By Jim Newell

Review Editor

There will be a new playscape at Green’s Park next spring thanks to a $50,000 Hometown Grant from T-Mobile.

The village received the check during a presentation at Green’s Park on Thursday. Lake Orion was one of 25 small towns across the country to receive a T-Mobile Hometown Grant and the only one in Michigan.

Village Councilmember Teresa Rutt, the council representative on the parks and recreation committee, began the grant process in June after hearing about the opportunity from DDA Executive Director Molly LaLone.

“So, I put together a grant proposal and sent it on to T-Mobile, literally at the last minute, it was like 11 o’clock on the night it was due,” Rutt said. She then waited and thought the village did not get the grant.

“Then about two weeks ago I got an email that said you’re a grant recipient,” Rutt said. “Then the following Tuesday I got a phone call from someone higher up in T-Mobile saying, ‘You have been selected as a Hometown Grant recipient and everything’s moved pretty quickly since then.”

Leena Jaber, senior regional marketing manager at T-Mobile, said Hometown Grants are part of T-Mobile’s “massive commitment to bring 5G to rural America over the next five years.”

“We just want to congratulate Lake Orion. We have 24 other cities nationally receiving this grant. As a recipient, Lake Orion will receive $50,000 to jumpstart a vital community development project to reenergize the town and build upon what makes them unique,” Jaber said.

“The submission that Teresa wrote really touched the hearts of a lot of people. Having this park here and making it more robust for the community by adding a playscape, adding a pavilion, is really what was driving our local community initiatives, and making the area more community-centric and a place where people can hang out, bring their kids and have someplace to do events,” Jaber said.

During its meeting on Monday, the village council unanimously approved accepting the grant and approved a request from the Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee to purchase a Tree Tops playscape for $49,520 from Penchura, LLC in Brighton.

Green’s Park, on the west side of M-24 just south of Flint Street, is two acres with 560 feet of frontage on Lake Orion. It is the only one of the village’s six parks with lake access.

The current green slide in the park will be removed and the new play structure will be installed in its place, Rutt said.

“If you’ve spent much time here you know that when kids go down it, it hurts. It’s not age appropriate for smaller kids, either. That platform is seven feet high. This (new) play structure will be a structure for kids of all ages,” she said.

In Rutt’s more than eight years on the village’s parks and recreation committee, this is the largest grant the committee has received.

“I’m so excited about what this will mean for visitors to this park especially. Usage has increased over the years and I’m just excited for a nice place for the kids to play here,” Rutt said.

The parks and recreation committee’s capital outlay budget is $32,891, according to Village Manager Joe Young.

The committee’s annual budget is only $5,000.

The committee also wants to build a pavilion in Green’s Park, estimated at nearly $40,000, and replace some playground equipment at Children’s Park off Broadway Street.

“We still have more projects and bigger dreams and we want to be able to complete all the projects that are on our radar,” Rutt said.

“Our village parks and recreation board has worked hard with very modest funding to provide continued improvements which in turn support our growing economy. Today, T-Mobile is helping us to launch a new adventure with new breath and freedom to build on new ideas. We look forward to the many great benefits that our community will have as a result of T-Mobile’s generosity,” said Ken Van Portfliet, Lake Orion Village Council president.

Community Build Day

While the grant covers the cost of the playscape, it does not cover installation, which is estimated at around $15,000. The village will need to provide for all labor, tools, equipment, concrete, unloading and sorting materials, prepping the site, providing safety and landscape restoration.

Rutt said the parks and recreation committee would schedule a community build day in the spring, probably in April, to help defer those costs.

The village DPW will help and an engineer from Penchura will be on hand to make sure the playscape is installed to appropriate specifications.

The village would like community members to join in the build, Rutt said, and anyone who would like to volunteer can contact Village Hall.

Check the village website, lakeorion.org, and The Lake Orion Review for information on the community build day.