By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

At their regular meeting on Nov. 9, the Lake Orion Downtown Development Authority Board of Directors approved the purchase of new playground equipment for Children’s Park.

Boardmember Ken Van Portfliet made the motion to authorize the purchase of the playground equipment requested not to exceed $78,210, and to approve a budget amendment of $60,210, pending village cost-share agreement. The motion was seconded by Boardmember Lloyd Coe.

The vote passed 7-1 with Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett casting the lone nay vote.

In July, Village of Lake Orion Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee members Rosemary Ford (committee chair), Teresa Rutt (committee secretary and village Councilmember) and Cristy Garbacik presented plans for potential new playground upgrades at Green’s Park and Children’s Park to both the DDA board and the village council.

The parks and recreaction committee receives only $5,000 annually in the village budget, making it difficult to fund large-scale capital improvement projects.

Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee members have cited safety concerns with both of the play structures in Children’s Park, including protruding bolts, cracks and rust.

“I have videos of my younger son over on the small structure and there are pieces of it that are loose. It’s missing bolts, there are bolts protruding from the deck and if it doesn’t get replaced this spring, I’ll have to recommend removing it from the park for safety reasons,” said Rutt.

In September, the committee received a $50,000 T-Mobile grant for new playground equipment at Green’s Park but had yet to secure funds for playground equipment at Children’s Park despite being the more frequented of the two.

The DDA regularly holds events in Children’s Park, including the recent Halloween Extravaganza that saw hundreds of children throughout the duration of the four-hour event.

“One of the reasons we’re coming to you to ask you for your partnership in this is because it’s so heavily used and there’s a direct benefit to the downtown for it,” Rutt said.

Several members of the board supported the purchase and expressed their thoughts on the positive impact of Children’s Park on the downtown.

“There’s an economic benefit to this park and the community and I think it’s a great project for the DDA board to get behind,” said Van Portfliet. “I can see it just continuing to be uplifting in many different ways here, all the way from economic to just our walkability.”

Though a majority of the board was sold on the project, Barnett voiced his concerns over spending money for which the DDA had not budgeted.

“There has been a lot of discussion over this over this year, of the concept of the DDA as when people are out of money locally, (they) run to the DDA,” Barnett said. “It’s just (that), if we’re going to start this process anytime something comes to us and we’re going to spend more money than we budgeted, we’re just going to have to be prepared every time something comes, we’re just going to dig into our piggy bank. It’s a slippery slope.”

Instead of the DDA paying for the equipment out of their fund balance, Barnett suggested that the money the DDA captures from Orion Township’s Parks and Recreation millage go toward the Children’s Park playground.

Currently, the DDA captures roughly $29,000 a year from Orion Township’s Parks and Recreation millage; however, that money has already been committed to the Paint Creek Bank Stabilization project.

Barnett added that he would like to see more participation from the village rather than have the DDA pay for the entire project on its own.

Boardmember Joan Sheridan questioned if the parks committee has attempted to seek out sponsorships, or ask the community to get involved.

“This is such a cool thing. It is broken. We need it. It adds value. But this is a big chunk of money that wasn’t planned on, and is there a way that we could get some bigger involvement to help reduce the impact on this budget?” Sheridan asked.

Ford informed the board that due to the ongoing pandemic and financial situations of many businesses, they did not feel it was appropriate to approach businesses for donations. Additionally, charity donations to projects are also on the decline due to the pandemic.

DDA Executive Director Molly LaLone agreed that this project would be a fantastic sponsorship opportunity for community members and longtime residents and offered to have the DDA help with seeking those out.

Barnett also said that he would attempt to solicit sponsorships and donations over the next several months before the structures are expected to be installed.

The structures that the DDA intends to purchase include a Venti Structure with two shade sails, a Cube Structure, six new swings, a Curva Spinner and a double bobble rider for a grand total of $78,210. Additionally, the committee intends to have a project supervisor from the manufacturer come and oversee construction for $1,500.

Installation is expected to take place in April of 2022.