By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
 LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council unanimously approved the Planned Unit Development contract with West Construction for the construction of West Village at 55 W. Elizabeth St., known as the Ehman Center.
The approval came during the council’s Dec. 11 meeting with the condition that the developer provides proof of ownership or control of all land proposed for development.
Additionally, council included a performance guarantee for the cost of public utilities not to exceed the amount listed in the Oakland County permits.
The West Village project has been in the works for several years now and in September 2023, the village planning commission granted conditional approval of the final development plan and recommended approval of the PUD contract to the village council.
“We’re close to the final stage. This is the PUD agreement, this is the contract. As part of that contract, the village is, at their discretion, they may impose certain conditions. One condition of site plan approval that has carried on to your recommendation is that proof of ownership or control of all lands are provided before any construction permits are granted. If such proof can’t be furnished, we’ll need to look at a revised or an amended PUD site plan but we want that to just be on the record for this approval as a condition of the agreement,” said Gage Belko, village planning and zoning coordinator.
“Secondly, the ordinance allows for the council to require a performance guarantee to ensure the completion of the project. Typically, these are 1-3% of the project cost, but this is a large project and I think anywhere not exceeding 0.5% would reasonably cover the cost of essentially restoring the site, should the development go sideways. But that is up to your discretion,” Belko said.
Council discussed what kind of performance guarantee, if any, should be implemented. Village ordinance allows, but does not require, a performance guarantee on projects such as the West development.
“It’s an assurity bond to ensure the completion of the project and, not saying that we have any doubt that this project will be completed, but it is in our PUD ordinance that the council may require a performance guarantee,” Belko said. “It’s restoration of the site.”
In attendance at the meeting was project developer, Kyle Westberg, who answered questions and gave additional context to a potential performance guarantee, specifically the issues with council leaving the performance guarantee open-ended.
“My lenders won’t let me proceed forward with that sort of a vague statement or they’re going to make me add to the budget a number that nobody knows. So, it could be just as simple as the public infrastructure because I’ll get a permit from the county and it’s going to be based on that, and then I can do the performance bond based on that county permit,” Westberg said.
Council was vocal about its continued support of the development, which is expected to have 89 units; 29 in the existing structure and 60 in a newly constructed building.
“In the early stages of this, my comment was: it’s a 35-40-year-old car, and it hasn’t run and has flat tires. It’s been sitting outside with a ‘for sale’ sign on it. A lot of people have stopped, but nobody bought. You stopped. You bought. You want to wash it, polish it, keep the original paint and make it run again,” said Council President Jerry Narsh.
The village council approved a Commercial Rehabilitation Exception Certificate, or tax abatement, for the West Construction project in October 2022. The village estimated at the time that the financial impact of the abatement will be around $50,000 to $60,000 in annual tax abatements over a 10-year period.
The council voted 7-0 in October 2021 to approve the Planned Unit Development (PUD) Preliminary Plan from West Construction to redevelop the former Lake Orion High School on Elizabeth Street.