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ST. CLAIR SHORES — The city of St. Clair Shores has a busy year ahead with continued bond work at the school districts and continued construction at the police station and the central fire station.
City work
St. Clair Shores City Manager Dustin Lent said they have continuing and new infrastructure projects occurring in 2025. He said at the beginning of the year, the police station and central fire station will be demolished.
“(We’re) hitting the ground running, doing the underground (work), and then putting the building up and constructing the building,” Lent said. “Both of those buildings are anticipated being anywhere from 12 to 15 months (to complete), so the entire year we’re going to be doing a lot of projects.”
At the police station, the front memorial will be saved and incorporated into the new building, Lent said. Everything at the fire station will be removed and replaced.
Firefighters who were stationed at the central fire station are now housed at the south and north fire stations with the administration operating out of the St. Lucy Catholic Church. The Police Department operations are also managed out of St. Lucy’s.
The library will also have renovations inside the building. Lent said federal earmarked funding allowed them to create new areas for children and teens. The children’s and teen areas will be getting new carpet, a new makerspace and a new location. The Friends of the Library Used Book store will be located where the children’ s area currently is. A genealogy room will also be constructed.
“We got some private donations as well for the new genealogy room,” Lent said.
He added that projects at the library would total about $2 million.
Renovations for the library will be inside only. During construction, which will most likely occur during September, the library will be shut down for around three months. Lent said, however, that residents can still pick up books.
“We’ll be doing door service very similar to how we did (during) COVID,” Lent said. “Not allowing people inside but still having the library books available.”
Book drop offs will also still be available.
He said between the fire station, police station and the library, around $28 million will be spent for city building projects.
South Lake Schools
South Lake Schools Superintendent Ted VonHiltmayer said bond work will continue in the district.
Most of the bond work will occur at Avalon Elementary School and Elmwood Elementary School.
“Whereas last summer we had a lot of work going on the outside, it’s going to switch to the inside at this point,” VonHiltmayer said.
Work on the inside will include boiler replacement, HVAC projects and more. VonHiltmayer said every classroom will be touched by construction. The rooms will be painted, flooring and furniture will be replaced and more.
“So there’s going to be a lot of work going on,” VonHiltmayer said. “It’s going to start in the spring, go through the summer and (there) may even be some work left to do in the fall.”
VonHiltmayer said the work and funding comes from the most recent bond passed.
Other work includes parking lot replacement and expansion at South Lake Middle School and continued bond work throughout the project period. VonHiltmayer said they have work scheduled out until 2027.
“When it’s all said and done, we will have touched every building,” VonHiltmayer said.
Lake Shore Public Schools
Lake Shore Public Schools Superintendent Joe DiPonio said bond work will continue in 2025. The renovations at Rogers Elementary School are expected to be completed.
“That includes (a) new gymnasium, new playground, new cafeteria space, renovation of all of our classrooms and hallways and really transforming what that space looks like,” DiPonio said.
He also said this year will kick off construction at their early childhood center and community center. It will include new classroom space, pickle ball courts and more. The early childhood center will be open to all residents of Macomb County.
This building will also house the administrative center with all business, district level director positions, student services and more.
DiPonio said they will also take a look at the impact of cellphones in the school district and that officials will analyze the potential use of pouches that hold the phones during the school day.
“They create basically a cellphone-free school environment,” DiPonio said.
The district will look for feedback from students, teachers and parents.
Lakeview Public Schools
Superintendent Karl Paulson said they are also continuing bond work in the Lakeview district.
The school district will soon see renovations at their high school pool and auditorium, new playground equipment at the Wheat Early Childhood Center and elementary schools and more.
Renovations to the pool and auditorium will continue through the summer and Paulson said it is hoped that both will be open by the fall.
“Those are good new things still to come,” Paulson said. “We’re obviously now taking advantage. I mean, we’re still looking forward to taking advantage of our new classrooms at our four elementaries and we have a new wing that’s about to open mid-year here at the high school.”
The bond used for the projects was passed back in 2019 and was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The school district has also been implementing a new math curriculum in the elementary schools.
“Those are things teachers have been working on and this is the second year of the implementation,” Paulson said. “We did half of it last year, the other half of (it) this year.”
That also includes new materials, new approaches and new online materials.
Paulson said they’ve already seen the benefits with improved scores, and they expect the same thing this year.
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