School Officials Consider Plans to Demolish Empty Buildings

The  Board of Education is considering a proposal to demolish four now-vacant school buildings and the Fairview Early Childhood Center on Oakcrest Drive, which also is shuttered.

When the economy was better, the properties would have been easy to sell to developers, Cheryl Cannon, executive director of operations for the district said at a board meeting Dec. 7. 

The buildings are all located in residential areas. But the market for residential land has plummeted, so waiting for a developer to purchase the properties and absorb the demolition costs is unrealistic.

"If we wait (for a buyer) there will be further deterioration of those buildings," Cannon said.

The cost of demolishing Wooddale, at 34275 Oak Forest Drive, Farmington Hills; Eagle, at 29410 West 14 Mile Road, West Bloomfield; Flanders at 32600 Flanders Street, Farmington; and William Grace, at 29040 Shiawassee Road, Farmington Hills; and Fairview will be $900,000.

To recoup some costs, the district is re-using equipment in those closed buildings by moving cabinets, countertops and other items to various other schools who can use them.  Using those items, purchased with a 1997/1999 bond, as replacements for 40 to 50-year-old equipment at  and  would save the district $150,000-$175,000, Cannon said.

Further, air conditioning equipment and boilers from some of the closed schools "still have some useful life left in them," she told the board. "We would like to keep those for parts," which would save the district money. Re-using all those items from closed schools will leave the shuttered buildings functionally useless, another reason to demolish them.

There has been some interest in using the buildings. According to a report Cannon presented to the board, the district has fielded some inquiries from private schools, a child care center, and a center for people with autism. Each expressed interest in some of the buildings when it was announced in March that the elementary schools would close.

But they were asking about the buildings without having seen them, and board member Frank Reid said, "I frankly would not want to put kids in those buildings,"  he said. Cannon said some of the buildings have leaking roofs and crumbling plumbing.

Meanwhile,  Superintendent Susan Zurvalec said that representatives from the cities of  and  have expressed concern over having abandoned school buildings sitting empty in their neighborhoods, creating eyesores and dragging down property values.

"They have voiced support for demolition," she said.

If approved by the board, demolition would take approximately four weeks, and the sites would be graded and restored. The parking lots would be left in place, as well as ball diamonds and possibly playgrounds, Cannon said.

It's unclear yet which of the playgrounds would be preserved for community use. Cannon reported that the City of Farmington is interested in helping to maintain the playground at Flanders, but Farmington Hills is not interested in the other schools' playgrounds.

Cannon reported "mothball" expenses for the five buildings is approximately $111,000 annually, for utilities and security.

The board will likely vote on the proposal in January. In the meantime, Cannon said the district will seek comments from the community, particularly from neighborhood associations near the vacant schools.

Correction: An editing error was corrected in this story. The number of schools to be demolished is five, and the estimated $900,000 cost of demolition is for all five schools.