FUTURE GOAL: Here’s potential site for much-needed Plymouth soccer fields
The former home of Lumber Mart at 639 S. Mill Street is being looked at as a potential future site of City of Plymouth soccer fields.
A desperate need for more recreational space in a recreation-hungry community has led the Plymouth City Commission to take a closer look at a long-closed lumber yard as the site of a future soccer facility.
The need for more recreational space within the city is so great, city administrators emphasized, that a recreational soccer age group program had to be eliminated this past fall because there was no place for them to play.
On Monday, the City Commission unanimously authorized a recommendation by city administration to complete a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding and a Phase 1 environmental review of 2.92 acres of property located at 639 S. Mill Street.
First of many steps
The environmental review of the former site of the Lumber Mart, located just south of Ann Arbor Trail, would cost less than $5,000, City Manager Paul Sincock explained.
SME of Plymouth will conduct the environmental review.
“A Phase 2 environmental review would be discussed as part of any future purchase agreement should the city commission decide to proceed in that direction,” Sincock added.
The cost of the property is listed as $1.5 million on the website of the commercial real estate firm listing the site.
The environmental review is just the first of many steps necessary to transform the property into future soccer fields, Sincock emphasized.
“This would allow the city to move forward as a next step to determine if this would even be a possibility as a future recreational site,” the official recommendation stated.
“We could perhaps develop a rough early concept for the site, if that is the desire of the City Commission.”
Promising potential
Members of the City Commission said they’re encouraged by the potential future usage of the abandoned property.
“I think this is a very exciting possibility,” said Plymouth Mayor Nick Moroz.
“It’s a great potential for a new city park,” said Commissioner Alanna Maguire. “It will give residents on the east side something new. I look forward to seeing what the due diligence environmental study comes back at and see possibilities for that site.”
