Three men believe so much in the future of Lake Orion that they’re committing time and money to build a quality development in the village.
Newton Meadows is the dream of Bill Siver, Tim Daigle and Jim Cummins. The development consists of 27-single family unit condominiums on the west side of Newman Road.
Nine are existing residences that will be incorporated into the development. New single-family homes will be constructed on 18 sites.
Siver and Daigle spent the whole weekend at the Flower Fair enticing people to look at drawings of the site and different elevations of the new homes.
They’ve opened up an office on Flint Street, across from CJ’s Cafe.
Siver has had family ties here all his life with relatives owning cottages. He and his then wife moved to her parent’s summer cottage after they were married.
Siver has been a painting contractor for 23 years and does most of his work in the local area.
‘I’m very active. I enjoy giving back to the community. I have a gift that I can give back,? he said.
Siver was a president of the Lake Orion Lions, been active at the club’s district level, is currently president of the village council and sits on both the village planning commission and Downtown Development Authority board.
He’s also a member of a ‘deer camp? that consists of old timers from both Orion and Oxford.
Daigle has lived in the Orion area for 45 years. His family moved out from Detroit in 1959. His father was a golf pro at Indianwood Country Club in the early 1960s. He currently lives in Orion Township, but has lived in the village.
Daigle will be the president of the Lion’s Club next year and is active in the American Legion and the VFW. He works in the mortgage area of Flagstone Bank.
Cummins has been a resident of the village for eight years. The architect liked the lake and small town atmosphere. He’s been a member of the planning commission and the village council.
He’s put plenty of community service time into the community where he previously lived and where his office is located.
Cummins, who designed the homes, thinks Newton Meadows is a good project for the community. ‘It provides people with a chance to occupy a single family house close to the downtown,? he said.
‘It creates additional tax base that’s not in the DDA district.?
Cummins said the homes have two different floor plans that will appeal to a wide range of buyers — young couples, families, older people.
Square footage ranges from 1,300-1,800 square feet, will have an attached car garage. Homes will sell from $210,000-$240,000.
According to Daigle, the development sits on four and one half acres, the lots meet minimum village size requirements and utilities are underground. Newton Circle will be a public street with streetlights
When Siver and Daigle went into business together they started buying houses in the village with splitable lots. The lots were split and sold.
‘We were looking for something else to do,? Siver said.
They were able to obtain the Newton Road property after another developer who had given property owners/homeowners a small deposit to buy land for some future project backed out.
‘We looked at it and liked it,? Siver said.
The men had to come up with $1,000 deposit for each of the property owners. They needed another investor and approached Cummins last October.
The three put a prospectus together on how they were going to develop the property. Ground breaking is expected at the end of June.
One of the houses on the property that was slated for demolition was given to the fire department. They were able to practice fire fighting techniques during a controlled burning of the structure.
Siver said the new homes will have old time styling with wrap-around porches, breezeways, old style street lights.
‘We’re going to preserve as many trees as we can. We’re adding trees also and putting trees at the entrance. This is exciting. I’ve wanted to do something like this for years. It’s marketable. It’s a win win situation for the village,? he added.