“Community Columnist” Michael Schrader

(About building uses)

Written 26 September 2016

When I turned eighteen, my parents decided that it was time to find a different house. The grand old house we lived in was fine when my siblings and grandmother lived there too, but with just the three of us, it was just too large. Besides, it was an older house and maintenance was becoming an issue.

They originally were going to build their dream house. It was going to have a large garden, so Mom would not have to have here flowers scattered throughout the yard; a “one stop shop”, so to speak. It would also have a nice tool room with both indoor and outdoor access, where Dad could store all of his tools and ladders without having to hog up the garage or traipse through the house from the basement. They had some plans drawn up and went to the bank for financing, but were unable to secure any, so they started looking for existing properties. After a short search of a few months, they found a property. It was an old pizzeria, and while it was three times larger than the house they already had, and would require extensive modifications, the price was definitely right, as the owner was practically giving it away. Even though it was much larger than the too large house we already had, and needed major modifications to even be used as a house, my parents made the logical choice – they bought the pizzeria. After spending years of their lives and their life’s savings modifying it, they finally had their house. Of course, it is still too large, as their ideal of having their children and their families share the house with them never came to pass, and it is even more expensive to maintain than the previous house.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Why on earth would my parents buy a house that is not a house that is larger than the one that was too large and more expensive to maintain? Because the property was cheap. And because that is the Marysville way.

The city of Marysville has too much space. The current facilities are old and are becoming expensive to maintain. Because of this, the city has decided that now is the time to look into new facilities. That is a very logical and wise thing to do; no reason to waste the taxpayers’ money on space that is not needed that is a maintenance nightmare. So, the city had a plan drawn to build its “dream house” so to speak, and found that the taxpayers’ did not want to finance it. Fine. I understand that. What I do not understand is why the city decided to buy the “pizzeria”. Because the price is right?

The city was given a shuttered manufacturing facility, which means it is now off the tax rolls, a net loss of revenue for the city. This facility is three times larger than the existing municipal building, which is too large. Huh? It will cost a half million or so to repair the existing building. It will cost millions to convert the shuttered manufacturing facility into a somewhat workable municipal complex, which will still have to be operated and maintained, I suspect at even more cost than the current facilities. And this is a good deal for the taxpayers of Marysville…why?

I may be Port Huron scum, but even the folks who occupy the nice building at the east end of McMorran Boulevard have not suggested anything quite so, illogical. Remember the uproar about the purchase of the Art Van Building by the county? This is at that level. Take property off the tax rolls. Spend millions of dollars to make it usable. And still have to maintain the old properties, which are off the tax roll and generating zero tax revenue, until that time in the future when someone buys them and converts them to taxable property, if ever.

Actually, my parents did not do the Marysville. They searched and found a suitable piece of property to build a smaller house on, sold their house, and lived happily ever after.

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