By Jim Newell

Review Editor

Could a community center be coming to downtown Lake Orion?

Probably not in the immediate future, but if Lake Orion Councilmember Ray Hammond can find a way to make it happen, he wants the village council to consider converting the Ehman Center into a community center focused on youth and elderly residents.

Hammond made the proposal during the council’s meeting on Monday.

“This is an idea at this point. This is merely an idea. And what I would seek tonight is approval… from the council to move forward with the next steps of the idea, which is framing it up in a request form to McKenna, our architectural firm, to develop a scope of work which will lead to a plan,” Hammond said.

“There are many steps between an idea, a plan and a project,” he said.

Hammond proposed that he, village Manager Joe Young and any other council members who would like to be a part of the planning, to sit down with McKenna, the council’s planning consultants, and discuss converting the Ehman Center on the corner of Elizabeth and Lapeer streets into a community center.

One issue the council faces if it does move forward on the community center idea is that the Ehman Center is privately owned. In July 2019, the property had been listed for $1.2 million.

Hammond told the council that once the planners come in and “frame up their scope of work” that “there will be a price tag on that. Until we do that, we won’t know what that (price) is.”

Hammond said he hoped the initial meeting with McKenna would help the councilmembers learn what they will charge, the cost of the land, asbestos abatement, taxes, regulations and writing grants – “all the things that go into this potential idea.”

“My long-term idea would be to have a grant of some sort fund this entire project, including reimbursing the village for our fees and expenses,” Hammond said. “But the first step is to present it to the council and talk about getting permission from the (six) of you to go forward and make that first step.”

All of the other six councilmembers liked the idea of a community center and supported Hammond’s proposal to put together some preliminary numbers and plans.

Councilmember Michael Lamb said that while he liked the idea of a community center, he did not favor using McKenna for the project.

“I support some kind of community center, whether it be a one room store front, or a big community center like this. However, we just got through the budge proposal and we don’t have a whole lot of money,” Lamb said. “I don’t like McKenna at all. The people are nice, I don’t like them.”

Lamb suggested the village get proposals from several planning groups instead.

Council President Pro-tem Jerry Narsh supported the idea and suggested if the council moves forward with the plan to consider hiring a professional grant writer to find funds. He also said he supported the opportunity to have a community center where local police could work with children, including with the Lake Orion Police Association’s Kids & Kops programs.

“Whatever shape it takes, that’s up to all of us. We can work together and shape this however we want, however we best feel is serving our community, but I think senior-focused, youth-focused, the opportunity to support our children in the summertime; the opportunity to support our children after school; the opportunity to seniors…there’s a ton of things that we can do with that building for our community. Not only for the village, but I think we can expand it out to the larger community if it’s done correctly,” Hamond said.