get back in control…Where's
the fiscal responsibility?”
Stewart questioned the logistics of the
project sighting the existing two-lane roads,
traffic control and noise as some of the nega-
tives.
“Where does this fit into the park?”
Stewart said. “It doesn't fit!”
The park already offers an array of ameni-
ties for community gatherings, including
three sheltered gathering places, walking
paths, children's playscape areas, a fishing
pond, four baseball diamonds and sledding
runs. In addition there's an 18-hole golf
coursewitha clubhouse and restaurant.
“Lets make it clear, it's not a small vocal
group who's objecting to this.” Doroshewitz
said.
A
SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
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ICHIGAN
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AGE
3
July 3, 2014
Meeting
FROM PAGE 1
C
ANTON
- N
ORTHVILLE
- P
LYMOUTH
A groundbreaking ceremony
June 25 at the corner of Haggerty
and SevenMile roads inNorthville
Township marked the beginning of
construction of the secondphase of
a large retail, restaurant and
mixed-use complex that's taking
shape on the site of the former
State of Michigan Regional
PsychiatricHospital.
The hospital closed in May 2003
and its 400-acre campus was sold
by the state three years later. In
2009NorthvilleTownship acquired
part of a 350-acre parcel that
included the hospital's remaining
15 structures. After completing a
brownfield cleanup at the site, in
2012 the township announced
plans to redevelop the former hos-
pital site into a large recreational
park with trails, walking paths,
ponds and gardens.
REIS-Northville, a joint venture
between Livonia-based Schostak
Brothers & Company and REI
Investment Group, Inc. of
Bloomfield Hills, are moving for-
ward with the 82-acre develop-
ment called Northville Park Place
that will comprise 500,000 square
feet of commercial space.
According to the development
team, in the following weeks the
University of Michigan Northville
Health Center is set to move in a
$39 million, 100,000-square-foot
facility built at the site during
Phase I by contractor George W.
AuchCompany.
The second phase of the
Northville Park Place project
encompasses 22 acres and will be
built by Sachse Construction, a
commercial construction company
based in Detroit. It will include
65,000 square feet of retail and
restaurants scheduled for comple-
tion in mid-January 2015, with
interior tenant build-outs occur-
ring through the first quarter of
2015. The developers have also
announced the names of the busi-
nesses that have already leased
space at the site: Granite City Food
& Brewery, Rusty Bucket, Sherwin
Williams, Chipotle Mexican Grill,
BurgerFi (which opened its first
Michigan location in Ann Arbor
last year), and Jimmy John's. The
list of retail and restaurant tenants
is expected to be complete by mid-
2015.
Designed byWahYeeAssociates
of Farmington Hills, Northville
Park Place promises to be a stand-
out from an aesthetic and experi-
ential standpoint. The complex
will include three individual
ponds, each of themhaving its own
floating fountain, and a unique ele-
vated waterfall feature in the pond
closest to the 7 Mile and Haggerty
corner. Close to the ponds area, the
complex will feature a paved plaza
that will offer visitors an abun-
dance of benches, outdoor seating
and comfortable places to relax
and socialize.
The Plymouth-Canton Community
School District is now a limited School of
Choice district.
Members of the school board made the
decision last week on a 5-1 vote (with trustee
MarkHorvath absent) to open enrollment to
up to 200 kindergarten through second
grade students fromother communities.
District officials said themovewas neces-
sary to combat both dwindling resources
and a declining school enrollment at the
elementary level-trends that they did not
see reversing in the coming years. They also
pointed out that many neighboring districts
have limited schools of choice programs.
The meeting was moved to the theater at
CantonHigh School, after an online petition
against the proposal garnered more than
900 signatures. The concerned parents,
many of whom held up signs urging the
board to vote against the idea, had a number
of objections to it, including: the potential
negative impact on property values, the
decline in service to in-district children, and
the fact that the district is, even now, build-
ing a new middle school. Many also said
they didn't have an opportunity to adequate-
lyweigh in on the plan.
Mike Maloney, the lone no vote, said he
had long been opposed to the idea. At a
recent candidate forum in Canton
Township, he brought up the idea, saying it
was bad for the community because of the
decline in property values it would cause.
He also said the board hadn't gone far
enough to cut costs and said it would be a
better idea to reduce the amount of admin-
istrators the district has, close additional
elementary schools, and take additional
measures to keep costs down before the dis-
trict opened its borders. He also read a let-
ter that Horvath had prepared in opposition
to the plan.
The Schools of Choice could bring in as
much as $1.5 million annually, said School
Superintendent Michael Meissen, and was
needed to offset recent reductions in per
pupil school funding.
District officials said they would post
information on how to apply to the schools
of choice program, which will be in effect in
the 2014-2015 school year, on theweb site.
After completing a brownfield cleanup at the site,
in 2012 the township announced
plans to redevelop the former hospital site...
”
Developers break ground on second project phase
Plymouth Canton board OKs schools of choice plan
Charter Township of Canton
Notice of Public Accuracy Test
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE
that the Clerk's Office will conduct a Public Accuracy Test of the Optical Scan tabulating equipment to
be used for the Primary Election to be held on Tuesday, August 5, 2014. The test will take place on
Thursday , July 10, 2014 at 4:00
p.m.
in the
Clerk's Office
, in the Township Administration Building, 1150 S. Canton Center Road. This test is open to all interested
parties. For further information, contact the Clerk's Office at 734-394-5120.
Terry G. Bennett, Clerk
Publish: July 3, 2014
EC070314-0958 2.5 x 1.469
Lets make it clear,
it's not a small vocal
group who's objecting to this.
”