Community Group Steadily Gaining Support to Repurpose Central Middle School

Becoming the spokesperson for the Plymouth Arts and Recreation Complex (PARC) Steering Committee has become a full time job for long-time Plymouth resident Don Soenen. 

Soenen has been fielding daily requests from different community organizations for PARC's presentation about its mission to convert Plymouth-Canton Schools Central Middle School property into a community center for arts and recreation.

The presentation has been made to the the Board of Education and Plymouth-Canton's Administration team. On Friday, Soenen met with the district's Finance Committee.  

"Usually, you're scrambling to get 51 percent of people to agree on anything," he said. "I have to tell you, I have never seen support for anything like this in my career."

PARC will also hold a public forum on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Penn Theatre. to education people on what the project is about and to solicit support. 

"The thing that is so attractive about this project is there is a tremendous amount of emotional attachment in this community to that school," Soenen said. "A lot of people went to school there. That facility has been there almost 100 years, so it has a lot of history in this community... There's not another site in all of Plymouth that is as suitable for an arts and recreation center as that is. The proximity to downtown, the fact that all the athletic fields are already used by a large number of people in our community... I can't imagine that we would eliminate all that and wipe out the ability of that site." 

Plymouth-Canton Schools is currently conducting an internal evaluation to determine its options to dispose of the property. According to Superintendent Mike Meissen's recommendation regarding the Central property, the district is considering its options and will hold community forums with group input starting next month and into December. 

In the meantime, PARC Steering Committee members as well as members of other community groups who use Central Middle School's facilities have been attending regular school board meetings and asking board members not to sell the property. 

Groups like the Plymouth-Canton Cruisers competitive swim team would have to significantly reduce the number of participants in their programs. 

"Part of the problem that we have is there's very limited pool availability in the Plymouth-Canton area," said John Goit, a Plymouth-Canton Cruiser Board Director. "Basically, the only pool access we have are the two high schools and central middle school. We have about 250 swimmers in the club currently and the waiting list over 100 kids. If Central closes, we're going to have to cut down because we wouldn't have enough pool time to facilitate 250 kids."

The Cruisers are made up of kids from ages 6 to 18 and is part of USA Swimming. They compete against other clubs in Michigan and sometimes out of state as well. 

"We basically have all the lanes filled to capacity right now," Goit said. "We would take more kids in the club if we could get more pool time."

Central is the only middle school in the district with a pool, and only two of the three high schools have pools. Goit said the Cruisers lobbied and asked Board members to include a pool at the new middle school to be built in Canton, but the idea was not supported.

"The school board is very non-supportive of athletics," he said. 

Soenen said there are a lot of options for the property, and ideally, the project needs to be a collaboration between the district, city and township. 

"We need the city, township and school district together at the table to sit down and figure out the best way to finance it," he said. "It maybe a combination of public funding and private funding, and possibly a millage. The amount of money involved, if it involved the city and the township alike, would not be that significant for the average homeowner. We really need to sit down and figure out those options. It would require a millage of some sort, not much, to help subsidize the construction of the facility. I think it can certainly hold its own as far as operating expenses are concerned."

Soenen estimates the group will need about two years to put all the pieces in place and to get all the players on the board. After that, the community is looking at another two years for architectural designs and construction. 

What do you think should happen to Central Middle School? Tell us in the comments.