Site previously planned for new fire station

By Jim Newell
Review Editor
In June 2013, Orion Twp. closed on a land purchase deal for three parcels on Atwater Street with the intention of building a new fire station on the site.
Now, Orion Twp. is looking to sell the property and has recently received an offer.
The township also plans to renovate fire station number one on Anderson Street, instead of closing that station and building a new one on Atwater, an idea that had originally been explored when the township purchased the property.
During its meeting on Monday, the township board of trustees authorized it realtor to present a counter offer to a bidder who made a $108,000 offer on the property last weekend.
The township’s real estate agent, Kathleen Sanchez, said two parcels are zoned for single-family use but the third parcel doesn’t have enough frontage to be sold for single-family use. The township has received five inquiries about the property recently.
Sanchez, an associate broker with Real Estate One, recommended that the township sell the property as one unit and not try to break it up into parcels and sell it off piecemeal.
“It’s a nice piece of property, but the size is the major limitation for people looking at it for mixed-use,” she said. “So, it made sense to do it as a package.”
The township board directed Sanchez to make a counter offer of $155,000, subject to attorney approval.
Sanchez told the board that the property should be valued more in the $150,000 – $159,000 range, on the high end, but that buyers were going to try to get the best deal possible.
Board Trustee Michael Flood, Jr., said he would like to see a breakdown of all the township’s expenses on the Atwater property at the next meeting.
“As a board, we finally decided that we no longer need that property, since we’re renovating station one,” Flood said.
The township purchased the property for about $205,000 in 2013, but then had additional costs to demolish the three homes on the land, permit fees, sewer and water fees.
The township had asked the Village of Lake Orion to waive the $1,200 in permit and demolition fees, but the village council denied the request.
Since around 2005, the Village of Lake Orion has requested the moving of Fire Station #1 from the downtown district due to issues raised by Lake Orion events, such as parades which block off streets near Station #1, according to Lake Orion Review records.
“I’m in no hurry to sell this property instead of giving it away,” Flood said on Monday.
“We’re not going to break even, we’re going to lose money,” Barnett said, adding that the township will save about a million dollars by renovating the Anderson Street fire station instead of building a new station at the Atwater property.
“The other thing that the village could thank us for is that we cleaned up three blighted houses,” Barnett said.
“It is a viable piece of property, it is in a good location,” Treasurer Donni Steele said.
Flood, an Orion Twp. firefighter for 10 years at the Gregory Road station, said that building a new fire station would cost in the $2.2 million dollar range.
Completion of the renovations and full occupancy of fire station no. 1 is tentatively planned for Dec. 1.
The township anticipates a budget of $800,000 to $1.2 million for the project.
Fire Station No. 1, at 93 S. Anderson St., was originally constructed in 1980 and is a 5,100-square foot building.
Proposed renovations include replacement or updates to various building systems and the renovation will re-program and expand existing spaces so the station will adhere to current department operation standards. Currently, there are no facilities at the station to accommodate female firefighters.
The outside of the building will undergo updates including a new roof and new brick exterior cladding.
The Orion Township Fire Department will still have partial use of the building during the construction process, and at no time will fire services be completely eliminated.
There are also plans to build a public restroom attached to the building so that people at Children’s Park, the farmer’s markets at the nearby Orion Art Center, those coming off the Paint Creek Trail and other events can use the facilities.
Flood added that the township is not spending any taxpayer dollars on the new restrooms at the fire station from the dedicated fire millage, and regular upkeep and maintenance will come from the general operating budget.
“It’s long overdue and it’s still a good location and it’s going to be aesthetic for our community,” Flood said. “It will also serve our female firefighters.”