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Group seeks emergency court order to stop demolition of historic elementary school

Posted at 6:55 AM, Mar 20, 2024
and last updated 2024-03-20 06:55:51-04

A land conservation group is seeking an emergency court order to stop the demolition of the Roosevelt Elementary School in Keego Harbor.

The tear-down of the 104-year-old school is set to begin next month after the school board voted to demolish the building.

Watch our report from the school board meeting below

Historic West Bloomfield elementary school to be demolished despite community backlash

A lawyer for the Heart of Lakes filed the motion just afters after the board voted. The attorney alleges the school district violated the Open Meetings Act by conducting secret deliberations outside of public view in a concerted effort to destroy the school.

A circuit court judge is said to be taking the request under advisement.

There's been a lot of passion about keeping this building. The community has been fighting for months to keep it standing.

One of the most popular repurposing proposals for the board came from architect Joseph Notisky, who offered to buy the building for $1.7 million and turn it into apartments.

"Think about that one just for a minute. Each classroom is a perfectly sized apartment. It makes a wonderful apartment for somebody," he said. "The reality is we're short on students, but also affordable homes. If we keep this building up and keep it temporarily, we think the students are going to repopulate this building with public school attendance once again."

The district's response is that the school building is not safe, and even after being offered millions for it, it's financially irresponsible to repurpose it.

After hearing hours of pleas from community members, the board voted 4-2 to move ahead with the demolition.

The district says they will begin preparing the property for demolition next month and it's scheduled to be demolished in June.