by Dan Dwyer and Sheila Paton

If Plymouth voters don’t approve the ballot question before them this November 6, an advertisement something like this could become reality.

And we’d likely watch a thriving community center turn into a vacant eyesore, or a stalled development project, off limits to the public. We might see 100 years of our community’s history torn down, either immediately or after it’s been left to rot for years.

But if voters approve, the property will become theirs – and their children’s – for generations to come. A public place, owned by a joint city-township board, where residents can gather, learn, grow, and connect.

The future of the Plymouth Arts and Recreation Complex, or PARC, hangs in the balance this Election Day.

Located in the former Central Middle School/Plymouth High School building, it stands on the site where our community’s founders placed their first school more than 150 years ago.

Three years ago, with the school district’s southern area experiencing a population boom, Central closed in favor of a new middle school in Canton. A generous local couple – the same ones who saved the historic downtown post office – donated more than $3 million of their own money to buy it.

Since then, the former school has transformed into a hub of activity for all ages, under the guidance of a nonprofit organization also called PARC. From arts and sports to community service and education, PARC offers something for everyone.

But the building is old, and so is the infrastructure beneath it. Now that it has proved its value to our community, it’s time to invest in PARC and make it financially sustainable for the long term.

Rather than putting PARC’s operations entirely on the taxpayer’s bill, our local leaders have created a different model: a public-private one that requires only a one-time millage.

If passed, the millage would fund renovations and improvements at the existing building and grounds. But it would also fund something that an independent study has shown demand for: a performing arts center that would be a new gem of the community.

Under nonprofit management, the old and new parts of PARC would be financially self-sustaining. The same factors that might get listed in a real estate ad for the PARC property are the same ones that make this model so promising.

And under public ownership, and oversight of an elected board called the Plymouth Area Recreational Authority, PARC would be accountable to voters.

The millage would cost the average Plymouth homeowner $100 a year for 20 years, at most. But no further tax dollars would go to support PARC’s operation, unlike the model for our neighbors in Canton who pay to keep the Village Theater and Summit on the Park operating every year.

If the millage doesn’t pass, PARC would become the property of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, which is not in the business of running community centers.

The PARC property would likely be put on the market, with the proceeds from any sale required to go to charitable causes. And our thriving community center would close.

A developer might answer the ad at the top of this column. But the story from there might go the same way as the Saxton’s site, the Bathey site, the Ann Arbor Road/I-275 properties, and the North Main Street site.

The years will tick by, and Plymouth residents will wish they had another chance to keep PARC alive.

But that chance will have passed.

This Election Day, let’s seize that chance, and vote yes for PARC.

Sheila Paton, of Plymouth Township, is a former member of the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools Board of Education. Dan Dwyer is a resident and former mayor of the City of Plymouth, and serves on the Plymouth Area Recreational Authority that will oversee PARC if the millage passes.