By Jim Newell
Review Editor
Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett’s 2019 State of the Township address on March 27 highlighted the people, businesses and projects that shape the Orion area and tell the story of the community.
Hundreds of people attended the address at Woodside Bible Church in Canterbury Castle for Barnett’s seventh State of the Township.
The State of the Township is always an extravagant production, with slideshow and interactive presentations, pre-recorded video clips, interviews with area residents and Orion Oaks Elementary students, who were asked why they liked living in the township.
Throughout the address, Barnett emphasized that Orion Township is a safe community, attractive to business development and offers plenty of quality of life and recreational amenities for residents.
“Really, the ultimate prize is ownership in Orion Township,” Barnett said. “Vacation runs deep in our blood here in Orion Township.”
Barnett highlighted the 42 lakes larger than five acres and 89 bodies of water in all – 1,782 acres of water, in total – in the township, and the township’s park system.
He also announced that at Lower Trout Lake in the Bald Mountain State Recreation Area, a new water park, Water Warrior Island, will open this summer.
Other State of the Township highlights included:
Barnett pointed out the township’s “Frugal Index” in which he compared Orion Township government’s expenditures per capita compared to neighboring communities, like Waterford, Independence and Oxford townships, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills and the Village of Lake Orion.
“You should be very proud of those seven people you elected to serve you. We do our job really well and for low dollars,” Barnett said. “The average cost per resident to run our general government is about $104 per year. We are doing things very efficiently.”
Only Oakland Township spends less per resident, $73, according to the numbers presented during the address. Orion Township’s general fund budget is about $7 million per year.
“We have a high focus on going out there and grabbing those dollars that support our community. And I’m talking about grants. In the past several years we’ve had great success,” Barnett said.
Grants the township has received over the past few years include: $1.66 million for Safe Routes to School; $1.6 million Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant for the township’s trails to be part of the Iron Belle trail system; $300,000 for the Clarkston Road safety path; $450,000 from KaBOOM for the new playground at Camp Agawam; a $111,000 State SPAC Grant; a $46,000 stormwater and wastewater grant; and $6,700 in grants for the Orion Township Fire Department. A more than $4.1 million total.
The township was also ranked as one of the safest cities in Michigan in 2018 by the National Council for Home Safety and Security, and was ranked as the 79th safest community in the nation by SafeWise.
“When you boil the data down further, we rank 9th in the entire country with populations above 35,000 (residents). That is absolutely remarkable, friends. And we want to thank the sheriff’s office,” Barnett said.
Barnett also highlighted the new fire station on Anderson Street in the village, which came in under budget. He added the township is working toward building a new Township Hall in 2020 on five acres of the 76 acres it owns north of Greenshield Road on Joslyn Road.
The township is also building a new addition at Fire Station No. 3 on Gregory Road and moving fire department administration to that station.
The township is also renovating the Department of Public Works building this year.
“This building is old and tired. We have vehicles that are not able to stay inside (the building). We are not building something like some of our neighbors have, we are just building something modest to help us keep the vehicles and equipment we have operational.”
“The good news, folks, is we’re going to build all of these projects without increasing your tax dollars,” Barnett said. “We’re really excited. The township board has identified some creative revenue streams that we will be utilizing to build these projects. And we will not be increasing your taxes.”
There were 3,235 building permits issued in 2018, down from 3,328 in 2017. However, building permits have stayed consistently between 2,700 and 3,300 over the past five years.
“Our permit volume has stayed very steady and very high,” Barnett said. “If you compare that to our neighbors, you’ll see we’re very active in northern Oakland County and over the last eight years we have been one of the top three building permit communities in all of Oakland County.”
Orion Township received a five-star rating from the University of Michigan 2018 eCITIES rankings.
“We are being recognized almost daily for the things happening in our community,” Barnett said. “This has a lot to do with our collaboration efforts and our planning and zoning efforts.”
Barnett also announced that Johnny Black’s Public House will be going in on Baldwin Road and an Aldi grocery store will be built on Brown Road in front of Menards. A Hyatt House will also be built on Brown Road.
“We couldn’t be more excited that they chose our community,” Barnett said.
The township had three finalists in the L. Brooks Patterson’s Oakland County Executive Elite 40 Under 40 class this year: Parks and Recreation Director Aaron Whatley; Kristin Sliwinski, Learning Options Supervisor for Lake Orion Community Schools; and Pastor Eric Johnson from King of Kings Lutheran Church.