Officials set aside $130K for potential land loan

It appears Seymour Lake Township Park is going to get a little bit bigger.

Last week, the Oxford Township Board voted 7-0 to reserve $130,000 from the building permit fund for a “possible loan” to the Oxford Township Parks and Recreation Department for “a future land purchase.”

Parks Director Ron Davis asked the township to borrow this amount, at a 3 percent fixed interest rate, in order to buy two parcels (see circled areas right), totalling 5.024 acres, located on the west side of Coats Rd., south of Seymour Lake Rd.

“The (parks and recreation) commission is committed to making this happen,” he told the board.

His request is expected to come before the township board at the March 8 meeting.

The parcels, both of which contain frontage along Coats Rd., are surrounded by two of the parks department’s previous land purchases – a 6.023-acre parcel purchased in 2010 for $212,000 and two parcels, totalling 14 acres, bought in 2006 for $225,000.

In both cases, the park and rec. department borrowed funds from the township to pay for the additional land. The 2006 loan has been repaid while the 2010 loan will be paid off this December, according to Davis.

The land Davis is currently proposing to buy is vacant and he intends for it to “remain open space.” He said it would be used for additional parking during large events, such as the Seymour Celebration and athletic tournaments, and as practice fields for soccer and lacrosse.

“They’re not making any more land, so it just makes sense to us (from) a value standpoint to get it (and) to use it for the needs we have now (and in the future),” he told this reporter. “It’s (something) that we can use now. It’s not like we’re buying it and just sitting on it.”

The current owner is Roy Harris, the same person who sold the department 9 of the 14 acres bought in 2006.

“He’s a proponent of parks and rec.,” Davis said. “He likes what we’ve done with the entire park and he sees the benefits that it has for the community and the kids.”

Davis noted there will be “no additional cost” to maintain another 5 acres because the department’s been mowing it for Harris for years and he, in turn, has allowed its use for event parking.

“It’s not like it’s going to affect our budget,” he said. “We’re already doing it.”

Davis is once again asking the township board for a loan not because his department lacks the necessary funds, but because it has a big building project coming up this year in Seymour Lake Township Park.

The department is planning to transform the park’s former maintenance facility into a new 2,528-square-foot home for the park and rec. administration, complete with a 2,095-square-foot, multipurpose community room and 70-space parking lot.

“I’d like to be in there by Aug. 1,” Davis said. “That’s our goal.”

The estimated cost for this project is $500,000, of which $400,000 is being derived from the proceeds of the township’s 2015 sale of the Oxford Veterans Memorial Civic Center.

Davis noted the department could use money from its $220,000 in reserves to purchase the additional 5 acres, but he thinks “it’s more important” to save it for this upcoming building project than potentially “short ourselves.”

“I assure you, we have the funds to pay it, but I would just as soon borrow it from you,” he told the board. As further proof that he’s good for the loan, Davis reminded officials his department will receive an extra $15,600 in revenue annually thanks to the new 195-foot Verizon Wireless monopole that’s going to be erected in Seymour Lake Park.

 

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