Vacant Prison, Seven Mile Property on Agenda for Special Township Meeting

The Northville Township Board of Trustees will meet 7 p.m. Thursday at Township Hall to discuss updates on the former Robert Scott Correction Facility and the Seven Mile Property. 

The prison, on Five Mile and Beck Roads, was shut down in 2009, and the township bought the property from the state for $1 in September. The Township has not yet made a decision on what the 53-acre land will be used for after plans to knock it down this year. 

Township Supervisor Bob Nix said the property has a wide range of possibilities for use, from a recreational park to retail to a lightweight industrial park. He said that the facility acreage will be a focal point for future activities in that area.

"It's going to be the hallmark for the development of that Five Mile corridor. It's going to take a number of years to do that, but it's going to be beneficial to the township because it's on the perimeter, it doesn't interfere with our residents, it raises revenue for us. It just has a lot of good things to it," he said.

Board of Trustees will also discuss park plans for Seven Mile Property

Northville Township unveiled its master plan last year for a park area at the site of the Seven Mile former psychiatric hospital.

An $82.6 million master plan for the recreational redevelopment of the old psychiatric hospital property was unanimously approved by the Northville Township Board of Trustees. 

Some of the amenities proposed in the master plan include:

• a community center
• picnic areas
• forested area
• sledding hill
• scenic bridges
• mountain bike park
• an energy park with solar field and wind turbine

The Board of Trustees officially formed a sub-committee in January that will start the long-term research process in order to be ready to hit the ground running when the land is ready to be developed.

The subcommittee will focus on exploring the possibilities of development for sections of the property that are not contaminated and to maintain certain areas.

"I don't want for two years from now to say, 'Well now let's begin the exploration,' and it will take another two years until we find out what those processes are," said Trustee Marjorie Banner, who came up with the idea for the committee.