Royal Oak backs federal funding for zoo KidZone, city community center

Royal Oak city commissioners Monday unanimously supported efforts to secure federal funding for a new KidZone at the Detroit Zoo, and the city partnership with the YMCA to create a new community recreation center.

City Commissioner Brandon Kolo introduced the two resolutions. He said Congresswoman Haley Stevens  – who represents the 11th Congressional District, which includes most of Oakland County – is working to get supplemental federal funding for the two projects.

Royal Oak for the past two years has worked with the YMCA, which is now branded as the Y, to partner on a new community recreation center on a couple acres of city-owned land near 13 Mile Road and Coolidge Highway.

The city has already allocated $1.5 million in federal COVID relief funds to the project, which Kolo said is still in its early stages.

The Y would manage the community recreation center with reduced rates for residents.

City officials projected in August 2021 it would cost the city about $30 million to develop a 100,000-square-foot community center on its own.

“We want to enter into a memorandum of understanding on the project to move this process forward,” Kolo said. “The Y would manage the (facility) and they have the infrastructure and expertise to do that.”

Creating attainable housing, either at the new site or the Y’s property on 11 Mile Road, is expected to be part of Royal Oak’s goal with the partnership, Kolo said.

The City Commission is grateful that Congresswoman Stevens is considering trying to get federal funding for the project, he added.