Robert Scott Prison Sale Stuck in House Committee

Removing the barbed wire and guard towers at the former  in Northville Township is the expensive reason stalling the House bill to sell the property, according to state officials.

The cost to remove the closed prison’s protective barrier is likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars – funding the state just doesn’t have, said Kurt Weiss, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Management and Budget.

This delay has concerned township officials, who voted three months ago to ask the state to improve the site and sell the former women’s prison, which is located at the corner of Five Mile and Beck roads.

“That particular corner is arguably one of the busiest gateways to the township, as residents come in from M-14 and I-96,” said Chip Snider, township manager. The prison closed in May 2009.

He said the state should act like any other resident and at least make the site attractive, rather than just mowing the right-of-way grass.

“The governor is a businessman. He knows it’s a corner that could bring value to the state. If they can’t afford to spend money to clean it up, he should at least ask his staff to expedite the sale so a buyer can do it,” Snider said.

However, the state sale process for the prison is just in its infancy. Legislation to sell the prison is now halted in the Corrections Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee while legislators take their summer break.

State Rep. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth) introduced House Bill 4689 in the spring. He stipulated in the bill that by Sept. 1, the department of corrections remove and dispose of the wire and towers “to improve the appearance of the property for the community and for sale.” The department would also be responsible for maintaining the site, including mowing the lawn, according to the bill.

The Heise bill was supposed to start the sale process, preferably to a commercial property developer. The township passed a resolution in April supporting this type of sale, and successfully blocked by Livonia Police Chief Robert Stevenson that would have turned the site into a regional public safety dispatch center.

However, Heise said the bill got “bogged down in May,” and will have to be revised. He said he’ll pick a later date for the wire and tower removal, likely in the spring.

“I don’t believe we’ll be voting the bill out of committee until September,” Heise said. “But even without a bill, it’s clear that the state wants to sell the property, and the main idea is to make this site more attractive to the community and a buyer.”

Heise said he’s not worried about finding state money to tear down parts of the prison. He said he’s friends with Joe Haveman, (R-Holland), the chairman of the Corrections Subcommittee.

“He’s well aware of what we want to do with the prison. Nobody wants that land to sit there,” Heise said.

If the House passes the bill, then the state Senate will be required to draft and approve a similar bill. Once these are both approved, the governor can approve the prison sale.

Yet, there’s no guarantee the property would be in demand. The Western Wayne Correctional Facility, across Five Mile from the Scott prison, was closed in 2004 and still sits vacant. The Northville Psychiatric Hospital property was purchased by the township in 2007, and the township sold a parcel for a retail development – a project that saw multiple owners and that has now been postponed indefinitely due to the recent recession.

Snider countered that the Scott site has much better traffic access than the psychiatric center land, and should attract more developer attention.

“I believe it has the capability to handle regional development, from a retail mall to even a possible hospital or medical office site,” Snider said.