THE JEWISH MIGRATION HISTORY OF GROUP MOVEMENT FROM DETROIT TO SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES IN OAKLAND COUNTY YOUNG DONORS: CULTIVATING NEXT GENERATION OF SUPPORT CONFUSION: THE STATE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA FIVE YEARS LATER ECRWSS Postal Customer PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ROYAL OAK, MI 48068 PERMIT #792
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WESTEND05.14
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13 19 Cultivating young donors Cultural institutions and non-profit groups are now working to develop the next generation of financial support for the future.
Jewish migration
State of confusion
A look at the history of migration from Detroit to the suburbs of the Jewish population in southeast Michigan.
The passage years ago of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act has created a state of uncertainty for local governments.
9 CRIME LOCATOR A recap of select categories of crime occurring in the past month in Commerce, Walled Lake, Wolverine Lake and the Union Lake area, presented in map format.
33 MUNICIPAL Union lake Road construction; township master plan update; Walled Lake water loss; Commerce library move decision; DDA sells another parcel; Byers, senior center discussion; Commerce community awards; Wise Road land use; plus more.
THE JEWISH MIGRATION
42 ENDNOTE
HISTORY OF GROUP MOVEMENT FROM DETROIT TO SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES IN OAKLAND COUNTY
Take the time now to develop master plan for Commerce Towne Place; taking responsibility for Byers Homestead.
YOUNG DONORS: CULTIVATING NEXT GENERATION OF SUPPORT CONFUSION: THE STATE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA FIVE YEARS LATER ECRWSS Postal Customer PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ROYAL OAK, MI 48068 PERMIT #792
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THE COVER The Highland Lakes campus of Oakland Community College on Cooley Lake Road in Union Lake. Westend photo: Rachel Bechard
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11 Jessica Starr
25 Garrett Lipar
31 Maurice Chevalier
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Publisher: David Hohendorf Ad Manager: Jill Cesarz Ad Sales: Heather Marquis Graphics: G.Lynn Barnett News Editor: Lisa Brody
News Staff/Contributors: Allison Batdorff, Rachel Bechard, Hillary Brody, Kevin Elliott, Sally Gerak, Austen Hohendorf, Garrett Hohendorf, J. Marsh, Kathleen Meisner, Laurie Tennent
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INCOMING: We welcome feedback on both our publication and general issues of concern in the Commerce/Union Lake community. The traditional Letters to the Editor in Westend are published in our Incoming section, and can include traditional letters or electronic communication. Your opinions can be sent to westend@downtownpublications.com; or mailed to Downtown Publications, 124 West Maple Road, Birmingham MI, 48009. Letters must include your full name, address and daytime phone number for verification.
05.14
FROM THE PUBLISHER
he April 22 candidate filing deadline for those seeking a number of local and state offices has now officially passed and those competing either in the August party primary or, in some cases where there is no primary opposition, the November general election are noted in a news story in the Municipal section of this issue of Westend.
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With the official start of the election period, it probably makes sense to tackle a common question we get here at Downtown Publications in terms of what type of news coverage for the election we will be offering. Our past approach to candidate races is to either interview in person or by questionnaire all candidates in what we define as local election contests. In the case of the general Commerce and Union Lake area, our definition of local election contests will include the race for the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as Michigan House and Senate races, along with contests for Oakland County Commissioner and 52-1 District Court. As for the August party primary contests, we will be providing information in the race for U.S. House in the 11th District, which is supposed to be a spirited contest on the Republican side that has already generated national attention, and four Democrats have filed to compete in the August contest. We will also provide coverage of the primary races in the 15th state Senate District, 39th state House District and the 44th state House District. There are no primary races in the county commission districts in the coverage area for Westend newsmagazine. Aside from interviews or answers to questionnaires, we will also be offering our recommendations to voters on who we feel is most qualified to either represent their political party and ultimately hold the office. Our editorial endorsements are just one voice in the community discussion of who would make the most sense if elected to one of the positions on the ballot. Although publications decades ago lost the sense of strong sway or influence over voters, we still are an important voice given the fact that we spend considerable time following those who hold office, which we think gives us a bit more
insight than others in the debate over who should be elected. In terms of how we will present candidates’ views for our followers, for the 2014 elections we will be following our past practice of posting candidate responses to our questions on our website at westendmonthly.com. We made the decision years ago to move to a websitebased presentation of candidates in large part due to the volume of information that election coverage generates, as you can imagine when you consider races like the Michigan House GOP primary contest in the 44th District, in which four candidates have filed for the August primary ballot. We also knew years ago when we made this decision that the vast majority of local residents had computer and website access in their home environment. If not, the local libraries all offer internet access as well as computers, Further, posting candidates’ responses to our questions on our website allows us to get the information out to the general public much sooner than if we waited for our monthly newsmagazine to go to press. This is a consideration when one takes into account the growing number of residents who vote by absentee ballots, which are generally sent out about a month ahead of an election. We have also found that many of our readers are accustomed to going to our website for additional news stories that we post each week, rather than waiting until the printed edition just prior to the start of the month. The website for Westend gets considerable traffic on a monthly basis, usually about 20,000 visitors, and has proven a popular addition to the print edition, so if you have not taken the time to sign up for e-mail notices of when we update our website during the course of each week, take the time now to register on our homepage so you receive notices of when candidate information is posted in the months ahead. Our election work will be starting during the month of May and we are looking forward to presenting candidate information in time for those casting July absentee ballots.
David Hohendorf Publisher DavidHohendorf@downtownpublications.com
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C RIM E LO C ATO R
NORTH
Map key
Sexual assault
Assault
Murder
Robbery
Breaking/entering
Larceny
Larceny from vehicle
Vehicle theft
Vandalism
Drug offenses
Arson
These are the crimes reported under select categories by police officials in Commerce Township, Walled Lake and Wolverine Lake Village through January 23, 2014. Placement of codes is approximate.
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05.14
FACES
Jessica Starr
J
essica Starr is the magnetic meteorologist for WJBK-Channel 2 who was once a math and science nerd at Walled Lake Central. “I took a lot of the Earth science and geography classes. I thought I wanted to be a doctor but (my class at Central) went to the morgue and I passed out and threw up,” she laughed. Growing up, Starr often watched the Weather Channel. “I was fascinated with it. Whenever there was a storm, I was glued to the TV.” After high school, Starr went to Michigan State University and later earned a certificate in broadcast meteorology at Mississippi State University. While at Michigan State, Starr interned for WJBK-Channel 2 as well as WDIV-Channel 4. “I would attribute some of my success to Chris Edwards,” she said. “Chuck (Gaidica) and Paul (Gross) really helped guide me. There were times when I wondered if I should keep going and they were cheerleaders for me. They are all kind of Detroit legends.” Starr’s TV career started at WLNS-Channel 6 in Lansing as the weekend meteorologist. She later became the weekend meteorologist and feature reporter at WBFF-FOX 45 in Baltimore, Maryland. There, she covered two back-to-back Nor’easters in 2010. The area endured 55 inches of snow within a five-day period. “We were pretty much snowed in at the station and turned into the 24hour news station. It was an amazing experience that I hopefully never have to live through again.” After four years in Baltimore, Starr targeted the midwest for a new position
in an effort to be closer to her family. In December 2010, she was offered the job at WJBK-Channel 2. “It happened so fast. The stars kind of aligned and I was here at the right time,” she said. “I love being home. I love being close to family. I’m proud to be giving Michigan their weather report.” Since reporting for WJBK-Channel 2, Starr points to the 2013-2014 winter as the most challenging. “We can all say we’ve lived through the polar vortexes.” In addition to her work as a meteorologist, Starr is on the streets of metro Detroit covering the “Made in Michigan” segments for WJBK-Channel 2. “(Made in Michigan) helps promote our great state.” The segments aim to highlight a Michigan product or food item. “What better person to cover it than someone who is from here and knows about it.” When Starr is not on set, she is spending time with her husband, Dan, and one-year-old son, Noah. “A baby will change your life in every way for the better. Everything I do now is for him. He makes me a better woman, a better wife and a better person for the world.” Starr and her husband enjoy Uptown Grille in Commerce Township when they are able to get away. “Being a mom was something I always wanted to be,” she said. “Professionally, I just want to keep growing. I’m really happy right now.” Story: Katey Meisner
Photo: Laurie Tennent
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THE JEWISH MIGRATION HISTORY OF GROUP MOVEMENT FROM DETROIT TO SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES IN OAKLAND COUNTY
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BY LISA BRODY he Wandering Jew, someone without roots in a community, is often joked about as those in the Jewish community move from community to community seeking upward mobility. But the origins of the actual term is a negative one, as legend has it originating in Biblical times with Cain sent off as the original wandering Jew. A story in Genesis has Cain being issued the punishment to wander the earth, never reaping a harvest, only scavenging. During Medieval times, another legend had an eternal wanderer without the possibility to rest until the second coming of Christ, and gave justification to communities as Jews were vilified, attacked and cast out of many eastern European communities. In the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Joseph Jacobs commented, “It is difficult to tell in any one of these cases how far the story is an entire fiction and how far some ingenious impostor took advantage of the existence of the myth.” In reality, Jews have been in America since colonial days for the same reason as other religious and ethnic groups – for religious freedom and to escape religious persecution, just as the original Pilgrims. TEMPLE BETH EL, BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP
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A man named Joachim Gans was the first Jewishborn person to arrive on American soil, in 1584. Prior to that, a Spanish conquistador and converted Jew, Luis de Carabajal y Cueva, landed in what is now Texas in 1570. The first recorded Jew in Detroit was Chapman Abraham, a fur trader from Montreal who in 1762 traveled along the Detroit River. At the time of his death in 1783, his residence was recorded as Detroit. By 1840, there were about 15,000 Jews in the country out of a population of 17 million Americans, according to the 1840 U.S. Census, representing a small but stable middle class minority. Those that came in the 1840s were primarily German Jews, and in Detroit, many entered the fur trade, fishery business and dry goods businesses. At that time, according to historians, intermarriage with non-Jews was quite frequent, until a rapid rise in immigration led to 50,000 Jews in 1848. uring this period, Detroit’s first congregation was formed at the corner of Congress and St. Antoine, called Temple Beth El, by 12 German Jewish families. It originally was a an orthodox congregation as well as a Jewish congregational cemetery. In 1861, Beth El became a Reform temple, having adopted a new set of laws from the then emerging and innovative branch of the religion, and moved to Rivard Street. The change to the Reform movement lead some more traditional members to be very unhappy with the reforms. Seventeen of the more Orthodox members left, forming Congregation Shaarey Zedek, which later became a Conservative congregation. Following the congregational split, the temple purchased a large building on Washington Boulevard and Clifford Street, near Grand Circus Park, where services were held until 1903, when the congregation authorized a new building designed by a young architect and congregant, Albert Kahn, at Woodward Avenue near Eliot Street. Jews, as they prospered, moved northward, near what is now Midtown, and religious institutions followed their worshippers. Shaarey Zedek members worshipped at the intersection of Congress and St. Antoine, and in 1877 built an elaborate Moorish Revival building for its population within the city, where they remained until 1903. At that time, they followed their members out to the more fashionable and affluent neighborhoods of northeast Detroit, from Winder and Brush streets, and in 1913 built a spacial domed Neoclassical synagogue at Willis and Brush street, where they remained until 1932, when they built a Romanesque Revival sanctuary designed by architect Albert Kahn at Chicago Boulevard at Lawton in 1932. Just as with other immigrant groups, Jews immigrated to the United States for better economic opportunities and to escape religious persecution, especially a rise of pogroms, or organized massacres against Jewish villages in Russia, Poland and other countries in eastern Europe. While early Jewish immigrants were either wealthy or middle class, between 1880 and 1914, most Jewish immigrants were poor and from more traditional and observant Jewish backgrounds. In 1880, there were approximately 1,000 Jews in Detroit; by 1920 there were almost 35,000, and in 1937, Detroit was the fourth largest city in America with the sixth largest Jewish community. There was one Reform temple, Temple Beth El, and four Orthodox congregations, Shaarey Zedek, B’Nai Israel, B’Nai Jacob, and Beth Jacob. While New York City and Ellis Island were the first stopping point for immigrants of all colors and
D
Shaarey Zedek, Chicago Boulevard, now Clinton Street Greater Bethlehem Temple
Temple Beth El, Woodward and Eliot, now Bonstelle Theater
B'nai David synagogue, now New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist church
backgrounds, Jews, like Italians, Irish, German, French and other foreigners often made their way to other cities, migrating west to cities like Detroit, where industry and culture were prospering. Familial sponsors provided the opportunity to settle in neighborhoods of their “own”. By the 1940s, a good deal of the Detroit Jewish community was centered in the 12th Street, Linwood and Dexter neighborhood in the city of Detroit, with the Jewish population having risen to 85,000 and the number of congregations catering to its citizens at 48, with many small, neighborhood synagogues. Since settling in Detroit, Jews have always been on the move, seeking improved housing, more space, greener pastures. A northwest migration pattern which began in Detroit has continued to today into the northwestern Oakland suburbs. From 1840 to 1940, the movement was from Lower Hastings to Upper Hastings in Detroit; between 1920 and 1940, to the Twelfth Street and Dexter areas just west of Oakland to northwest Detroit from the late 1930s to the 1960s. After World War II, as first the National Highway Act subdivided the city with the building of M-10 the Lodge freeway, and then developers building affordable brick ranch homes with cheap mortgages in Oak Park, and then Southfield, those inner ring suburbs became meccas of Jewish settlement. “Jews, like other white populations, were enticed by the federal government’s efforts to subsidize suburban living: mortgages were easy to obtain and cheap if one were white, and new developments, also subsidized by government relief, offered plentiful affordable housing in the postwar era,” wrote Lila Corwin Berman in Jewish Migration and the American City. “Encouraging home ownership, especially in newly built suburbs, became a national policy intended to stimulate the economy and produce proper citizens.” he Jews, as another immigrant group attaining affluence, assimilation and success, were striving to become those proper citizens. Robbi Terman, archivist with the Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives, said there were a few reasons Jews were leaving the city of Detroit for the suburbs. “A lot of different groups were moving north into the suburbs. A lot of Jews were in retail and they were following their customers,” Terman noted. “Jews were also becoming more affluent and seeking larger homes and property, and more space. They could show their affluence off with their bigger homes.” Further, first the 1943, then the 1967, race riots precipitated active movement by those Jews who could leave city for greener – and less troubled – pastures. In this they mirrored other groups of non-Jewish, upwardly mobile middle class who abandoned central cities for the suburbs, which was the classic American dream of the 1950s and 1960s, and the antithesis of today: suburban life, which in metropolitan Detroit led to suburban sprawl. As Judith Levin Cantor stated in Jews in Michigan, “As each generation of Jews became more educated, more successful, more American, and more assimilated, the wish to demonstrate all those features strengthened and took the form of new and bigger or better homes in new neighborhoods. Yet more than a quest for symbols of educational and economic achievement accounts for the regular relocation of whole communities. Federation surveys implied that, for all their tolerance, many Jews retained stereotypical views of African Americans
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Ahavath Zion, Holbrook at Brush, now Alpha and Omega Spiritual Church of Christ
Temple Beth El, Woodward, now Lighthouse Cathedral
Manuel Urback & Son's Monuments, 12th Avenue, now Grace Baptist Church
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WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP | $400,000 Year round vacation living! Entertain in style in this fabulous 4 bedroom home on private all-sports Brendel Lake. The spacious gourmet kitchen with built-in appliances. Walk-out lower level. Beatuiful lake views. 4 bedrooms | 3 full baths (214031669)
COMMERCE TOWNSHIP | $365,000 A uniquely designed family home, custom built, on a truly beautiful, wooded lot. Large open foyer, great room with fireplace. 4 bedrooms | 3 full and 1 half baths (214028241)
FARMINGTON HILLS | $335,000 Sprawling ranch backs to woods and pond. Large great room with fireplace, vaulted ceiling, walls of windows. Hardwood floors. 5 bedrooms | 3 full baths (214031880)
WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP | $289,000 Wow -- what a deal! Move right in - READY to go. Well maintained brick Colonial. Desirable location with Walled Lake Schools. 3 bedrooms | 2 full and 2 half baths (214029009)
BRIGHTON | $200,000 First floor master suite and laundry, with a modern floor plan and a short walk downtown! Private backyard with views of Ore Creek. 3 bedrooms | 2 full and 1 half baths (214024768)
WALLED LAKE | $139,900 Enjoy the public beach only steps from this unit on Walled Lake or just run down to the pool to cool off. Private dock on Walled Lake! 3 bedrooms | 2 baths (214034647)
COMMERCE TOWNSHIP | $127,000 Welcome home to this bright freshly painted charmer! New dimensional shingled roof and windows on fabulous lot. Fenced backyard. 3 bedrooms | 2 full baths (214030842)
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and feared living in the same neighborhoods, although they often supported civil rights and defended blacks in that arena. In the Hastings Street neighborhood, long after Jews had moved their residences from there, they retained businesses there... In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, often only Jewish merchants would allow blacks to shop in their stores...As black workers moved into Detroit, they occupied areas in which Jews lived, and fears or prejudices on both sides fostered the Jewish moves.” Berman noted that liberal Jews around the country tried to stem the tide of Jewish movement, and liberal Jewish leaders urged Jews to welcome African Americans into their neighborhoods. But as African Americans did encroach into first Oak Park, and then Southfield, Jews fled, moving outward to the north and west within Oakland County, to newer subdivisions being developed in West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills. “Many of the less religious Jews, those who don’t feel the need to live right near Kosher butchers or their shuls (synagogues), could move out and show their affluence,” explained Terman. “West Bloomfield seems a lot less religious, with many Reform temples along Walnut Lake Road. There’s less of a need to walk everywhere on the Sabbath.” Today, the Jews in Oak Park and areas of Southfield tend to be extremely religious, choosing to live together in clusters with small Orthodox synagogues, social halls and Kosher butchers, sustained by a project called the Neighborhood Project, instigated by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, which provides no interest loans to eligible Jewish families seeking to buy homes in these areas. “Jews tended to move together, leaving one neighborhood and settling in a cluster of streets in another,” Berman wrote. “They also relocated their holy and community spaces. Each move was occasion for Jews to redefine themselves: as dwellers of sacred space, as consumers of the American architectural tradition, and as part of the American religious landscape.” s its congregants moved northward, so did Congregation Shaarey Zedek, which had become a leading synagogue in the U.S. Conservative movement, building a large building on Bell Road in Southfield, off of Lahser, Telegraph and the Lodge freeway, where it continues to stand today. At its peak, in the 1970s and 1980s, it had over 3,000 families as members; today, as families have moved northward to West Bloomfield, Commerce Township and Farmington Hills, and the Conservative movement has declined nationwide, the synagogue has about 1,200 member families, Rabbi Joseph Krakoff said. “Today, we have a large contingent (of our congregation) that lives in West Bloomfield, and then we have a lot that lives in Huntington Woods,” Rabbi Krakoff said. “In the last 15 years, we have a large amount that lives in Bloomfield and Birmingham, then our population comes from Farmington Hills, and next from Commerce Township. We have a few families in Ferndale, and some now in Detroit. There are still some of our population living in Southfield, as well. We attract members from lots of different suburbs, not just from four key locations like we may have once done, but all over.” In September 1951, then Rabbi B. Benedict Glazer for Temple Beth El noted that religious classrooms were filled to capacity and additional facilities were needed to be obtained so that more children could be educated, according to Jan Durecki, director of Rabbi Leo M. Franklin Archives at Temple Beth El, and in 1952, the temple purchased more than 20 acres on Northwestern Highway between Nine and Ten Mile roads. But in 1953, temple leadership decided to hold off on moving, and the temple itself bought houses in the area near the temple at Woodward and Gladstone, created off street parking, converted a gymnasium into classrooms, and modernized the temple and social hall. Yet, the fact remained that in the 1960s, according to Durecki, 60 percent of the congregation lived in the suburbs – with 85 percent of the children who needed to receive religious education. They broke ground at their current location at Telegraph Road and 14 Mile in Bloomfield Township in 1971, and the building was dedicated in 1974. Today, the majority of Temple Beth El’s members live in Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills and West Bloomfield. Temple Israel, in West Bloomfield, was the last of the Jewish religious institutions to leave Detroit, moving from a location and building at Manderson in Palmer Park in 1980. “Our congregants had moved out to Southfield, Oak Park, West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills, and it had become more difficult for our religious schools,” said Temple Israel executive director David Tisdale. “At the time, we were renting out public school buildings in Southfield for our after school religious school. The other synagogues had spread themselves out among the suburbs.” Tisdale said that by staying longer in the city, albeit at a site closer to inner ring suburbs like Oak Park, Ferndale, and Southfield, by the time they made
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the leap to the suburbs, the Jewish Community Center campus in West Bloomfield was well underway, and they chose a site on Walnut Lake Road which was close to it. “There’s some synergy by being close to the JCC, and we needed a site that was large enough to grow on,” he said. rowth has been achieved by Temple Israel, reversing the trend seen by many other Jewish synagogues and temples, some of which have closed, merged, or are enticing a much smaller Jewish population to find a home in their chapel. In 1980, there were 1,500 families worshipping with Temple Israel; today, there are some 3,500 families who are members at the Reform temple, making them, according to Tisdale, the largest Reform temple in the United States. Tisdale said that in 2014, the preponderance of their members come from West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Township, Farmington Hills and Commerce Township, “as well as a very strong population in Huntington Woods.” “This is just my observation, but we saw somewhat of a shift during the (recent) recession,” Tisdale said. “We saw as housing costs became more affordable, many young families chose to purchase homes in the Bloomfield Township area, versus the Commerce Township area, because housing costs had dropped and they could afford those homes. Now, with housing costs on the rise again, we’ve seen the reverse again.” A 2005 population study done by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, updated in April 2011, confirmed there were 71,500 Jews in 30,000 Jewish households in Detroit, making Detroit today the 23rd largest Jewish community in the United States, compared to 1989, when there were 96,000 Jews living in 42,500 households. According to the 2011 study, the core area for today’s Jewish population – 2 percent of Detroit households –includes the cities of Berkley, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Commerce Township, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Franklin, Oak Park, Southfield, Royal Oak, Huntington Woods, Walled Lake and West Bloomfield. A full 73 percent of all metropolitan Detroit Jews live in the core area, with 19 percent living in West Bloomfield, and 36 percent in West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills and Waterford. The survey results revealed a highly educated population, with 63 percent of adults over age 25 having a four-year degree or higher, and 60 percent of adults in the labor force, while 24 percent were retired. More concerning for demographers was the information that 24 percent of Jewish households are age 65 and over. An interesting demographic and sociological twist in the last few years has been the resurgence of a young Jewish population in the city of Detroit, and the recent revival of the Isaac Agree Downtown synagogue, with its youthful – and multicultural – congregation. As recently as 2008, the only remaining synagogue in the city of Detroit, it was in complete disrepair and had difficulty holding services, as it often could not get 10 Jews together to hold a service. Leor Barak, now the synagogue’s president at 33, writes on its website that the Downtown Synagogue is “more relevant than most communal spaces because its mission is to connect people, Jew and non-Jew alike, to each other and to the city...There is a new vigor and spirit emanating from the synagogue, often literally. Sidewalk dinners are held in the front of the building, with the congregants and guests becoming indistinguishable from the spill-over bar patrons next door. Dance parties, community discussions and potlucks occur alongside religious services...the synagogue boasts a roster of active young members; progressive leaders, like Barak, who are reshaping the role of religious institutions into communities.” Barak notes that for some Jews, the synagogue is an entry point into Detroit. Surprisingly, Detroit’s renaissance is assisting some old stalwarts. Shaarey Zedek, with it’s majestic stained glass windows overlooking Southfield’s highway “mixing bowl”, has until recently, been catering to a smaller, older, aging demographic, Rabbi Krakoff acknowledged. For a while, its board debated abandoning it’s Southfield building for investment property at 12 Mile and Meadowbrook in Novi, to follow younger members and appease the need to be closer for afternoon religious school. Compromises were made, with Sunday school remaining at the Southfield building, and afternoons split between Shaarey Zedek for those living in Huntington Woods, Birmingham and Bloomfield, and renting Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills for those living in West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills. But, Krakoff said, suddenly, they’re hot again. “Now, probably more so since the 60’s and 70’s, because of the increase in population and the popularity of Detroit, we’re the closest to the city,” he said. “We’re smack dab between the city and the suburbs, and right off the highway. Now it’s so convenient for people to stop by here for evening prayers. People tell me every day how easy it is to get here.” He laughs. “We love our building. Wait long enough and things come around.”
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STATE OF CONFUSION LOCAL OFFICIALS GRAPPLING WITH NUANCES, COURT RULINGS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA
BY KEVIN ELLIOTT
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ive years after the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act was voted into effect, a host of varying legal interpretations and differing ordinances enacted by local municipalities has led to a state of confusion. The act was approved by 63 percent of voters across Michigan in 2008 because it was seen as a way to provide compassionate care to those suffering from a number of debilitating illnesses. But instead of many patients receiving help and the medical marijuana they believe will help alleviate their symptoms, law enforcement and lawmakers statewide continue to disagree over how to properly interpret and adjudicate a substance their constituents have determined should not be illegal, and should be available, within reasonable limits. For instance, a medical marijuana caregiver can join with others and establish a collective under some local ordinances, where they provide medical marijuana products to registered patients, in accordance with state law. However, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office and Sheriff’s Department have stated that dispensaries are illegal, and that was affirmed under a recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling. Other communities have sought to preempt the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act by enacting ordinances that prohibit activities allowed under the act. However, another Michigan Supreme Court ruling found such ordinances in violation of state law. To paraphrase a Supreme Court justice who spoke recently with the Grand Rapids Press: the law approved by voters in 2008 is “a mess.” In November 2008, 63 percent of the population of the state of Michigan voted for a ballot proposal which made medical marijuana legal, with an approved card issued by the state. Michigan became the 13th state at the time to legally approve the use and dispensation of medical marijuana. Today, medical marijuana is legal in 21 states and the District of Columbia. Interpretations of the law continue to vary from district courts to the Michigan Court of Appeals and the state’s Supreme Court, leading to a mishmash of local ordinances and enforcement policies statewide. “It’s ridiculous what has occurred,” said Capt. John Ellsworth, acting police chief of the Wolverine Lake Village Police Department. “They went with a horrible piece of legislation and because they were in a rush to get it passed, they caused many problems.” At least 18 communities in Oakland County have ordinances that specifically address medical marijuana, with additional communities having at least some mention of medical marijuana in their municipality’s ordinances pertaining to zoning regulations. Other communities, such as Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Pleasant Ridge and Oxford Village attempt to preempt Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Act by referring to federal law. “The Village of Oxford does have an ordinance regarding medical marijuana, as it is illegal under federal law,” said Village Manager Joe Young. “The ordinance was adopted in March 2012, and the third paragraph reads: ‘Uses for enterprises or purposes that are contrary to federal, state, local laws or ordinances are expressly prohibited.’”
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In Ferndale – where in November 2013, voters approved a ballot proposal decriminalizing the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana on private property for people at least 21 years old – medical marijuana is addressed in the city’s ordinances. Under local law, medical marijuana facilities and/or medical marijuana grow operations must be licensed by the city. Facilities are any place where a primary caregiver and/or qualified patients legally registered by the state of Michigan may lawfully assist qualified patients. Grow operations means a use in accordance with the MMMA, as amended for growing, planting and manufacturing medical marijuana. In both facilities and operations, the person who wishes to undertake the action must be licensed by the city. Applicants must complete a checklist prepared by a doctor, and abide by city regulations, such as only allowing staff at a facility outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. West Bloomfield, Auburn Hills, Farmington Hills and Bingham Farms have each passed moratoriums regarding medical marijuana facilities in their communities. A West Bloomfield moratorium passed in October bars the “review or action by all township entities, officials, employees or agents on applications, proposals, requests, permits, approvals, zoning compliance or certificates regarding marijuana facilities or for the dispensing of marijuana that might be proposed or presented to the township as protected or allowed by the MMMA and that during the moratorium period, no marijuana facility shall be allowed in the township.” In Huntington Woods, the city’s home operation ordinance requires the approval of a special land use to be given to occupations not permitted at residentially zoned areas, including that of a primary caregiver. Similar ordinances are in effect in other communities, such as Holly Township, Clawson, Milford Township and Wolverine Lake Village. Wixom city ordinances prohibit any use of land, building or structures prohibited by federal or state regulations, with an exception to medical marijuana activities, including the acquisition, possession, cultivation, manufacture, use, delivery, transfer or transportation of medical marijuana by a qualifying patient or primary caregiver as defined in the MMMA. The city, however, limits those activities to specific zoned districts. The ordinance also specifically prohibits dispensaries, cooperatives and other shared growing facilities. Enforcement in Wolverine Lake Village follows the guidelines set out by the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, Ellsworth said. Additionally, the village addresses medical marijuana through local zoning ordinances, which restrict where growing and dispensary operations can take place. For instance, any location other than a registered patient’s residence where a patient cultivates or uses marijuana is subject to license requirements. Grow operations are also subject to inspections, and dispensaries aren’t permitted to be located in residential districts. While Wolverine Lake Village ordinances address medical marijuana dispensaries, Ellsworth said the lack of abundant retail or commercial space in the community essentially keeps any such businesses from being established. “I’ve seen a lot of conflicting things occurring in other communities,” Ellsworth said. One of the issues with how the state’s medical marijuana law is enforced relates to differing interpretations of the law by local municipalities, which are struggling to keep ordinances in line with changing laws. Still, some municipalities have enacted ordinances that seem to ignore the state’s law completely.
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allot Proposal 08-1, known as the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, became law in April, 2009. The act stated specifically that it was “A legislative initiative to permit the use and cultivation of marijuana for specified medical conditions.” The law is vague, stating that patients must get appropriate documentation from an approved physician (not necessarily their own), and then be approved by Michigan Department of Community Health, which then issues them a permit card to allow them to use it as medicine. The physician must state in writing that the patient has a qualifying debilitating medical condition and that medical marijuana may mitigate the symptoms or effects of that condition. The Michigan Department of Community Health also issues a caregiver card, allowing caregivers to grow or acquire 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana and grow up to 12 marijuana plants for a qualifying patient. One individual caregiver can assist up to five patients, who can be a relative, friend, associate or other known relation, as long as they’ve never been convicted of a felony drug offense. If a caregiver also has a state issued patient card, one caregiver can have a total of 72 plants. From the start, local, state and federal officials have given conflicting signals about the new law. Medical marijuana isn’t recognized by the federal Controlled Substance Act, making any possession of the drug illegal under federal law. But in 2009, the Obama administration announced it would shift their law enforcement from the Bush administration’s frequent raids on distributors of medical marijuana, saying they would respect state’s rights on the issue. However, in 2011 the feds began to reverse that course of action and started a heated campaign, first in California, to pursue medical marijuana dispensaries. The effort, as stated by the US Attorney’s Office in California at the time, has been to target operations involved in the commercial cultivation and sale of marijuana, not at sick people. Taking a cue from federal law enforcement agencies, some local Michigan
departments have taken similar positions and made efforts to go after commercial dispensaries. Both the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office have adopted the view that medical marijuana dispensaries aren’t permitted under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said he contacted the prosecutor’s office and the Michigan Department of Community Health when the law was first passed to find out what is permissible, what isn’t, and how best to enforce the law as it is written. “The Department of Community Health actually had on their website that dispensaries aren’t allowed,” Bouchard said. “Right after it passed, they issued that ruling and it was on their website. The prosecutor issued the same statement to us. From the beginning, we were told they are not legal, by both the licensing agent of the state, and the county prosecutor. That’s obviously the enforcement posture we took.”
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aul Walton, chief assistant prosecutor with the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, also stated that the MMMA doesn’t allow for the operation of dispensaries. Caregiver collectives, sometimes viewed outside the law as a dispensary, provides a place where caregivers can provide medicine to up to five patients, all whom must be connected to the caregiver through the state’s registry system. Those may be subject to federal law, he said. “You have to comply with the act to prevent prosecution. If you are in accordance with the act and the amounts, we won’t prosecute those cases,” Walton said. “The act doesn’t supply for dispensaries. In order to be a medical marijuana provider, you can service five patients, period. And, there are plant and quantity limitations. Patients must be tied to a caregiver by the registration act. “A collective is arguably different, with that you could run afoul of federal laws. There is an exception to prosecution, but even if you are in compliance with the state, you are never in compliance with federal law. The (Drug Enforcement Administration) was telling people in this area that if you have a certain number of plants, we will come in and prosecute,” he said. Despite being passed by an overwhelming majority of voters, some Oakland County communities, such as Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and several others, have enacted ordinances that prohibit any activity that is prohibited under federal law. Other communities have accepted the state’s medical marijuana law and created and approved ordinances that allow for the operation of dispensaries, or caregiver collectives, as have been done in Commerce Township and Walled Lake. Still other municipalities have devised local ordinances that don’t appear to follow state or federal guidelines, such as a Bloomfield Township ordinance that requires state registered patients to additionally register at the township police department in order to use medical marijuana in their own home. The Bloomfield Township ordinance also prohibits any cultivation and/or distribution activity in the township by any caregiver or patient, in direct conflict with the state’s medical marijuana law. In February 2014, the Michigan Supreme Court found that local officials can’t ban the use of medical marijuana within their municipal boundaries. Specifically, the court said it is possible to adhere to both federal and state law regarding medical marijuana. “The (federal) Controlled Substance Act criminalizes marijuana, making its manufacture, distribution or possession a punishable offense under federal law. Section 4 of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act doesn’t require anyone to commit that offense, however, nor does it prohibit punishment of that offense under federal law. Rather the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act is clear that, if certain individuals choose to engage in Michigan Medical Marijuana Act compliant medical marijuana use, (the act) provides them with a limited state-law immunity from arrest, prosecution or penalty in any manner — an immunity that doesn’t purport to prohibit federal criminalization of, or punishment for, that conduct.” In reaching its opinion, the Supreme Court noted that 99 out of every 100 marijuana arrests in the country is made under state law, rather than federal. Therefore, the Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Act “will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill people who have a medical need to use marijuana.” And, although federal law prohibits using and distributing marijuana, states are not required to enforce federal law or prosecute people for engaging in activities prohibited by federal law. The case, Ter Beek v the City of Wyoming, came about when John Ter Beek, a resident of Wyoming, Mich., filed an action against the city seeking to have its ordinance regarding medical marijuana declared void and the court grant an injunction prohibiting its enforcement. Ter Beek, according to the court, wanted to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes, and argued that the state’s medical marijuana law allowed for it. Ter Beek was a qualifying patient and had registered with the state. The court ultimately disagreed with the city’s argument, which claimed that federal law preempts the state’s medical marijuana law. The city of Wyoming, in 2010, had adopted an ordinance amending the zoning chapter of the city to include language stating that “uses that are contrary to federal law, state law or local ordinance are prohibited.” The case may now have some communities revisiting their ordinances to ensure they aren’t in violation of state law.
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LOCAL
The city of Birmingham, whose ordinance was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, is in the process of updating its ordinance, as is Bloomfield Hills. Linda and Robert Lott, both registered patients under the MMMA, filed suit against Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Livonia seeking declaratory relief against ordinances in those cities which prevent the growth and dispensation of medical marijuana. The cities created their ordinances after the passage of the MMMA in 2008, and includes language that prohibits anything that is against federal law. The ACLU assisted the Lotts’ in the case, which was dismissed in late 2011 by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Colleen O’Brien, who came to her decision based on the fact that the Lotts hadn’t been arrested for any wrongdoing in conjunction with their presumed medical marijuana use. Birmingham City Attorney Tim Currier said that despite winning the lawsuit, the city essentially lost because the case was preempted by the Ter Beek ruling by the Supreme Court. Birmingham is now looking at introducing a new ordinance that would allow for grow operations in mixed use zoned areas, in the city’s Rail District. “The ordinance isn’t effective to medical marijuana issues,” Currier said of the ordinance since the Supreme Court ruling. “If you were using medical marijuana in your premises, now that it isn’t a violation of state law. Our current ordinance isn’t effective.”
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urrently, the use or growth of medical marijuana by registered patients or caregivers is prohibited by the city’s ordinance, however, Currier said code enforcement isn’t actively enforcing the ordinance since the higher court’s ruling. Meanwhile, the city’s planning board is looking at revisiting the ordinance to allow grow operations in designated areas, specifically, in mixed used zoned areas in the Rail District. Currier said one of the problems with the grow operations undertaken by caregivers that are growing for more than one patient is that it could attract crime, particularly criminals seeking to steal plants and growing equipment. “The thought process was to put them all in the same spot,” Currier said about grow operations that are required to be in a closed, locked facility. “Also, that area has a little better protection and has them sort of boxed in a little, if there were a crime there.” In terms of distribution centers, Currier said current legislation is being considered pertaining to provisioning or distribution centers allows local municipalities to opt out and prohibit them in a community. “We are trying to get an ordinance to clear it up,” Currier said. “We are taking actions to make it permissible, but there’s no enforcement activity right now.” Bloomfield Hills City Clerk Amy Burton said that in light of the Ter Beek ruling, the city is also currently in the process of formulating a new ordinance. The current ordinance states that “it shall be unlawful for any person or business to engage in activity, conduct or venture in the city that is contrary to federal, state or local laws or ordinances.” However, the ordinance goes on to say “this section shall not be interpreted to prevent the use of medical marijuana by state licensed patients in their personal residence. Provided, however, the cultivation and/or distribution of medical marijuana is strictly prohibited.” A survey of ordinances enacted by local municipalities in Oakland County speak to the confusion. Those ordinances range from prohibiting its use or sale by referring to federal law to restricting its use or distribution to specific locations through zoning ordinances; and in some cases licensing dispensaries. Bloomfield Township Clerk Jan Roncelli said the township’s ordinances are in compliance with current law. Bloomfield Township addresses medical marijuana through two ordinances, including its zoning and regulations chapter, which prohibits the cultivation or dispensing of marijuana anywhere in the township. The ordinance also requires all township medical marijuana patients to register with the police department. The registration list, according to the ordinance, will be kept strictly confidential and is designed to act as a safety measure for the resident in case of a possible raid. Attorney Michael Komorn, who serves as president of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, said ordinances, such as Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills’, violate the tenants of the MMMA, as well as the Supreme Court’s decision in the Ter Beek case. Further, he said, he questions the legality and purpose of requiring additional registration, as required in the Bloomfield Township ordinance. “You can’t make a behavior illegal that the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act allows for, and you can’t make further requirements, in addition to,” he said. “I would say that registering would violate (the act), and I would advise against it because law enforcement might not know what to do with that information. I would like to say that it’s best to let them have that information, but I don’t think we are there yet. What is the need for them to know, what’s the benefit going to be. If (the police) get a complaint, they can go knock on the door and talk to them.” The city of Walled Lake has dealt directly with medical marijuana dispensaries by establishing a regulation and licensing process. “The state statute doesn’t refer to dispensaries, but that’s the word we use in our ordinance,” said Walled Lake City Manager Dennis Whitt. “We don’t regulate it the same way, but in terms of issuing a license, we do that.” While Whitt said there are some differences in terminology in the ordinance and
the state statute, he said the ordinance is consistent with the statute. Despite his assurance, he said he has been forced to testify in criminal court cases regarding the city’s ordinance. “The implication is that we are doing something wrong,” he said. “All we are trying to do is localize the activity that is authorized by state law. The city council was trying to be proactive and regulate the location. It’s a zoning ordinance more than anything. We didn’t want (dispensaries) in every place in the city. It’s not surprising that they aren’t recognizing the term. They believe that somehow local government has authorized the dispensing of marijuana.” In August 2013, the Walled Lake City Council established a 120-day moratorium on the licensing of medical marijuana dispensaries or collectives. At the time, Whitt said he recommended the moratorium because he had been subpoenaed at least twice to testify about the ordinance. The moratorium came on the heels of an August 1 raid at Bazonzoes, a medical marijuana collective licensed as a dispensary by the city and operating at 1123 E. West Maple. The raid involved the Oakland County Sheriff’s office and agents with the federal DEA. The raid resulted in the seizure of about 10 pounds of marijuana and $10,000. The owners, who have been charged with conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Whitt said he believes the business was operating within the guidelines of state law; however, he said there’s still confusion over what is permitted and what isn’t under the state law. “I think the problem is that it’s so unclear, and nobody thought it was a good idea to resolve those issues early,” Whitt said. “The prosecutor’s office is there for a reason, and someone should be using some discretion and clarifying the rules. If you’re arresting and prosecuting for votes, I have a problem with that. If someone is violating the criminal statute, we put them in jail. We are trying to comply with our understanding of the law.” Commerce Township Supervisor Tom Zoner said the township has adopted the state law regarding medical marijuana, and that there are several dispensaries or medical marijuana centers in the township. West Bloomfield Township in October 2013 created a moratorium on medical marijuana facilities effective through August 31, 2014. Some other municipalities have followed suit in the wake of enforcement measures in Oakland County. The crackdown on dispensaries has caught the ire of proponents of the medical marijuana movement. “Oakland County has been absolutely terrible. They have been the selfappointed crusaders against medical marijuana,” Komorn said. “Many of the cases to come out of the (Michigan) Court of Appeals have been out of Oakland County. They have taken the initiative to bring people into court and make an example out of them. And they have been in favor of a very limited, restrictive and punishing perspective. Not only did they take the lead on it, but they had several cases based on their theory on how the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act should be interpreted, and the Oakland County prosecutor’s interpretation has become an accepted interpretation in the courts throughout the state of Michigan.
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f the some 18 cases, Komorn said, that have been submitted to the state court of appeals, all of them have favored the prosecutor’s interpretation of the law. However, he said the Supreme Court has reversed the only case it has heard on medical marijuana. “It’s an error to apply the law as has been suggested,” Komorn said. “They have been told they are wrong on this, but despite that and the loss of time and energy, they continue to be the crusaders and arrest people.” Oakland County’s Bouchard denied that he is on a crusade to enforce an overly conservative view of the medical marijuana act. Instead, he said he is simply enforcing the law as it stands. “We are on a crusade to enforce the law in the county because this county expects to have a safe, clean county. If you break the law, there are consequences. That’s what comes from living in a safe community,” Bouchard said. “For whatever reason, I think a lot of localities saw dispensaries springing up and did nothing. I don’t know why or whether that was a conscious decision. But when we have a clear direction by the department of community health – the articulated licensing agent under the act – and by the prosecutor, I think it would be malfeasance of duty to simply ignore what is clearly a criminal action.” Bouchard said he suggested in 2008 that the legislature established a process to protect patients by creating a system that operates similar to pharmacies. “I suggested to the legislature that there should be predictability in the content and strength and reliability in the content and the purity,” he said. “The system itself is one that should be safe and have processes to screen out organized crime or criminals. I mean, if you get prescribed valium, you go to somebody who is licensed, who is background checked, and who has gone through a rigorous process to make sure you get exactly what the doctor wants you to have, in the exact strength and form and shape that is best for you. And the legislature did nothing.” Legislation is now being considered to address the issue of dispensaries in the state, as well as edible medical marijuana products that are infused with marijuana. House Bill 5104 was introduced by state Rep. Eileen Kowall in October 2013. The bill, which has since passed the house by a three-quarter majority vote, would
amend the definition of usable marijuana to help provide ways for patients to use the prescribed drug. The bill would add plant resin or extract to the list of useable parts of the cannabis plant. The new definition would also insure inactive substances used as delivery mediums aren’t included as usable. “We are trying to give patients better access to alternative ways of consuming medically prescribed marijuana,” Kowall said. “Michigan residents voted to make the use of medical marijuana legal, and we must do all we can to uphold the wishes of our voters.”
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he issue stems from a 2012 raid on a Southfield-based collective dispensary involving Earl Carruthers, who was charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana. The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office argued that Carruthers had more medical marijuana than permitted under the law, based on the weight of several brownies that contained THC which was extracted from marijuana. While Carruthers had labeled each brownie with the amount of medicine each contained, the court considered the entire weight of the brownie as marijuana. The bill would make it easier for medical marijuana patients and caregivers to possess marijuana-infused foods and other products that allow for the consumption of the medicine without smoking it. And to do so without being in violation of the law. “Based on the Court of Appeals decision in the Curruthers case, if they have medical marijuana and put it in a pan of brownies that weighs two pounds, you have two pounds of marijuana,” said Sgt. Amy Dehner with the Michigan State Police. Dehner, a legislative liaison with the department, said the state police opposes the bill in its current form because of the current definition of what is usable marijuana. The bill, she said, would also create some problems for law enforcement and patients regarding the labeling of products. She said the department is working with the bill’s sponsors to address the issues. In terms of statewide enforcement of the MMMA, Dehner said there are no easy answers. “We, as the state police, don’t have an option of not enforcing it as a Schedule I drug, but we have medical marijuana laws that interact. We have never ignored the fact that its a Schedule I drug, nor would we,” she said. “We don’t have an internal policy on the dispensary issue. It’s part of local government. If it were a state law and they were proposing legislation, we would weigh in on what that looks like. Dispensaries are still a gray area and the enforcement component isn’t really clear. If they leave it up to the local ordinance, each municipality will enforce it differently.” Dehner said the department is also working with the legislature to address language issues with HB 4271, or the Medical Marijuana Provisioning Center Regulation Act, but it also opposes the bill in its current form. The bill, which was approved by a vote of 95-14 in December, is now in the state Senate’s Committee on Government Operations. The bill, introduced by Rep. Mike Callton (R-Nashville) would allow the establishment of medical marijuana provisioning centers. Callton, who is a chiropractor by trade, says he approached the bill from a health care provider perspective. “People with a medical marijuana recommendation from the doctor are allowed to grow their own for medicinal purposes,” he said. “But some of these people only have months to live and are very sick. It’s simply not realistic to expect them to do this. Since it takes four to six months for a marijuana plant to provide usable medicine, many patients will die before their plants can help them.” According to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which oversees the MMMA provisions, two-thirds of all Michigan patients have no access to a caregiver, meaning that the number of patients outnumbers the number of caregivers. Callton said the legislation is a step toward cleaning up the mess that exists today and allowing safe patient access. The bill would mandate that provisioning centers only supply medical marijuana products, and that they couldn’t be consumed on site. It also provides for local control of dispensaries and reduces overages of marijuana by permitting caregivers to sell their excess product to the provisioning centers. Bouchard said he is opposed to local control of dispensaries. “You don’t have local control of a pharmacy,” he said. “This (MMMA) was passed under the premise that people that are sick ought to have access for their symptoms. That being the case, then treat it like we treat medicines at the pharmacy. The current process doesn’t come close to that.” While Komorn and Bouchard disagree on several issues, Komorn agreed, in a sense, that the state needs a better approach to medical marijuana. “The biggest challenge is that the entire analysis of the act has been done from a public safety perspective, not a public health perspective,” he said. “These situations are being reviewed by courts and judges, who aren’t physicians. “You have 85 years of the greatest propaganda campaign with this ‘Reefer Madness’ view of cannabis, and nothing has been done to try to educate, transform or alter the way in which the law enforcement community has viewed or should view medical marijuana,” he added. “They are trained to view things in a black and white way, and some of these aspects haven’t gotten to that point.”
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arrett Lipar, the 26-year-old chef from Waterford, is currently satisfying some of the most discerning palates in southeastern Michigan at Torino restaurant in Ferndale. “I’m proud of where I came from,” he said. “I made something of myself. I never really thought this would be what I did until I started cooking at a higher level.” The offbeat culinary genius is covered in tattoos; he has had dreadlocks since he was 12-years-old, and he had his nose pierced at just 13. Lipar credits his mother for allowing him to express himself in unique ways and supporting his passion. “My mom is amazing,” he said. “I got to be who I was. To hold someone back from who they really are is a very detrimental thing.” Lipar became interested in cooking at 14-years-old while washing dishes in a nursing home. “I realized what work ethic was and I saw how the cooks did things,” he said. “Learning some basic techniques was very important to me. By the time I was 17, I was the lead cook. It was interesting and a lot of fun and I enjoyed the people.” After high school, Lipar took a job as a line cook at Palazzo di Bocce Italian restaurant in Lake Orion. “I was so excited to be at a real restaurant. I wasn’t convinced I could do this for life, but I realized I could make money this way. It was a transition period. It was fast paced and I fell in love with (cooking).”
After careful consideration, Lipar moved to Phoenix, where he attended the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Arizona. He later took an internship at Public, a high-end restaurant in New York City. “I’m a very absorbent person and I take in as much as possible,” he said. “On my days off, I would go work in other kitchens in New York. It is a crucial part of learning.” Lipar then went to work at Boka in Chicago and Frantzen in Sweden. “I was at (Frantzen) for a while,” he said. “Their food is immaculate and so beautiful. The product was so good and interesting. I traveled all over Scandinavia. After a year, it was time to come home. I needed to be back in Michigan.” It was then that Lipar met Noah Dorfman, owner of Torino. The two discussed their visions and the partnership was a perfect match. “On May 3 (2013) we opened to the public and in less than a year we have accomplished quite a bit to get where we are now. I live above the restaurant and it has enabled me to be so successful.” Lipar has transformed from a boy of limited means to a highly regarded chef. “My parents split up and that stretched things pretty thin. This was my way to get out of bullshit poverty,” he said. “I am a hungry, hungry man with work ethic and determination. Detroit deserves a world-class restaurant and we’re going to give it to them.” Story: Katey Meisner
Photo: Laurie Tennent
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WEIR MANUEL
PURSUING DONORS DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF PATRONS
BY LISA BRODY ick Karmanos has a famous name, at least in the metro Detroit area. He’s the son of Peter Karmanos Jr., of Compuware fame. And there’s the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, which is dedicated to the prevention, early detection, treatment, and eventual eradication of cancer. It is named in memory of his late mother, begun with a $15 million gift from his dad to a consortium originally comprised of the Michigan Cancer Foundation, the Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit, Detroit Medical Center, and Wayne State University. While Nick’s photo isn’t as prevalent on the society pages as his father and stepmother’s, that may not be for long. It’s not just that philanthropic good work runs in his blood – it’s that he’s found his passion via his involvement with the cancer institute. “I think it’s a privilege to be there with people at their time of need,” he said, of his work as Senior Vice President of Institutional Relations for the Karmanos Cancer Institute. But the Bloomfield Township resident did not initially become connected with the organization bearing his name seeking a career foothold. His involvement began with a phone call 15 years ago from the institute’s executive director, inviting him to become involved as a volunteer with the Partners, a group of young, hands-on volunteers working with the organization.
“I did, and I loved it,” Nick said. “I loved being involved. It’s a very empowering feeling.” He took a breath and continued, “I was there with my mom when she was sick (with breast cancer), but there was nothing I could do, and she died (at age 46, in 1989). This is a way I can give back.” From volunteering with Partners, “it became an evolution to an entry level job (and then) to a senior executive,” Nick said. “I never planned this. Volunteering led to a whole other opportunity to make a living and make a difference.” he beauty of volunteering is exactly that empowering feeling of giving. It’s one that generations of affluent and wealthy patrons have enjoyed, and cultural, civic, and community organizations have prospered from, allowing them to thrive, develop and grow. Yet, those same institutions are now preparing for an eventual baton passing, as seniors and the baby boomer generation, which for the last several decades have not only sustained individual giving to museums, hospitals, medical research, educational institutions, and other cultural and civic organizations, but have also provided their board leadership, are beginning to retire and move on from that leadership. The question facing many organizations is whether or not the children of boomers and others of the Generation X and the Millennial generation will feel motivated, interested and compelled to follow in those generous footsteps. Interest and engagement are two words used frequently by civic organizations as they refer to increased efforts to captivate and hold the fractured attention of those in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. “Like so many of us, that is at the top of our agenda as our older audience declines,” said David DiChiera, founder and artistic director of Michigan Opera Theater. “We must bring the younger audience forward and engage and preserve the art form. That is vital.” Greg Wittkopf, director of the Cranbrook Art Museum, agrees with DiChiera. “I’ve been at Cranbrook for 28 years. Originally, I was a curator, in my late 30s, and I was developing a group of friends my age or younger, and we were looking to get involved. I believe you’re much more likely to engage someone through a social event than a lecture. They then become more interested in other programming and come more frequently, and then they become comfortable with your core programming. If you do it right, these people will stay with you throughout their lives. They’ll identify, outside of their families and careers, with the institution.” A recent New York Times article points out that while charitable giving in the United States has remained stable for the last 40 years, there is reason for non-profits around the country to be concerned. Those in the baby boomer generation control 70 percent of the nation’s disposable income. Millennials do not have as much cash on hand, according to data compiled by the American Alliance of Museums. Yet. Generational change occurs, with new people taking place of the old, whether an institution is ready for it or not. The key for organizations is preparation. Theirs – and their forthcoming donors. Younger philanthropists often become involved in groups for different reasons than their parents’
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generation, not seeking to resume build or because it’s seen as “the right organization” to be on the board of, but because they are passionate for the cause, or because it speaks to them. According to the 2011 Millennial Donors Report, two-thirds of Millennials want specific information about how their dollars will “make a difference”. As one art curator in her late 20s said, many of her friends are seeking to make a difference with clean water and other environmental and humanitarian concerns, helping to eradicate diseases in Africa, or other hands-on causes. Which can pose problems for museums and other arts-related institutions which depend upon individual donations to support everyday operations, much less to build endowments. As philosopher Peter Singer wrote in the New York Times last year, noting that some argue that arts institutions are less deserving of charitable giving than social and health causes, “a donation to prevent a trachoma offers at least 10 times the value of giving to the museum.” Before all arts supporters throw down this article and have an instant coronary, recognize that arts institutions, like other cultural institutions, understand the challenges facing them. And they have picked up the mantle and are charging into battle. The Detroit Institute of Arts was one of the first cultural institutions to develop a young development group, DIA Executive Vice President AnnMarie Erickson noted, with the Founders Junior Council in 1965, “to recognize the need to groom young people for leadership roles. Today it’s as energetic as ever.” The Founders Junior Council is an auxiliary of the DIA whose job has included pledging a half million dollars to the art museum’s endowment campaign, as well as doing various enrichment campaigns, Erickson said. It’s one of several auxiliary groups the art institute has. “With an age limit of 40, as they graduate (from the council) we work to continue to engage them. Some have graduated to board committees and other auxiliary committees. We really hope the members will stay involved. We keep an eye on them.” The Founders Junior Council are an active group, known for the ever popular fundraiser Fash Bash event, and a revitalized Cirque-Carnevale di Venezia, chaired in February 2014 by council member Elanah Nachman Hunger of Sylvan Lake. “In the past it (Cirque) wasn’t making money. I said that’s ridiculous. I knew there was a market for something fun and unique,” Hunger said. “We had to market it and make it exciting. We basically sold it out – we had a capacity of 700, and we sold 650 tickets.” Besides revitalizing a stagnant event, she believes the Founders Council is a draw to her contemporaries. The Founders Council, and the DIA, is an organization they want to be a part of. “It’s easier to draw people (with the Founders Council) because it has a name people want to have on their resume,” Hunger noted. “We can be choosier (of who we pick for our council). We have people who are go-getters. There are minimum donations for involvement. The Founders Council encourages people to chair events, and to get their friends and other people to go to them.” In 2013, the Founders Junior Council was able to pledge $500,000 to the new DIA Endowment
Campaign, funded primarily through their annual fundraisers. An added benefit – “The Founders Council gets the best group of people,” she said. “You hang out, you become friends. We’ve (she and her husband Rick) met some really amazing people.” Hunger, whose passion for philanthropy and volunteering is palpable, said that passion was learned from her parents, Allan and Joy Nachman of Bloomfield Township, who are also active philanthropists. “When you’re raised like that, it (the passion) is already there,” Hunger said of her commitment to the DIA, where she is already a board member; on the allocation committee of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit; as well as having helped create the Joy Project for Jewish Family Services, an initiative to honor loved women in someone’s life by supporting women in need. Hunger does note that her volunteerism is different from her parents’, and reflects her interests and activities, rather than theirs. Jason Geisz of Birmingham, a member of the Partners Board of the Karmanos Institute, said that while “my parents instilled in me to give back, care about others, and work hard, my parents had zero involvement with Karmanos.” He said that when he graduated college, “I looked for a way to give back and get involved. I want to change society and have an impact. I had to figure out how I looked at things that impacted me. In third grade, I lost a friend to leukemia, and that was eye opening.” That reflects a trend among Gen X and Millennial volunteers – they want to participate in institutions reflecting their interests, their passions, and want to find personal satisfaction through their involvement. “Young people today do not want just to give money, they don’t want to see their name on a building or a board roster. They want to see the impact their time or money will make,” Sue Murphy, director of external affairs for Detroit County Day School, said. “They are very mindful of the impact they can make.” urphy notes that as a school, like many other schools, whether an independent school, parochial school, or university, they have a leg up in activating engagement among young alumni. “We’re cultivating the love for their school,” she acknowledged. The school seeks to engage their younger alumni through social engagements, as class agents, as presenters on their annual career day, and provides opportunities for them to form a mentor relationship between themselves and current students. While the ultimate goal is to cultivate some younger alums for a position on the coveted board of trustees, “it is quite a challenge with younger people, because first they’re in undergraduate (school), then in grad school, then starting a family, career. They may have student loans. They have a lot of time and financial demands, so you know that when they give of their time or their philanthropy, that is an organization they are dedicated to,” Murphy said. And down the line, “the challenge is that they are so satisfied with their engagement that they become passionate about it and become longtime supporters, either through small longtime gifts, consistently year in and year out, or those who
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are able to make a large gift down the line,” Murphy added. “That’s what leads someone to consider a large gift. If they see the benefits of the impact of their involvement over time.” Nick Gorga, a Birmingham attorney, totally agrees. Gorga is on the board of trustees of the Detroit Historical Society, and created Hatch Detroit, a non-profit which funds and supports small retail stores in Detroit. Hatch now has more than 12 alumni businesses in Detroit neighborhoods. The Detroit Historical Museum has created an affinity group, called Detroit 313 for young professionals, 35 and under, Bob Sadler, public relations director, said. “It’s evolving. There’s some programming and some social events, and some bring a friend to an event.” orga began his legal career in Chicago, returning to Detroit a few years ago to work at the Honigman firm in downtown Detroit. His philanthropic career, he said, is driven “by the ability, as a younger person, to put a first-person handprint on the city of Detroit. When I was in Chicago, I was involved in a number of things, and I always felt I was forced to wait my turn. The charitable organizations in Detroit encourage those willing to put in the hard work and effort to do things that are impactful. The great thing about Detroit right now is that the vast number of people seem to be rowing in the same direction.” The revitalization of Detroit in light of the ongoing municipal bankruptcy can be attributed to younger generation visionaries like Gorga, who are helping to drive it forward. DiChiera of the Michigan Opera Theater recognizes their contributions and excitement. “There are many thousands of people moving into the area, right next to the Opera House up to the New Center (area). They love the energy of the city,” he said. “We’re doing things in the community, like having drinks in our cafe, to show how comfortable it is and breaking down the stuffiness and formality.” “For myself, and others like me, it’s a complete blurring of the lines between civic engagement, work, and philanthropic work,” Gorga said. “It’s not just charity, it’s a hobby, it’s a passion, it’s a job. It’s a very unique factor – it’s a way of life. And you’re creating it all in real time.” Other cultural institutions are seeking the Nick Gorgas out there. At the Detroit Zoo, Communications Director Patricia Mills Janeway said they have created a number of 21-and-older events in recent years to appeal to a younger audience, such as Love Gone Wild, Summer Zoomance, Zoo Brew, and Wild Beasts, Wild Wine. “Once we get them through the gates, we can engage them in our mission and create a passion for our organization,” she said. Wittkopf of the Cranbrook Art Museum said that while most of the museum’s board members are “probably in their 50s and 60s,” and recognized the need to develop fundraisers for a younger audience. We created Serious Moonlight with a ticket price of $75, and some of that was tax deductible. The typical entree point is often $250, $500, or $1,000. I asked the board members, I don’t want you to chair it, but your sons and daughters. Over the years, three of those have now become board members. Now they’re the ones giving six-figure gifts to capital campaigns. That’s success to me.” The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has begun a
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number of recent initiatives to encourage participation and create a passion in younger patrons. The 37/11 Club is for anyone under 37, where they can buy a membership to the symphony for $37, and then tickets to classical, jazz, and pop concerts are $11 a piece. “We also have a series of concerts called Mix at the Max that are held at the Music Box, which is a smaller venue at the Max,” said Gabrielle Poshaldo, Patron Communications and Public Relations Manager for the DSO. The Music Box holds 300 concertgoers, she said, versus 2,000 at Orchestra Hall. The events are often held during the week, after work. “Basically, the programming at those are our musicians playing jazz and Ragtime music. It has a Speakeasy atmosphere. People are dressed up in period costumes and they’ve enjoyed themselves. They have been very well-received.” As more young people are living in the downtown and Midtown areas of the city, they have begun an Om Yoga on some Sunday mornings at 11 a.m., where chamber music is performed by DSO musicians to accompany a yoga class taught in the Max. “It’s been so popular, we want to make it a regular series,” Poshaldo said. It began, she said, because one of the symphony’s librarians is a certified yoga instructor with Yoga Shelter, and suggested it. “Because he knows the musicians, the music, and yoga, he could really put it together.” She said it’s popular for all ages, with up to 200 people surrounding the musical ensemble in the center of the space, with yoga mats around them. “The first one was so popular, the next one sold out in a few days.” The DSO also has an organization called Assemble, a separate organization of artists that seek to bring speakers in to a younger audience, “and we want to host them,” Poshaldo said. “The first event was an urban planner connected to Obama and Detroit. Every young hip Detroiter was in the building.” Recognizing they need to continually reach out, they have created a NextGen committee, which is a group of young professionals charged with buying a table and bringing friends to events. With all of the young patron outreach, “a goal is we hope their relationship with the DSO will evolve as they move on with their lives,” Poshaldo said. At this point, she said, about half of the NextGen committee members have become donors at some level. “The world is a different place than when their parents were their age,” she acknowledges. “There are so many different opportunities for them, and for us, to do smaller concerts, and concerts in different places. Our abilities have changed drastically to do different things.” The Michigan Opera House’s DiChiera also sees the mission of the Opera House going forward as engaging younger patrons in their way as a chief objective. “People only get involved when there’s a personal connection,” he said. “The younger generation is more interested in the product and their experience. They need to have a good time from beginning to end.” He said they are doing a combination of social events and providing access to operas, both at the Opera House and in suburban venues. “We want
them to come to our house, but we’re also going to them. That’s what it’s all about. The Opera House is such a beautiful place, we want them to experience it. But we have to go to them, too. The important thing is for them to enjoy their experience and enjoy the show. The days are gone that we sit in our ivory towers and wait for people to come to us.” A popular fundraiser in early June for the younger generation, Bravo! Bravo! brings several thousand people to downtown Detroit to support the opera. But on a more sustainable level, MOT has Access, where for between $25 and $35, “they get a good ticket in a good part of the house to an opera, get a drink ticket, and are invited to a reception with the cast,” DiChiera said. “The opportunity to interact with these artists, that they’ve just seen on stage, is so exciting.” He said turnout varies, with a popular opera gathering several 100 younger patrons, and a lesser known opera, about 40. “It allows our staff to get to know them,” he said. ext spring, DiChiera said, they are collaborating with the DIA on a special production. MOT will do an opera on the life of artist Frida Kahlo, that they will take to the Center for Performing Arts in Macomb County, the Ford Theater in Dearborn, and either the Seligman Performing Arts Center or the Berman Theater in Oakland County. The Detroit Institute of Arts will be mounting an exhibition of Kahlo and her husband Diego Riviera’s works. Once excited and engaged, it’s a matter of capturing younger patrons excitement and maintaining it, and then turning it into long term giving, even if it is in different forms than their parents’ generation. “I think this generation has been raised to think about all of their actions, from world impact to giving back to their communities, and to look at their actions, so they’re applying it to everything they do,” noted Detroit Country Day’s Murphy. “We see that young donors are very passionate about what they are engaging in and the organizations they support.” “We want their ideas, because as the older generation, our ideas no longer function,” DiChiera conceded. “They have to tell us and take over the leadership. It’s all about engagement. It’s about nurturing them and then letting them nurture us to let them know what they want. So many young professionals are bright and creative, and that’s what we need. They’re the future – we’ll be gone. They need to help guide us to the future because they’re the future. We’re kinda the present and mostly the past.” DiChiera said the “older generation is very concerned about how they have given is having ongoing recognition. It’s been very appreciated. We would not have had an Opera House if they had not named rooms or chair without them.” But a name on a building or a plaque at a room doesn’t motivate Gen X. It’s the action and its effects, not the accolades. “I don’t consider the naming important, but I do consider the legacy important,” said Gorga. “This generation of Detroiters are very teamoriented and want to work together. It doesn’t matter whose name to us is on the cover, but that we built something sustainable that will be there for generations.”
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Maurice Chevalier
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aurice Chevalier has traveled the world, strutting down the runways for Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana and Christian Dior, but he was once just a typical kid from Walled Lake. “I was a pretty active kid,” he said. “I was in a lot of extracurricular activities. I had a very happy childhood; great mom and dad and a younger brother and sister.” While attending Walled Lake Central High School, Chevalier had Beth Rexroat for drama and his infatuation with entertainment began to take shape. “That brings back a lot of good memories. Mrs. Rexroat would put on plays. We would go classroom to classroom and do little skits.” Chevalier met a talent scout at 15-years-old who told him he could make a living as a model. “I just did not feel like it was me,” he said. “I thought, ‘I’m not a model.’” It wasn’t until Chevalier was out of high school that he pursued a modeling career. “I just kinda fell into it. My friend was putting on a fashion show and he asked me to be a part of it. By that time I was living in Atlanta and I met a model who was doing very well in it,” he said. “Then, a friend of mine took me to an agency and (the agent) said, ‘You need to get to New York.’” At 19, Chevalier modeled for a spring advertisement for Macy’s. “I walked out of there and couldn’t believe I made that much money in that amount of time.”
Since then, Chevalier has graced the pages of Cosmopolitan, Maxim and Redbook, and has appeared in commercials and films. “I’ve been to about a dozen countries for modeling and acting.” On September 11, 2001, Chevalier’s career path was rocked by the World Trade Center terrorist attack. “I was living a few blocks from the World Trade Center when 9/11 happened. I couldn’t go back to my apartment for six months because there was so much soot on the outside of it.” Chevalier moved back south, finished college and began focusing more on his acting career. He now works with Phoenix 4 Productions as an executive producer. “I’m also writing a film called Gage. It’s a short, Christian-based film.” In an effort to give back, the entertainer travels to Haiti on mission trips to help build houses and work with underprivileged children. He is planning a trip to the Philippines and works with his church to offer assistance to those in need. During his career, he has worked with Shaquille O’Neil. He has met Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Sarah Jessica Parker, Woody Harrelson and many other celebrities Chevalier has enjoyed tremendous success in a very competitive career and looks to two forces for guiding him along the way. “Jesus has always been there for me,” he said. “And, my mom is just so strong. I can’t say enough about her. One has been there since the beginning of time and the other has been with me my whole life.” Story: Katey Meisner
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MUNICIPAL Library will relocate to Dodge parkland By Kevin Elliott
Members of the Commerce Township Board of Trustees may not have a crystal ball regarding the future of the community’s library, but the location of the building appeared to come into focus during a Tuesday, April 22, study session involving trustees and members of the library advisory board. “I think we have a good feel here for a Dodge Park library,” Commerce Township Supervisor Tom Zoner said at the study session. “And I think we have a good feel for what we want to spend on the library.” Board members said by relocating the library inside the 106-acre Dodge Park 5, at the southeast corner of S. Commerce and Commerce roads, it would save the township money because the township already owns the land, alleviating the need to spend money on purchasing land in the future. The cost of the library is likely to be about $8 million, which would be taken from the library’s current fund and millage revenue. The current library is located at 2869 N. Pontiac Trail, inside Commerce Township’s Downtown Development Authority’s (DDA) property. The 20,000 square foot building, which was a former golf course clubhouse, was converted into a library. However, longterm plans have included selling the land where the library is located, then building a new library on a new plot of land somewhere else in the township. In total, the township has more than $7 million in the library’s fund dedicated to the construction of a new library. The library also receives revenues from two millages, which are split into three funds dedicated to operations, current building expenses and future construction. Initial discussions about the library had hinted that the future library would be located inside the DDA property, most likely north of M-5 between Pontiac Trail and Richardson Road, possibly near Commerce Township Hall, but a lack of available land and concerns about future traffic along Martin Parkway appeared to quell the rumors of a civic center type of development. “Until six months ago, I was under the impression that keeping it (in the DDA) was integral to the commercial piece of development, but that’s not the case,” said township treasurer Susan Gross. “I would like to move the westendmonthly.com
Annual Community Breakfast May 19
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our individuals, a business and a school robotics team will be honored on Monday, May 19, during the 30th annual Commerce Township Community Breakfast at the Edgewood Country Club, 8399 Commerce Road. The event is held each year to honor people from the community who have done extraordinary things, and originated as part of the township’s sesquicentennial celebration. Awards are given out in five categories each year. Tickets to the event must be purchased in advance at the Commerce Township Treasurer’s Office. The event is expected to sell out, said committee chair Pat Dohany. The award for the 2014 Outstanding Citizen Award will be presented to Mike Stack, of Wolverine Lake Village. Stack, who has lived in the village since 1987, has served on the Lakes Area Youth Assistance Board of Directors since 2008. He is presently the chairperson for the Holiday Adopt-a-Family Program and the Skillbuilding committee chair of the program, which grants scholarships to children who participate in positive extracurricular activities. He is also the co-chair of the “Taste of the Lakes” fundraiser held to benefit the Lakes Area Youth Assistance program. Stack has devoted countless hours working to improve the lives of youth and families in the area. “Mike is one of the good guys,” Dohany said of Stack in an announcement of the recognition. “He is not interested in glory, he just wants to help others, and is truly committed to the future of our community.” Phil and Ldonna Andres, of the Grand Commerce Inn, have been named as the township’s businesspersons of the year. The Andres became the owners the bed and breakfast, located at 815 Sleeth Road, in 2002. Prior to their purchase of the Inn, The Grand Commerce Inn was previously named the Victorian Rose and the Sugden House. The Andres are active in the greater community, as Ldonna assists with special events at St. Williams parish, including bingo, and Phil is an active 30-year member of the Multi-Lakes Conservation Club. The 2014 Commerce Township Parks and Recreation Award will be given to Tim Bailey, who has volunteered with the Inter-Lakes Girls Softball League for more than a decade. Currently the organization’s treasurer, Bailey has served as the vice chair of the league and spends many hours working at Maple Glen Park for the league and is integral in the running of the everyday operations of the league. In addition to serving as treasurer, Bailey is the league’s parks and recreation liaison. The township will also honor Tim Horton’s Cafe, 2201 Haggerty Road, with the 2014 Business Beautification New Construction Award. The business developer, Versus Development, received its certificate of occupancy in December 2013 and worked with township staff and consultants to design a restaurant with a drive thru that is both functional and attractive. The 2,050 square foot building utilizes a stone ledge around the base of the building, an asphalt-shingled, pitched roof, reverse gable ends, canopies and goose neck light fixtures. library over to the park and not spend more than $8 million.” Trustee Rick Sovel agreed with the location and price of the future library, and voiced his opposition to any kind of bond or new tax being used to finance the construction of a library. “I think we should, in the next couple months, come up with a decision to sell that property and look for a new one, and have a timetable to look for a new property,” Sovel said. “We have three years left on the (current library) millage, bringing in about $400,000 a year. Take that $1.2
million and add it to the $7.5 million, and that, I would say, is the budget. I’m not looking to take out a bond or a mortgage. I’m against doing that.” While the board came to a loose agreement on the location of the future library, questions about possible deed restrictions and the size and scope of the library still need to be answered. The northern section of the park was donated by the Dodge family to the state of Michigan, and was once part of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The park was later purchased by the township. While deed restrictions
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placed on the land by previous owners may restrict the construction of some buildings, such as a library, inconsistency of restrictions in the past may help efforts to lift such restrictions. “It has a history of having restrictions that have been lifted,” said trustee Robert Long, who said the site’s history may work in the township’s favor in developing some of the parkland for construction of a library. “There isn’t a very rock solid history of binding covenants on that property.” Commerce Library Director Connie Jo Ozinga said she felt the new library would need about five acres of land to be constructed, with the building being about 40,000 square feet. However, that estimate was made using a formula that calls for one square foot of space for each resident in the township. Ultimately, she said the amount of space required should be determined by the type of programs and services the library will offer. In order to better determine the physical needs, Ozinga suggested getting assistance from a consultant. Board members asked Ozinga to return with a list of libraries ranging from 30,000 to 40,000 square feet, so that they would have a better idea of what it would look like in theory. Ozinga mentioned the Highland and Milford libraries as appearing to have the right type of size, although she wasn’t aware of the exact space of those facilities. Highland Township Library Director Jude Halloran said that township’s library, which was opened in 2002, has a total of 26,900 square feet, which includes 1,4008 feet on the main floor, 11,042 square feet on the lower level, and an additional 1,850 square feet of unfinished storage space that is “highly valued.” Highland Township’s population is about 20,000. “One thing I see is the incredible demand for public space to meet,” Holloran said. “If we had more group space, it would be used.” The Troy Public Library, which moved to its current location in 1971, is about 40,000 square feet. The city has a population of about 80,000.
Traffic restriction to increase safety Left turns will be limited on school days from Ladd Road to W. West Maple in Walled Lake in the near future as public safety officials attempt to increase traffic safety near 33
Walled Lake Elementary School on 1055 W. Maple Road. The Walled Lake City Council on Tuesday, April 1, approved the first reading of a traffic control order to prohibit left turns from Ladd onto Maple during school days from 3:304:30 p.m. The order was approved by unanimous consent. Walled Lake Police Chief Paul Shakinas said many parents are picking up their children at that time of day. By eliminating left turns heading westbound during that part of the day, the area will be safer for students and parents, he said.
Byers supporters push for repairs By Kevin Elliott
Friends of the Byers Homestead are asking the Commerce Township Board of Trustees for help with repairs to the township’s historic farmhouse and barn at 213 Commerce Road, just west of South Commerce and Carroll Lake Road. Built more than a century-and-ahalf ago, the need for repairs at the Byers farmhouse became apparent this winter when it was noticed that the south wall of the building had a bend in it and was leaning into the kitchen and dining room. A couple weeks later, the wall had moved about four inches, causing the ceiling to become disconnected from the wall, said Jim Meenahan, president of the Friends of the Byers Homestead. To immediately address the problem, the township’s consultants attached wood buttresses to the outside of the wall to keep it in place. The township board in March approved spending about $1,800 to make a more permanent repair, which included installing an aircraft cable to the ceiling to pull the walls and roof back together. Meenahan said the floor of the farmhouse still sags, so much so that the Commerce Township Fire Marshall placed a five-person occupancy limit on the historic farmhouse, essentially rendering it off-limits to the public, he said. “We were happy it was saved, but the restrictions limit our uses,” Meenahan said. “People are very curious, and they want to go through there. In the past couple of years, The Friends have gotten more active and we have had bigger events with more people.” On Tuesday, April 8, Meenahan 34
Byers, senior center discussed
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iscussions on how best to address major repair work needed at the township’s senior center and a historic farmhouse started on Tuesday, April 22, among members of the Commerce Township Board of Trustees. The Byers farmhouse, located at 213 Commerce Road just west of South Commerce and Carroll Lake roads, was constructed more than 150 years ago, prior to today’s current building codes. The need for repairs at the farmhouse became apparent this winter when a wall separated from the rest of the building and moved about four inches. Floors at the farmhouse also appear to sag and move when used, causing the township’s fire marshal to restrict occupancy in the farmhouse to five people or less. The township’s Richardson Senior Center at 1485 Oakley Park Road is also in need of several repairs and updates, according to a list of potential improvement plans presented to the board by the township’s parks and recreation committee. Board of trustee members discussed the possibility of constructing a new senior center in the future. However, the current building was constructed using federal grants, which may have to be repaid if the center is taken down. While no formal decisions were made regarding the center, board members mentioned the possibility of constructing a new center in the future at Dodge Park 5, along with the construction of a new township library. “I thought that would be overbuilding, but maybe not,” said Commerce Township Supervisor Tom Zoner, after trustee Rick Sovel raised the possibility of constructing a new senior center at the park. Board members also directed township clerk Vanessa Magner to reach out to Robert Donahue with Main Street Oakland County for advice on how best to fix and pay for repairs at the Byers farmhouse. Donahue evaluated the farmhouse nearly a decade ago and is familiar with the history of the home. “We all know it’s going to be a money pit,” Zoner said of the farmhouse. “But we could find out what kind and get that information before we get into it.” Trustee Robert Long said he wasn’t interested in completely renovating the farmhouse. Rather, he said the goal should be to preserve the structure and make it safe. “I wouldn’t consider a fiveperson limit to be safe,” he said. Township consultants made an emergency repair to the farmhouse this winter by attaching wood buttresses to the outside walls to keep them in place. The township board in March approved spending about $1,800 to attach an aircraft cable inside the attic of the farmhouse to pull the walls together and reattach them to the roof. However, the repairs are considered a temporary fix to simply keep the structure standing and won’t allow the farmhouse to be used by the community for events. spoke to the township board of trustees at their monthly meeting to urge them to have the township’s engineering consultant look at the farmhouse and barn at the homestead and determine what work is needed to bring the structures up to current code and to determine the cost of doing so. “I’m guessing it’s $75,000 to $100,000 for both buildings,” he said. “We are looking at how to preserve it and how to keep it historic. Eventually, all the sides of the barn are going to have to come off, and it should be done with seasoned barn wood, not the regular pine you buy at
Home Depot. Those are the kinds of issues we are dealing with.” Township Supervisor Tom Zoner said he understands the issues at the homestead, but that funds to make repairs are limited. “At the present time, it’s not in the budget,” Zoner said. “It’s not an emergency, but something should be done.” Zoner said the issue will be part of an April 22 discussion session that will involve the board and other township departments. “We can see where we will go from there,” he said. The Byers Homestead land was
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settled in 1825 by German immigrant Abram Walrod, who constructed a log cabin next to a canal on the land. The cabin was replaced in the 1840s with a farmhouse, which still stands today. Known as “the Duck Farm” to some locals, the homestead represents the original settlement of Commerce Township and has been visited by thousands of residents. The Friends of Byers Homestead was formed in 1995 to protect and maintain the homestead, which resulted in the township’s purchase of the property in 1998. The Friends are now responsible for coordinating the preservation and maintenance of the grounds. Meenahan said a meeting with the Friends and the township’s parks and recreation committee resulted in the request for the township to have it’s engineering consultant prepare documents such as engineering plans, photos of major areas of concern, specifications and scope of the work needed, requests for proposals, cost estimates and contract documents. “We would contribute some if the board were putting money toward the projects,” Meenahan said, “but the authority to spend money really rests with the board of trustees.”
Wolverine revamps local ordinances At their monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 8, the Wolverine Lake Village Council adopted more than two dozen zoning ordinance amendments in order to adhere to state statutes. The 25 ordinance amendments were introduced at their meeting on March 12 and approved by village council at its April 8 meeting. The revised ordinances will ensure the village’s zoning ordinances meet the requirements of the state Planning Enabling Act of 2008. The act unifies three previous planning acts into a single act. The amendments were categorized as “housecleaning” of some ordinances to make sure they are in agreement with state law. Council also introduced four additional zoning ordinance amendments in order to clarify existing language. Those amendments came about from a recommendation from the village’s planning commission. Councilman Brian Nedrow, who serves as a council representative to the planning commission, said the amendments address the storage of temporary structures, such as rollaway 05.14
dumpsters, PODS, off-street parking of commercial vehicles, and accessory structures like sheds or other detached buildings and structures. The amendments also limit the allowable height of accessory structures to 14 feet, down from 18 feet. Council president John Magee said in approving the introduction of the amendments that they do indeed make the language much more clear than they had previously been written. The amendments introduced on Wednesday also make clear the uses of detached accessory structures. For instance, while such structures can’t be used for commercial purposes, such as an auto repair building, inside of a residentially zoned area, the new language makes such limitations clear, Nedrow said. The ordinances were unanimously approved by council members.
Draft of Commerce master plan coming A draft version of a revised township master plan, which guides long-term development in the community, is expected to be provided to the Commerce Township Planning Commission and Board of Trustees in May, township planner Kathleen Jackson informed trustees at their monthly meeting Tuesday, April 8. In September, the planning commission started reviewing the township’s master plan in an effort to limit the construction of apartments, condominiums and other multiplefamily housing developments in the township. While the master plan is required by state law to be updated every five years, Jackson said the scope of the update will be limited. Jackson said during the board of trustees meeting that the township board can expect to have a draft copy of the plan at its May 12 meeting, where members will be asked to approve distribution of the plan for review. The plan would then be returned to the planning commission in August, with the final version anticipated to go before the board in September or October. Following the adoption of the master plan, the township’s planning and building department would look at the township’s zoning map to address any inconsistencies between the documents, of which Jackson said there will be several. Meanwhile, Jackson said the westendmonthly.com
department has been open about the changes expected to the plan when speaking with potential developers so that problems don’t arise later down the road. “There’s no moratorium on the old plan, but it’s not necessarily business as usual,” Jackson said. “We recently met with someone and told them it wasn’t likely that they would be able to do multiples (family housing). I think it would be unfair to anyone to leave that out.”
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Walled Lake reviews water loss at meter By Kevin Elliott
Walled Lake Finance Director Colleen Coogan estimated that water lost between the city of Detroit and a local water meter is costing the city between $73,000 and $239,000 each year, she stated at the Walled Lake City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 1. Walled Lake, like many municipalities receiving water service from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, has water rates based on the amount of water used, based on when that water is used and how far it must travel. However, meter readings in Detroit and Walled Lake aren’t matching, suggesting that water is either being lost somewhere after it leaves Detroit and gets to Walled Lake, or the possibility of a malfunctioning meter. In order to address the issue, the Walled Lake City Council has asked they city’s audit committee to look into the problem. According to a water loss rate financial impact report, an estimated 20.2 percent water loss rate occurred during the 2012 fiscal year. So far, the loss rate has been cut to less than 16 percent. Coogan said the financial impact of the loss isn’t yet known, as engineers are still trying to determine if the city is simply buying too much water, or if they are coming up short on revenues due to water loss. “We are approaching it from both angles,” Coogan said. “The water loss impact is lessening every year. Also, the DWSD is charging us based on a fixed rate, and that is increasing more than the usage rate.” If it is determined the city is purchasing too much water based on the meter readings, the loss is likely to be about $73,000, Coogan said. However, if the water lost is being sold to customers in the city, the cost to the city would be higher. WESTEND
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Walled Lake city manager Dennis Whitt said it is important for the committee to meet and address the problem. However, he warned that the cost associated with water loss could be small in comparison to what the DWSD may charge in the future as the fate of the department is determined in coming months in light of Detroit’s bankruptcy settlement. “This may be nothing compared to what Detroit is going to do,” he said.
Candidates file for state, local offices Republican and Democratic candidates vying for numerous state and local offices filed their petitions for Michigan’s August 5 primary election by the 4 p.m. deadline on Tuesday, April 22. In the U.S. 11th congressional District, which covers Commerce Township, Walled Lake, Waterford, White Lake, Wixom and parts of West Bloomfield, current Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R ) is being challenged by fellow Republican Dave Trott of Birmingham. Democrats who have filed for the seat are Anil Kumar, Bobby McKenzie, Bill Roberts and Nancy Skinner. For the Michigan state Senate 15th District, which includes Commerce Township, Walled Lake, West Bloomfield, White Lake and Wixom, incumbent Republican Mike Kowall is facing two Republican challengers, Matt Maddock and Ron Molnar. The victor in the August primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary involving Tom Crawford and Michael D. Smith. Incumbent state Rep. Klint Kesto (R) of the 39th District has two Republican challengers, Deb O’Hagan and Alan Stephens, as well as Democrats Sandy Colvin and Michael B. Saari. The 39th District includes Commerce Township,
Township agrees to lease horse farm By Kevin Elliott
Under an agreement approved by Commerce Township trustees at their monthly meeting between the township and the owner of Pontiac Lake Riding Stables, a riding stable and training facility located on a piece of Commerce Township property will continue to operate for at least another year. The farm, which consists of about
West Bloomfield and Wixom. Republicans Jose Aliaga, Paul J. Greenawalt, Nate Knapper, Andrea Schroeder, Jim Tedder and Neil Billington will compete in the August primary for the open 43rd House District state representative seat, which covers the Oakland County communities of Waterford, Lake Angelus, Indepence Township and Clarkston, and then face either Democrat Robin McGregor or Dennis M. Ritter in November. In the 44th House District, which includes part of Waterford, White Lake, Milford and Highland Township, Republicans Dennis Garlick, Jim Runestad, Liz Fessler Smith and Russ Tierney will tussle to see who confronts Democrat Mark Venie in November. At the county level, familiar faces are either running for reelection or seeking a return to the local level after stints in Lansing. Current Oakland County Commissioner John Scott (R) of Waterford in the 5th District will face off against Democrat Markus Tincher in November. In the 6th District, covering White Lake, term limited state Rep. Eileen Kowall (R) is looking for a commission seat against Democrat Ethyl Rivera. Long-time Oakland County commissioner Chris Long (R) will work to retain her 7th District seat in Commerce Township against Democrat Christopher DuBois. Commerce Township Clerk Vanessa Magner (R) has filed for reelection and is running unopposed. Magner was appointed Commerce Clerk in late January 2013 after former clerk Dan Munro resigned. Magner is running to complete Munro’s term in office, which will end November 20, 2016. At the 52-1 District courthouse in Novi, which oversees cases in Commerce Township, Highland Township, Milford Township, Milford Village, Wolverine Lake Village, Walled Lake and Wixom, embattled Judge Brian MacKenzie is being challenged
by Scott W. Powers and Travis M. Reeds. All candidates had until 4 p.m. Friday, April 25, to withdraw their names from contention in order to not be printed on the August primary ballot.
The Commerce Township Downtown Development Authority (DDA) on Tuesday, April 22, approved a $2 million purchase agreement with a Bloomfield Hills developer to buy a 6.2acre parcel of land at the northwest corner of Pontiac Trail and Haggerty Road. The land, which is part of the DDA’s Commerce Towne Place project area, is expected to be used to develop a retail shopping center consisting of two buildings and a common area for outdoor seating and restaurant space, according to developer Doraid Markus. “We like the corner,” Markus told members of the DDA board at the meeting. “I see this as a gateway to your community, and any kind of fast food joint would kind of lessen the value of the property. I wouldn’t have a McDonalds, Burger King or Taco Bell – it would cheapen what I’m trying to do here.” Markus said he plans to construct a 20,000 square foot retail shopping center consisting of two buildings. He is also proposing a drive thru for a national, high-end coffee retailer on one of the two buildings, as well as a 6,000 square foot restaurant or other retail space at a later date as part of a second phase of the project. “We like high-end material and use good eye-catching materials to give a pedestrian friendly or village-type feel to our centers,” said Markus, who added that he is involved with an
investment group that has done work in Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, the northwest corner at Maple and Orchard Lake roads, and other locations. “It will be something my kids will be proud of one day.” The purchase agreement calls for $1.5 million cash to be paid at closing, with an initial balance of $500,000 secured by a note and mortgage held by the DDA at 7 percent per annum. Markus is also required to provide a $50,000 deposit and given a 90-day period to complete inspection of the property, or waiving its on-site due diligence. If the agreement then isn’t terminated, Markus has 30 days to apply for site plan approval and/or a planned unit development agreement. Closing would occur within 20 days after either waiving the inspection period or approval of a site plan. The agreement marks the third purchase of land in the 330-acre Commerce Towne Place development, north of M-5 and Pontiac Trail, between Haggerty and Welch roads. The DDA in 2013 accepted its first two purchase agreements on parcels in the project area. Just less than 60 acres of land north of Pontiac Trail between Welch and Martin Parkway is under contract with M. Shapiro Development Company. The DDA accepted a $5.15 million offer for that land, which is expected to be used for mixed use/commercial development and the construction of about 400 stacked ranch and/or townhouse units. The DDA in September accepted a purchase agreement from Hunter Pasteur Homes of Novi for about $1.04 million for about 15 acres of land, just west of township hall. The developer has proposed building 39 single-family homes with an average sale price between $250,000 and $350,000, and an average home size from 2,500 to 3,200 square feet. Members of the DDA unanimously approved the purchase agreement with Markus.
30 acres of land near Wixom and N. Wixom Roads, was purchased from Oakland County in October 2013, during a tax foreclosure sale, for about $382,000. At the time of the purchase, the thought was that the land may one day could be turned into a recreational complex consisting of sports fields and open parkland. Upon purchasing the land, however, the township inadvertently became landlords to the existing horse farm and Carrie Hancock, who owns the Pontiac Lake Riding Stable business. On Tuesday, April 8, the
township board of trustees approved a concession agreement with Hancock, allowing her to lease the land effective January 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014. The agreement includes an additional one-year extension, providing there is no default on the original agreement. The agreement calls for a concession fee for the exclusive right to operate the public use riding stable and training facility in the amount of $2,8000 for the months of January, February, March, April and May of 2014, and thereafter at a rate of
$1,400 per month. The agreement calls for a $2,800 security deposit, which would come from the April and May payments. Hancock, who addressed the board in January, said she has operated horse facilities for more than 25 years. The current location in Commerce offers classes and special events. She said there are 59 horses at the facility, and she would like to remain at the property to operate her business for at least a year, in order to book summer camps and not default on current contracts.
$2 million sale of DDA parcel approved By Kevin Elliott
Anaam’s Palate: Middle Eastern. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2534 Union Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.242.6326. Applebees Neighborhood Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 9100 Highland Road, White Lake, 48386. 248.698.0901. Backyard Coney Island: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 49378 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393. 248.926.9508. Bayside Sports Grille: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 142 E. Walled Lake Drive, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.669.3322. Biffs Coney Island: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 3050 Union Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.366.7400. Big Boy Restaurant: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 5834 Highland Road, Waterford, 48328. 248.674.4631. Big Boy Restaurant: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 800 N. Pontiac Trail, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.624.2323. Big Boy Restaurant: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Beer & Wine. 7726 Cooley Lake Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.363.1573. Billy’s Tip N Inn: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 6707 Highland Road, White Lake Township, 48383. 248.889.7885. Blu Nectar: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday - Saturday. Reservations. Liquor. 1050 Benstein Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.859.5506. Boon Kai Restaurant: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1257 S. Commerce Road, Commerce, 48390. 248.624.5353. Buffalo Wild Wings: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 5223 Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.674.9464. Carino’s Italian Restaurant: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 500 Loop Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.926.5300.
Carrie Lee’s of Waterford: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 7890 Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.666.9045. Casey’s Sports Pub & Grill: Deli. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 1003 E West Maple Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.669.5200. CAYA Smokehouse Grille: Barbeque. Dinner, Tuesday - Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 1403 S. Commerce Road, Wolverine Lake, 48390. 248.438.6741. China Garden: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner daily. No reservations. 49414 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393. 248.960.8877. China House: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 901 Nordic Drive, White Lake Township, 48386. 248.889.2880. China King: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 4785 Carroll Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.363.9966. China Queen: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1130 E. Maple Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.669.8896. CJ’s Brewing Company: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 8115 Richardson Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.366.7979. Coffee Time Café: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1001 Welch Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.624.0097. Coyote Grille: American. Lunch, MondayFriday; Dinner, Monday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 1990 Hiller Road, West Bloomfield, 48324. 248.681.6195. Dairy Queen: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 10531 Highland Road, White Lake, 48386. 248.698.2899. Daniel’s Pizza Bistro: Pizza. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2510 Union Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.363.7000. Dave and Amy’s: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 9595 Highland Road, White Lake, 48386. 248.698.2010. Dave’s Coney Island: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No Reservations. 901 Nordick Drive, White Lake, 48383. 248.889.3600. Dickey’s Barbecue Pit: Barbecue. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 4825 Carroll Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.360.4055. Dobski’s: American, Polish. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6565 Cooley
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Lake Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.363.6565. Eddie’s Coney Island: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1749 Haggerty Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.960.1430. El Nibble Nook: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations for 6 or more. Liquor. 2750 Haggerty Road, West Bloomfield, 48323. 248.669.3344. El Patio Mexican Restaurant: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 7622 Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.666.5231. Five Guys Burgers & Fries: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 5134 Highland Road, 48327. 248.673.5557. Gest Omelets: American. Breakfast & Lunch, daily until 4 p.m. No reservations. 39560 W. 14 Mile Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.926.0717. Golden Chop Sticks: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 47516 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393. 248.960.3888. Grand Aztecha: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6041 Haggerty Road, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.669.7555. Greek Jalapeno: Greek, Mexican. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 6636 Cooley Lake Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.363.3322. Green Apple Restaurant: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 7156 Cooley Lake Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.366.9100. Haang's Bistro: Chinese/Thai. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. 225 E. Walled Lake Drive, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.926.1100. Highland Grille: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 7265 Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.666.8830. Highland House: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2630 E. Highland Road, Highland, 48356. 248.887.4161. Highland House Café: American, Pizza. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 10719 Highland Road, White Lake, 48386. 248.698.4100. Hong Kong Express: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 5158 Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.673.7200. It’s a Matter of Taste: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2323 Union Lake Road, Commerce, 48390. 248.360.4150. Jennifer’s Café: Middle Eastern. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 4052 Haggerty Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.360.0190. Jenny’s Restaurant: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1186 E. West Maple Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.669.8240. Jeff's Kitchen: Asian. Lunch & Dinner daily. Reservations. 1130 E. West Maple Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.669.8896. Kennedy’s Irish Pub: Irish/American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 1055 W. Huron Street, Waterford, 48328. 248.681.1050. L George’s: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1203 S. Commerce Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.960.5700. Leo’s Coney Island: American/Greek. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 6845 Highland Road,
White Lake, 484386. 248.889.5361. Leo’s Coney Island: American/Greek. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 4895 Carroll Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.366.8360. Leo’s Coney Island: American/Greek. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2210 Teggerdine, White Lake, 48386. 248.779.7085. Leon’s Food & Spirits: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 29710 S. Wixom Road, Wixom, 48393. 248.926.5880. Lion’s Den: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 4444 Highland Road, Waterford, 48328. 248.674.2251. Lulu’s Coney Island: Greek. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1001 Welch Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.669.1937. Maria’s Restaurant: Italian. Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2080 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield, 48323. 248.851.2500. Mexico Lindo: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6225 Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.666.3460. Mezza Mediterranean Grille: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1001 Welch Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.926.2190. Moonlight Mediterranean Cuisine: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 1123 E. West Maple Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.859.5352. Nick & Toney’s: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday; Sunday until 3 p.m. No reservations. 9260 Cooley Lake Road, White Lake, 48386. 248.363.1162. North Szechuan Empire: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 39450 W. 14 Mile Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.960.7666. On The Waterfront: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 8635 Cooley Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.363.9469. Panera Bread: Bakery, Deli. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 5175 Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.618.0617. Pepino’s Restaurant & Lounge: Italian. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday. No reservations. Liquor. 118 W. Walled Lake Drive, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.624.1033. Red Lobster: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 479 N. Telegraph Road, Waterford, 48328. 248.682.5146. Red Robin: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 3003 Commerce Crossing, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.926.2990. Root Restaurant & Bar: American. Lunch & Dinner, Monday-Saturday. No reservations. Liquor. 340 Town Center Blvd., White Lake, 48386. 248.698.2400. Rudy’s Waffle House: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 674 N. Pontiac Trail, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.669.7550. Samuri Steakhouse: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 7390 Haggerty Road, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.661.8898. Shark Club: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 6665
WESTEND
Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.666.4161. SIAM Fushion: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 6845 Highland Road, White Lake Township, 48386. 248.887.1300. Siegel’s Deli: Deli. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 3426 E. West Maple Road, Commerce Township, 48390. 248.926.9555. Sizzl in Subs & Salads: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 2051 N. Wixom Road, Wixom, 48393. 248.960.0009. Socialight Cigar Bar & Bistro: American. Lunch & Dinner daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6139 Haggerty Road, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.669.0777. Swasdee Thai Restaurant: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 6175 Haggerty Road, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.926.1012. Sweet Water Bar & Grille: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 7760 Cooley Lake Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.363.0400. Taqueria La Casita: Mexican. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 49070 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393. 248.926.1980. Thai Kitchen: Thai. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 7108 Highland Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.886.0397. The Lake’s Bar & Grill: American. Lunch, Tuesday - Sunday; Dinner daily. Reservations. Liquor. 2528 Union Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.366.3311. The Library Pub: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 6363 Haggerty Road, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.896.0333. TJ’s Sushi & Chinese Restaurant: Japanese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 8143 Commerce Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.363.3388. Town Lake Family Restaurant: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner daily. No reservations. 1186 E. West Maple Road, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.669.7550. Uptown Grill: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 3100 West Maple Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.960.3344. Village Grill: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 1243 N. Commerce Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.366.3290. Volare Risorante: Italian. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 49115 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393. 248.960.7771. VR Famous Fried Chicken: American, Cajun. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 47520 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 48393. 248.926.6620. White Palace: Mediterranean. Lunch & Dinner, daily. Reservations. Liquor. 6123 Haggerty Restaurant, West Bloomfield, 48322. 248.313.9656. Wilson’s Pub n Grill: American. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. Liquor. 2256 Union Lake Road, Commerce Township, 48382. 248.363.1849. Wonton Palace: Chinese. Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 5562 Cooley Lake Road, Waterford, 48327. 248.683.5073. Woody’s Café: American. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, daily. No reservations. 235 N. Pontiac Trail, Walled Lake, 48390. 248.624.4379.
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Lakes Area (248) 363-8300
EQUAL HOUSING
OPPORTUNITY
ENDNOTE
Missing master plan for new downtown
A
recently approved purchase agreement between Commerce Township’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and a Bloomfield Hills developer to build a proposed retail shopping center at the northwest corner of Pontiac Trail and Haggerty Road may be viewed as a step forward in creating a downtown area in the township, but it should be the red light for the township to stop and assess the path which it is barreling down. While we are pleased to see interest and activity in the 330-acre area north of M-5 Highway and Pontiac Trail between Haggerty and Welch Roads, known as the Commerce Towne Place project area, we believe now to be an appropriate time to give pause to additional developments without first establishing a master plan for the project, which will ultimately serve as the township’s downtown. The need to establish a vision for the future stems from the seeds of the project that were planted in the past. About 1998, the DDA began looking for ways to improve traffic congestion around Pontiac Trail, Haggerty Road, 14 Mile Road and Maple, where M-5 terminated. In 2003, the DDA funded traffic studies in the area to determine where traffic exiting M-5 could go, and what could be done to facilitate north-south traffic between M-5 and M59. At the same time, the former Links of Pinewood owner, the late Ernie Fuller, had talked about establishing a 27-hole, championship golf course in the area. The discussions eventually developed into the sale of the Links of Pinewood
and adjacent El Dorado golf courses. The DDA in 2007 purchased more than 70 acres of Dodge Park 5 from the Michigan Department of Transportation. The land purchases made it possible for the DDA to extend Martin Parkway south to M-5 to improve traffic flow. It was from there that the Commerce Towne Place was born. The initial vision of the Commerce Towne Place project was recorded in a master plan, which included plans for various developments, including office, retail, commercial, residential and recreational areas, as well as open spaces and walking paths. When completed, the project was to be an area that would enable its residents to live, work and play in a walkable downtown area. Sale of the property was also to be used to pay for the land purchases and create a tax base to benefit the township well into the future. The entire plan provides Commerce Township with a unique opportunity to build a downtown area from scratch. However, what started as a distinct vision with a developed master plan has become subject to an unstable economy and the personal whims of some township officials. Starting with the real estate collapse in 2008, land development became stagnant and the sale of any property didn’t occur until recently. With the current rebound in the real estate market, the DDA is finally seeing significant interest in the land, which is being marketed as highlydesirable, shovel-ready property to developers. However, the guiding document for developing
the downtown area has since become a backdrop. It has become an afterthought as usage is being determined by the real estate market. And although developments must be approved by the DDA board, the township’s planning commission and the board of trustees, the lack of a formal master plan has resulted in strikingly different visions among the various board members. With interest from developers continuing to grow, we feel it would be wise for the DDA and township to temporarily halt selling the property and develop a comprehensive master plan for the DDA area. Additionally, we believe it is imperative for the DDA to bring in an outside urban planner who specializes in developing downtown areas. Although we feel the current DDA director and township planning consultant have done a fine job balancing market forces and the desires of township decision-makers, establishing the future of Commerce Township demands an impartial visionary with experience in urban planning versus suburban sprawl. In this process, additional input from the community at public meetings would be requested and required, which would further ensure a downtown that best represents the community in which it will be built, allowing everyone to come together on the same page. Commerce Township has the rare opportunity to create a new downtown area. But community leaders only have one opportunity to get it right.
Township obligated to maintain Byers
A
ging and failing structures at the Byers Homestead will require the Commerce Township Board of Trustees to step up efforts and funding to maintain the historic site on a long-term basis. The homestead – which includes a farmhouse and barn built more than 100 years ago, as well as a foot bridge and smaller barns used for storage and other operations – was purchased by the township in 1998. The barn is currently used as a country store and candy shop, and other structures include “Grannie’s Pantry,” the duck barn and a storage barn. The farmhouse, which consists of several small rooms, is limited in use due to an occupancy restriction placed on the structure that allows a maximum of five people inside the building at any time after structural problems arose. Problems at the farmhouse became critical this winter when one of the walls began moving away from the rest of the building, separating from the
ceiling and roof. An emergency repair was done by some of the township’s consultants, which consisted of an airline cable being installed in the attic to pull the walls back together and hold it together. Meanwhile, there are concerns about the floor of the building, which was constructed prior to modern building codes and ultimately needs to be rebuilt or reinforced in order to accommodate any future activity and meaningful use of the building. The need for repairs isn’t a surprise. In fact, the inevitable cost of repairs was the primary reason that former township supervisor Robert Long turned down purchasing the homestead from the late June Byers in 1994, a position we supported. It’s a decision current township supervisor Tom Zoner said he now wishes he had known about when June Byers approached him to sell the property about four years later. Although preserving part of history helps add to the “sense of place” in the community, we opposed the
purchase of the homestead in 1998 due to the long-term cost to the township to maintain the structures. However, the fact is that the township does own the homestead, and is now responsible for maintaining the site. While we give credit to volunteers with Friends of Byers, who have done a good job with the limited resources available to them, the time has come for the township to look at the entire homestead and determine what will be needed to maintain and improve it into the future, including providing amenities which could upgrade the facilities enough to generate revenue as a historic event space. Owning Byers creates the responsibility for the township for its maintenance and renovations. The emergency repairs may hold the farmhouse together for now, but quick fixes and volunteers are no longer enough to protect the homestead and its historical and cultural significance to the township.
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C USTOM O RCHARD L AKE H OME W/ FIN WALKOUT O RCHARD L AKE ACCESS & D OCKING
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LAKE OAKLAND - $969,000
C USTOM L AKE OAKLAND ESTATES C ONTEMPORARY 172 F T. FRONTAGE W/ B REATHTAKING V IEWS
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TROY - $725,000
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NOVI - $1,950,000
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CLARKSTON - $1,890,000
S PECTACULAR C USTOM C ONTEMPORARY D ESIGNED BY OWNER /A RCHITECT 4 ACRE P RIVATE S ETTING NEAR OAKHURST C OUNTRY C LUB.
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UNION LAKE - $1,150,0000
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#214020695 • EXT. #266
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#214037139 • EXT 188