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Ypsilanti area rec center plans moving forward

A game of basketball during Y on the Fly in West Willow Park.
Doug Coombe
/
Concentrate Media
On the Fly

After years of talk, real progress appears to be on the horizon to bring a recreation center to the Ypsilanti area.

The plan is for Washtenaw County to purchase the land at Cheney Elementary School on Stamford Road in Superior Township. Then, they will construct a community center and a rec center that will be operated by the YMCA.

The primary goal of the rec center is to make it affordable for all residents.

The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners voted last night on a resolution to commit $7 million from the American Rescue Plan to the project.

Along with $6.5 million from the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation and the state, Fifth District commissioner Justin Hodge says the project is “on its way”. He says these additions to the community would be transformative.

“We know residents there have been strongly advocating for a community center, so we want to meet that need, as well as the rec center, which has …been a very … long and ongoing conversation in our county for a long time.”

The total cost of the two centers is expected to be in the neighborhood of $30 million.

Hodge says he is hopeful that the county could have shovels in the ground sometime next year.

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Josh Hakala is the general assignment reporter for the WEMU news department.
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