By Lisa Carolin
Whether to preserve the existing Lima Township Hall building or to build another building on the property, or to do both, is the decision weighing on the minds of Lima Township officials, who will soon be opening up the topic to residents of the township.
Members of the township board, planning commission, and the ad hoc building planning committee met for a work session about the topic on Dec. 5.
Planning Team Chair Ed Greenleaf reminded the group that they’d been discussing the options for more than seven years.
“We’re going to get new figures (on the cost of renovation and the cost of a new building) and we’d like the board to get a figure of their own,” said Greenleaf.
Board Member Greg McKenzie recommended that the board come up with a top end number of what the township can afford to spend on the project.
Opinions at the work session ranged from preservation of the Lima Township Hall building, which was built in 1849, to demolishing the building.
“This building is full of mold,” said Township Board Member Don Laier. “It’s not safe. It doesn’t meet the fire code. 100 percent of what’s here you have to spend money on.”
McKenzie called the bathrooms in the back hall “reprehensible.” and Supervisor Craig Maier said, “Our handicapped access is not up to spec.”
Clerk Elaine Bater said, “The parking here is horrendous. I want to make it more attractive to park in the parking lot than on the street. We have seen a big jump in our population in a short time. For elections, this hall is not going to work anymore.”
The Lima Township Hall building has had any number of renovations including electrical updates, ceiling replacement and insulation added in the late 1970s and more recently, support added to the main hall because it wasn’t built to hold the number of people that use the building.
McKenzie said that in the 30 years he has served the township, there were only three times that the meetings couldn’t be held in the building.
SEMCOG (South East Michigan Council of Governments) Representative Tom Borton listed three options:
“We can put a significant addition on this building, or move this building to the east side of the site and put on an addition, or build a new building on the east side of the site.”
The next step is for the ad hoc committee to update the costs of those options, and for the board to come up with a cost limit, and then another meeting will be scheduled.
