Photo by Erin Sanchez Five-year-old Simerpreet Singh, 6-year-old Samantha Mann and 6-year-old Perry Francis, all of Macomb, do some soccer drills at a camp put on by the Parks and Recreation Department in April.

Macomb looking into
selling bonds for project

By Kristyne E. Demske
C & G Staff Writer

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — It’s a place where the crack of the bat is heard in June and kids’ voices can be heard throughout the year, but some say more is needed.

The township Board of Trustees voted at its Dec. 27 meeting to look into selling bonds to pay for phase two of the Macomb Corners Park, on 25 Mile Road just east of Luchtman Road.

“Demand and usage of the parks has been extremely high,” said Township Supervisor John Brennan. “Currently, there is a very favorable market if the board wished to go forward with phase two.”

He said, with the board’s agreement, they would have a financial advisor come to one of the board’s meetings in January and, once the board agreed to go forward with selling bonds for the project, there would be a 45-day referendum period for anyone to voice objections to the project. After that, he said, the sale of the bonds could proceed and plans could move forward for the development of another 55 acres of the 94-acre park.

“It looks like now would be a good time to go forward with that,” he said.

Trustees agreed.

“Given the demand that there is out there, we should move forward with this as soon as possible,” said Trustee Janet Dunn.

Parks and Recreation Director Sal DiCaro said there is a definite need for more baseball diamonds and soccer fields at the park. And, he said, he’d love to add a walking path, as well.

He said, depending on how fast plans proceeded, if a bid was approved this spring, they could move forward with the project by the fall of 2007. If that happened, he said, the addition would be open by the fall of 2008.

“I wouldn’t think there’d be any interruption of anything at the park because it’s a whole other side,” he said.

There are about 1,200 kids in the township’s Little League program and about another 3,000 in the soccer program, DiCaro said, so there’s a large demand for more facilities.

And, he said, he can’t think of any reason residents would oppose the expansion, since it won’t touch their pocketbooks.

“I would think it’s a positive thing,” he said. “More park space helps create community. Anything that we can do, obviously, will be positive for the people, but it does help create more of a community.”

You can reach Kristyne E. Demske at kdemske@candgnews.com