Commerce to get library building, land in $1 deal

The Commerce Township Community Library is in the process of being officially transferred to the township as on Tuesday, June 14, the Board of Trustees and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) entered into a real estate conveyance agreement to grant ownership of the library building and property to the township.

According to the document, the DDA will convey the library parcel and building to the township for $1 upon two contingencies being completed. If they aren’t met by June 1, 2012, both parties may terminate the agreement.

The agreement will only become official upon the dedication and acceptance of Martin Parkway as a public road to the Road Commission for Oakland County.

The second contingency is the approval of the land division to split the property from the parent parcels, which includes property of the two golf courses — El Dorado and the Links at Pinewood — the DDA purchased several years ago.

“The library actually sits on two separate parcels of land, so we had to have an engineer survey the property to delineate the exact boundaries of the library property,” said Clerk Dan Munro, who added that there hasn’t been contention with the conveyance of the library from the DDA to the township because this was originally part of the long-term vision for the property.

A similar arrangement exists with regards to the township hall building and property, which the DDA also owns and plans to convey to the township.

“We thought it was a prudent way to be able to secure use of a new township hall and a new library facility. We were able to do that without additional expense as we used the existing El Dorado and Links at Pinewood structures as township facilities,” Munro said.

However, unlike the township hall, the township hasn’t invested in the renovation of the library building.

“We delayed significant maintenance and renovation to the library because there was a concern at one point that the Martin Parkway design could infringe on the footprint of the library. So we didn’t want to invest money and time if the building was going to be demolished to accommodate the parkway,” explained Munro.

However, this will change with the conveyance of the library to the township.

“Now, once the property is in the township’s name, we will feel more free doing improvements to the land and building,” said Supervisor Tom Zoner.