Some thoughts on the Wing Lake School “Situation” It was covered by the Oakland Press in an article found here.
This spring, the structure at the corner of Wing Lake Rd. and Maple, which houses the Oakland county center program for severely, multiply- impaired students, will be demolished to make way for a new building. Funds from the Oakland county intermediate school district will pay for the construction, after the BHSD pays sinking fund dollars to demolish the building.
The historic, stone, Wing Lake school, dating to 1859, will be spared; but an adjacent addition, built in 1949, which includes restroom facilities, and which was awarded architectural-society recognition, will be destroyed.
The site includes just 3 acres of land, and has some frontage on Wing Lake. (Check out the Google Satellite View Here.)
The Bloomfield Historical society would like to make sure that both the historic stone school AND its addition are protected. State and local agencies agree that the structures are worthy of preservation.
I don’t see why both sides of this debate can’t be satisfied: The Bloomfield Hills school district owns vast tracts of undeveloped land, adjacent to school buildings currently in use, where the NEW Oakland County Developmental Center could be built. Much of this acreage would be a better place to build this new school, as it does not abut a busy road like Maple.
Why doesn’t the Bloomfield Hills Board of Education re-visit this issue, before the wrecking ball comes to Wing Lake? They should consider building the new school on the grounds of Fox Hills School, Lone Pine School, or West Hills Middle School. Even the acreage at the present site of the former Booth School, (now “Doyle Center) would work better than the tight site at the present location.
Further, the Wing Lake population could stay right where they are during the period of construction, rather than being forced to move to temporary quarters in a leased building in Farmington.
This problem could be easily solved, so why aren’t we solving it?
