Urges residents to take online survey

By Don Rush

Every five years the Oxford Township Parks and Recreation Department reviews and changes its Master Plan. The last Master Plan expired in 2019, so Parks Director Phil Castonia is working to catch up.

“With Covid, it just kind of got pushed aside,” he said.

Castonia and the parks and recreation department is working with the planning firm of Carlisle Wortman & Associates of Ann Arbor to complete the plan. “Chris Nordstrom is the township planner from Carlisle and Wortman, he is our contracted help. It’s our template for the future. You have to have a Master Plan on file with the (Michigan) Department of Natural Resources to be eligible for state and federal grants. Some communities do their Master Plans and they sit on a shelf and nobody uses them. We want to make it a usable document,” Castonia said.

He said the plan will include information about the community, population, demographics, how the parks department is administered and operated, budgets and staffing. It also will have a “needs analysis and public participation” section. “And, that is why we are doing a survey. It’s a call to action to the community to complete our survey. We only have one shot every five years to really get the pulse of the community on what they want this department to be, moving forward.”

In his year as the Parks Director, Castonia said more than once people have asked him if the parks would build a community center.

“We’ve gone to the voters for a community center bond, I think twice before in the last 25 years and both failed. The last time we did was about 10 years ago. It failed, but it was very close. At that time we put it on the shelf and accepted that. But, multiple people have come up to me and brought up the subject. Oxford Community Schools are a great partner for us, and we rely on them for all our indoor recreation and most of our classes. Things have changed now, with security at the school and people entering their buildings after hours. They are also growing and their demands are increasing, too. Soon, not yet, something is going to give and both us and the schools will not be able to grow to fill the needs of the community,” he said.

The center he envisions is a field house type building with open gym space, turf space and multipurpose classrooms. “One of the main issues is where would you put it? We don’t have a lot of extra land here at Seymour Lake Township Park. We would have to lose something. It’s going to take up a big chunk of space. There’s no room at Powell and no room at Stony. So, if that does come to fruition, where does it go? If the right piece of land came along we might be able to grow, but it would have to be done strategically and state grant funding assistance.”

The Master Plan is the first step in “getting on that radar.”

“Through the Master Plan survey, we want to know what the community wants from us. What they think we need to do. We have a vision of where we want to go, but that’s just us. We want to do it in collaboration with the residents,” he said.

The survey can be done online, or an eight-page paper copy can be picked up at the Parks and Rec offices at 2795 Seymour Lake Rd., or the Township Hall at 300 Dunlap Rd. Deadline for completing and returning the survey is by the close of business on Friday, July 21. To access the online version, use a cell phone and scan the QR code in this story or visit the department’s website, OxParkRec.org and click on the OTPR Master Plan Survey link. Here’s a direct link to the survey, https://survey.sogolytics.com/survey1.aspx?k=RQsQSWTVPsXWsPsPsP&lang=0.

The survey, he said, needs to be filed with the state by Feb. 1, 2024.

“After the survey is done we will have stakeholder interviews, public hearings and public input sessions,” he said.