Residents filled Orion Township Hall on Monday evening to let the board of trustees know how they felt about the idea of constructing a new community center. Many said no.
The board was presented with four options for a center after a nearly two year-long feasibility study was recently completed. Most of the people speaking at the hearing did not believe any of the options would be an ideal one for senior citizens, both due to space and price.
‘We are quickly outgrowing our space,? said Kathy Wieland, director of the Church Street Singers, who practice at the Orion Senior Center.
‘We’re trying to do it all in two rooms and a dusty basement,? she added. ‘Even though parks and recreation supporters are being encouraged to support option one, which leaves out the seniors all together…you have to ask, what is the center going to give to you that we don’t already have in place in our program??
Option one calls for the construction of a center, with dedicated areas for seniors and teens, at Friendship Park, and renovate the existing senior center, at a cost of $24.5 million/1.5 mills for 20 years, plus .35 mill for two years, start-up millage.
‘It seems to me you already have a community center,? said Lake Orion Village Manager JoAnn Van Tassel, who is opposed to ‘double dipping? village residents for parks and recreation costs.
‘To me, it doesn’t make a lot of financial sense to use my tax dollars to compete with someone providing services for free or privately owned facilities, paying tax dollars.?
Van Tassel suggested the board should look into expanding their current senior center, and join forces with the surrounding communities, such as Rochester and Rochester Hills have with the OPC.
‘I think you could emulate them very successfully and at much less cost than proposed here,? she added.
Clarkston Road resident Ed Peters and his neighbors were at first kind of excited when they heard about the possibility of a community center.
‘Then we had second thoughts,? he said. ‘It sounds like the contract’s signed, sealed and delivered. I don’t see any bidding going on…for a location at Friendship Park, everyone on Clarkston and Baldwin knows how bad the traffic is.?
Peters said it looked like the center would be undersized for seniors, and too small to meet future community needs.
‘With a bond issue for 20 years, at the end we’ll have close to 50,000 people…we want to funnel them into Friendship Park, will they use that?? he added.
Baldwin Road resident Betty McDowell said seniors and young families on fixed incomes in tough economic times could not afford to pay additional tax to fund a community center.
‘What will happen when people start losing their homes?? she asked. ‘We don’t need more millage on our properties.?
‘I’m having a really difficult time understanding why all of (the board) are trying so hard to give the seniors the least that you can,? said Marge Hodges, an Orion Township resident and frequent user of the senior center.
‘I think it’s a golden opportunity to rethink all these things…we’d like to have a center of our own where we can have more room. We want more than you all think we need.?
Lillian Hutchison of Baldwin Road, and a member of the board at the Gingellville Community Center on Waldon Road, isn’t for building a new center, but not for reasons the board might assume.
‘We’re not in competition,? she said. ‘I just worry you’ll tax us out of the area, our family’s lived here since 1955. At a certain age, your income’s quite fixed, and there’s only so much you can do.?
Norm Witte of Wareing Cove was there to represent the younger generation, as well as small business owners such as himself.
‘Orion Township is a great place for small businesses,? he said. ‘I hope the township would never raise my taxes to start a business that would compete with mine.
‘This center will compete with local businesses,? Witte added. ‘I think it’s being sugarcoated…the consequences of building this center have been avoided and not really discussed.?
Harold Tobes, a Nakomis Trail resident and president of the Indianwood Improvement Association, said the board was asking residents to choose from four things they didn’t want.
‘This is an absolute duplication of services already available in the township,? he said. ‘If we want to have that facility and use it, we have to pay for it twice with user fees.?
Burke Cueny, also of Nakomis Trail, said the board of trustees was a Republican board, and generally Republicans are hesitant to spend money.
‘Especially in a hurry,? he added. ‘We have a surplus, let’s spend it. Let’s not give it back to the taxpayers.?
Nakomis Trail resident Carol Cueny said she never saw the petition asking the board to consider a center, and that she heard it only had a little over 900 signatures on it.
‘I do not feel a community center is necessary, and that it’s a frivolous expense of our taxpayer’s money,? she said.
Woodfield resident Wes Fuelling felt it was time for Orion to honor its seniors with an updated center of their own, and Indianwood resident Rosalie Ward agreed.
‘I think the seniors have been forgotten people,? she said.
Senior center director Mary Lou Enneking isn’t opposed to the idea of a community center, but also believed the seniors needed their own space.
‘Where they can feel comfortable and give back to the community,? she said.
Donna Waite of Eaton Gate, past president of the now defunct Orion/Oxford Community Coalition, had originally approached the township about having a teen center, but the board felt a center the whole community could use would be better.
‘We did the phone survey,? she said. ‘Most of the responses I got were very positive, there was a lot of support behind a center for teens.
‘I am for the community center because it’s a start. It’s a place where (teens) can gather,? Waite said. ‘If this center gets voted down, my plea to (the board) is, don’t forget the teens.?
Joe Bird, a member of the parks and recreation advisory committee, said the committee had asked the board to explore the idea of a community center.
‘This was not something pushed upon you by the board or Mr. Dywasuk during an election year,? he said. ‘I think it would be anti-senior to have a separate center…they should be honored by being brought in with the rest of the community,? he said.
‘This will not get cheaper,? Bird said. ‘And there will be more demands for this in the future.?
Dee Gordon, also on the committee, explained that the renderings before the people were just concept plans.
‘These aren’t drawings of what will be done,? she said, adding that additions like a skate park and amphitheatre were needed.
‘It’s time Orion Township realize, they want everything to come from parks and recreation, but parks and recreation has to come to the township,? she said. ‘It’s between the board and the people to decide how to finance these things…Taxes will go up, center or no.?
The board postponed discussion and possible action asking the township attorney to draft appropriate ballot language for a community center proposal, as well as a proposal for a parks and recreation operating and capital improvements millage, until the next board meeting on May 3.