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Soccer Complex at Cooper; Livonia Observer
Topic Started: Jul 22 2009, 11:10 AM (10,432 Views)
Ms. AK
Veteran
But who/what is running Breeze? What if the subsidiary does not know what they are doing? What is the Breeze parent known for doing?

Why does the parent corp. need to "shield" itself? If it's public information, where is it? I couldn't find it--and I tried.
Krome on Cars

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Ms. AK
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http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20090827/OPINION/908270594/1199/news10/Soccer+complex+a+positive+reuse+of+contaminated+school+site


Soccer complex a positive reuse of contaminated school site
AUGUST 27, 2009

The Livonia school board did the right thing last week in approving a cooperative agreement with a sports management company to turn the old Cooper School site into a soccer complex.

The school, built in the 1960s on a former landfill in Westland, was closed in 1991 because of contamination. The district has since torn the building down and erected a fence to keep people out, but the site has remained an eyesore along Ann Arbor Trail all these years.

Under the terms of the agreement, the school district will spend about $1 million from its sinking fund and use another $800,000 from a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality grant to grade the property, cap the landfill, erect a soccer dome provided by the company, plant grass, build a retention pond, install an irrigation system and add a parking lot and lights.

Breeze Sports Management of West Bloomfield will lease about half of the 40-acre site for 35 years, paying the school district about $2 million over that time period. Breeze would pay $55,000 for each of the first three lease years, then increase that total $5,000 periodically to $75,000 annually in lease years 26 through 35.

The company will manage the complex, which would include four outdoor soccer fields, a couple of training fields and a dome for indoor soccer. If the company defaults, the school district gets to keep the dome.

While the agreement, approved in a 5-2 vote, doesn't take care of the entire site, it's a good start.

If the school board had not approved it, the district likely would have lost the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality grant, set to expire Sept. 30.

The school district is fortunate to have an interested lessee for its vacant property in this economy, especially given the property's history. As Trustee Daniel Lessard pointed out, “There's not a big market for contaminated property.”

A soccer complex may increase business in the area as families traveling from other communities stop to eat at local restaurants or purchase items needed last minute from local stores.

With obesity on the rise in Michigan, a soccer complex will provide residents with another place to get and stay in shape.

The agreement is contingent on many things, including state approval because of the contamination.

We hope it works out. There have been previous proposals, including a medical office complex and senior housing, that never took off, mostly because of the economy.

We applaud Westland city officials, Livonia Public Schools and Livonia Mayor Jack Kirksey, who served as a project consultant before being elected mayor, for working hard on getting help to remediate the property and for trying their hardest to get the property developed.

It's been almost two decades since the Observer broke the story about the contamination and we're glad to finally see something positive happening there.



In Your Voice | READ REACTIONS TO THIS STORY

livonia1 wrote:
"It's been almost two decades since the Observer broke the story about the contamination..."

Nice of the OE to take credit for "breaking the story" when it was actually a parent, and now current Westland City Council member Cheryl Graunstadt that "broke the story". If it wasn't for the persistence of a parent (who at the time was probably labled a "terrorist" by LPS) the children would still be wallowing in toxic soup on that playground since LPS already knew it was built on an uncontrolled waste dump site.

"We applaud Westland city officials, Livonia Public Schools and Livonia Mayor Jack Kirksey, who served as a project consultant before being elected mayor"

Why applaud the waste of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars by LPS on the "environmental consultant" Crooksey and the do nothing contractors that doidn't accomplish a thing for the years they sucked taxpayer monies for the childrens educational facilities trying to get fat contracts for friends.

What a waste...
8/27/2009 7:26:22 AM
Krome on Cars

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Ms. AK
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Do you think 1.8 million in taxpayer dollars is worth a used soccer dome in a default situation?
Krome on Cars

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BoaterDan
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Anna Krome
Aug 25 2009, 02:02 PM
But who/what is running Breeze? What if the subsidiary does not know what they are doing? What is the Breeze parent known for doing?

Why does the parent corp. need to "shield" itself? If it's public information, where is it? I couldn't find it--and I tried.
Mainly to shield itself from liability. Again, nothing unusual about that. (Although some do feel that's an abomination to consumer protection interests, but that's really another discussion.)
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Deleted User
Deleted User

Taxpayer money being wasted

Unbelievable! Dan Lessard wants to spend $1 million of the precious sinking fund dollars and we don't even break even for 17 and a half years? We are in monetary crisis now! We can't afford to wait 18 years for a return on the investment. How do we even know this company will be around in 18 years? Why don't they let Breeze Management spend the million, and we give them 18 years rent-free?

Why is Steve King the only voice of reason? Oh, I forgot, Tom Bailey (the only other voice of reason) was voted off. Mang is right about one thing. If this incredibly stupid waste of taxpayer money gets passed, I will do something I have never done before. I will vote no on the November millage.

Steven E. Trudell
Livonia

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20090913/OPINION03/909130566/1199/NEWS10/Letters
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Hopeful
Advanced Member
[ *  *  * ]
At least four BOE members voted to spend $1 million for a private company to set up soccer fields at the old Cooper site. They approved this spending of the sinking fund and moved on to other business. This is a done deal.
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Muffin
Member
[ *  * ]
Breeze Sports Management
7422 Silver Leaf Lane, West Bloomfield
248-788-0227
Reverse look up of address:
Owner: Hermiz family (Tony Hermiz)

Also found Tony Hermiz listed as "owner" of Shelby Soccer City (Shelby Twp)
Tony also 1/4 owner in Melton Road Development LLC, who's co-owner, Sam Meram, owned the construction company that got into trouble for destroying the wetlands while building the Soccer City.

Check of Macomb Daily newspaper found all sorts of interesting articles. Problems from the start:

04/16/06 article
Wetland destruction
Dome installed was larger than agreed upon
Failure to remove dome in spring

08/17/07 article - SC hasn't followed thru on promise to build outdoor fields.
05/17/08 article - Twp ends deal w/SC. Pays them $1million to reimburse them for improvements to the property.

2 years = $1m = $500K/year, not bad work if you can get it!



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Mrs.M
Veteran
Coming in your Sunday's Observer

Complex costs out of bounds?
School board to mull options for old school site


costs are now projected to be 2.5 to 3 million not 'about' 2 million as originally thought.

Believe it or not, some are even wanting questions answered, numbers known.

arghhhhhhhhh
at a loss for words again. Stay tuned...

And please don't all join in unison..."we told you so"
I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be WRONG.
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Administrator
Administrator
Administrator edit...Posts moved to stay on topic...
Original topic...
http://s6.zetaboards.com/Livonianeighbors/topic/8664896/1/#new

Poster George Said......

The Cooper School is listed on the agenda for tomorrow's committee meeting. Which one??? The landfill/soccer dome or the present school. Either way, it's all very secretive as usual. ;)

III. FINANCE COMMITTEE


Lessard, Chair; Burton, Johnson
A. Cooper School Update
Presenter: R. Liepa


https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=30464611
Edited by Administrator, Aug 7 2010, 11:27 PM.
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Administrator
Administrator
Administrator edit...Posts moved to stay on topic...
Original topic...
http://s6.zetaboards.com/Livonianeighbors/topic/8664896/1/#new

Poster George Said......

Randy lived up to my expectations. His presentation was about the former Cooper School site and the soccer dome deal. The deal would now cost the tax payers 1.5 to 1.9 million dollars from the Sinking Fund to support this deal. But it gets better, Randy wants to hire "Tony" the dome owner as a LPS employee to run the program. What does this mean for us? Our district would be in the Soccer business, I thought we were in the business of educating our children. :X

Edited by Administrator, Aug 7 2010, 11:28 PM.
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Administrator
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Administrator edit...Posts moved to stay on topic...
Original topic...
http://s6.zetaboards.com/Livonianeighbors/topic/8664896/1/#new

Poster George Said......

I have one other question for the Board and Randy. What happened to the original contract? I do believe that if "Tony" didn't live up to his side of the deal, we would own the soccer dome. Now Randy wants to buy the used dome and astro turf from "Tony". Yeah...... :blink: Something stinks more than the landfill that they need to clean up.
Edited by Administrator, Aug 7 2010, 11:29 PM.
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Administrator
Administrator
Administrator edit...Posts moved to stay on topic...
Original topic...
http://s6.zetaboards.com/Livonianeighbors/topic/8664896/1/#new

Poster Sage said......

Does anyone know any more details about this?
Edited by Administrator, Aug 7 2010, 11:29 PM.
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Administrator
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http://s6.zetaboards.com/Livonianeighbors/topic/8664896/1/#new

Poster LPS Reformer said......

Maybe Randy should have listened to Eileen.

Edited by Administrator, Aug 7 2010, 11:30 PM.
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Administrator
Administrator
Here is the video of the discussion....

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/8014959/21259825
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Administrator
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Original topic...
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Poster Sage said......

Thank you for the video.

I don't know what to say except that the super seems very excited about these plans.

Some questions are:
Will LPS now own the soccer field and is the plan to make a profit from it?
How much will it cost to get it up to MDEQ standards?
Edited by Administrator, Aug 7 2010, 11:27 PM.
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Administrator
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Mrs.M
Aug 7 2010, 07:49 PM
Coming in your Sunday's Observer

Complex costs out of bounds?
School board to mull options for old school site


costs are now projected to be 2.5 to 3 million not 'about' 2 million as originally thought.

Believe it or not, some are even wanting questions answered, numbers known.

arghhhhhhhhh
at a loss for words again. Stay tuned...

And please don't all join in unison..."we told you so"
This is the latest post.
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Administrator
Administrator
Complex costs out of bounds?
School board to mull options for old school site
By Karen Smith • OBSERVER STAFF WRITER • August 8, 2010

After a year of working with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Livonia school administrators are coming up with alternative game plans for the proposed soccer complex at the former Cooper School site.

Supt. Randy Liepa said costs to develop the site, which was a landfill prior to the school being built, are projected to be $2.5 million to $3 million, not about $2 million as originally thought.

He said during the next month, the school board will decide on what's the best way to proceed. Administrators are preparing optional plans for the board's consideration.

“There were additional costs we didn't anticipate a year ago,” he said, adding the MDEQ came back with five to six pages of comments on the original plan.

That plan, a cooperative agreement approved by the board in a 5-2 vote in August 2009, called for using $1 million from the district's sinking fund and $800,000 from a MDEQ grant to grade the property, cap the landfill, erect a soccer dome, plant grass, build a retention pond, install an irrigation system and add a parking lot and lights.

The plan called for leasing about half of the 40-acre site to Breeze Sports Management of West Bloomfield
for 35 years, which would pay the school district about $2 million over that time period. The company would provide the soccer dome.
The plan called for four outdoor soccer fields, a couple of training fields and the dome for indoor soccer.

Because of environmental concerns, the number of outdoor soccer fields has been reduced to three, Liepa said.
With the increased costs, the superintendent said there may be a way to increase the revenue to the district, including possibly having school employees manage the complex instead of having a private company to do it. Liepa said under that plan, the district would have to hire the personnel to do the managing.

School board President Lynda Scheel said “lots and lots” of questions remain, given the fluctuating costs. “We need to see a business plan; we need to see numbers on paper. We need further information before we want to say go ahead or not go ahead.”
She said she wants to make sure that if the costs increase, the revenue from the project also increases.

Liepa anticipates the district will make some improvements to the site since it has grant money for the project, even if that means simply capping the property.

“Ultimately it's a landfill over there; we want to do something positive.”

Cooper School, built in the 1960s, was closed in 1991 because of contamination. The district has since torn it down. A fence surrounds the site, located across from the new Cooper Upper Elementary School on Ann Arbor Trail in Westland.

Over the years, different developers have come up with three plans for the site, Liepa said. Those plans have included a senior center and a larger soccer complex than the one now proposed. Those plans fell through, primarily because of the economy.
ksmith@hometownlife.com | (313) 222-2098

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20100808/NEWS10/8080464/1027/news10/Complex+costs+out+of+bounds?
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Deleted User
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Administrator
Aug 8 2010, 10:05 AM

School board President Lynda Scheel said “lots and lots” of questions remain, given the fluctuating costs. “We need to see a business plan; we need to see numbers on paper. We need further information before we want to say go ahead or not go ahead.”
She said she wants to make sure that if the costs increase, the revenue from the project also increases.

Liepa anticipates the district will make some improvements to the site since it has grant money for the project, even if that means simply capping the property.

“Ultimately it's a landfill over there; we want to do something positive.”

Obviously, we would all like something positive. But as you can see, the cost of the project has already increased significantly in just the past year. Chances are very good that they will continue to increase significantly if the district goes ahead with this project. There is no way to be sure the revenue will increase if the costs do. In fact, the revenue could be less if you are already reducing the number of soccer fields.

In the mean time, we are laying off teachers and para pros, and considering outsourcing services. If we are going to hire anyone, for anything, it needs to be in the classroom. This is a gamble our district simply can not afford to take. And it is certainly not something people approved the recent millages for.


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f11
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[ *  *  * ]
I know it doen't have anything to do with it, but this just reminds me of
Ran-Don stables everytime I read about this project.
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LPS Reformer
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
Speaking of which, it looks like his horse racing business did about as well as this Sports Dome is doing. His website is gone.

“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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