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NOVI — Novi Mayor Justin Fischer sat down for his second “fireside chat” with Director of Communications Sheryl Walsh-Molloy on March 21 at the Suburban Collection Showplace to discuss the State of the City following his first full year in office.
“It’s been a learning curve, but I will say it’s been an amazing year,” Fischer said. “I think the council has jelled wonderfully and we’ve gotten a ton of things done.”
Fischer began by discussing the “fun things” that have happened in the city, starting with the opening of Jessica’s Splashpad last summer. The highly anticipated splashpad was built in memory of the late Fox 2 meteorologist Jessica Starr-Rose, who resided in Novi. Starr-Rose died by suicide in 2018 after eye surgery. Her family chose to honor her by having a splashpad named after her and fundraising for their portion of the financial contribution toward the project.
“A fantastic opportunity. It did 20,000 visitors in just this first inaugural year alone,” Fischer said. “And recently this park won the mParks design award for outstanding park design.”
The Michigan Recreation and Park Association goes by “mParks.”
The city also opened up Northwest Park, located at 50635 12 Mile Road, in July 2024. Fischer said that area of the city didn’t have as many parks, so the city wanted to put one there. He said the park is “more of a natural park.” It is not designed for sports, Fischer said, but rather as a place where people can get together.
In 2024, the city tripled the number of pickleball courts available for public use. The city went from four pickleball courts to 12 by the end of last summer. Four courts were added at Meadowbrook Commons, 25075 Meadowbrook Road, and an additional four were built at Wildlife Woods Park, 26600 Wixom Road.
The Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department recently began a “new venture,” as Walsh-Molloy put it, and purchased its first piece of property on Shawood Lake. Fischer said that the purchase fulfilled a “longstanding wish” of Councilman Dave Staudt for the city to have property on that lake. The small lake is located just south of Walled Lake in Novi. The council recently approved the purchase of an island with a small “dilapidated” building close to the lakeshore.
“After many years of lobbying and a little help from member (Brian) Smith, (Staudt) got the council to agree to purchase this little island,” Fischer said. “It’s really close to the lakeshore. We don’t know exactly what we are going to do with it, but I’m sure we’ll find some great recreation, passive use.”
The area of Novi Road and Grand River Avenue is currently being developed and has potential to be the city center.
“You cannot visit the intersection of Novi and Grand River without noticing the development that’s going on,” Walsh-Molloy said. “We talked (last year) about a city center and Novi’s desire and our envy for an amazing downtown like (nearby cities have), and it just never panned out. But if you’re down at Novi Road and Grand River now, like, things are going vertical. We talked about potential development or that they were coming, but it’s happening.”
Fischer said the area is “very busy” right now as far as residential development is concerned. He recalled pondering as a high school student how the city would build a downtown area out of nowhere, because the “core” piece that was missing was a residential area.
The Sakura Novi development, 42708 Grand River Ave., located on the south side of Grand River, will help to solve this problem, as it will have 113 residential units along with commercial and retail components. The Townes at Main Street, 43208 Atwood Ave., has 192 units as well.
“You need that residential component to bring in more businesses,” Fischer said.
The city was able to complete three major road projects over the last year. A project was completed on Wixom Road between 10 Mile and Grand River ahead of schedule. The city also completed a project on Beck Road between Nine Mile and 11 Mile roads. The city took over a long-standing project on 13 Mile Road near Meadowbrook that could have been completed by either Novi or Northville.
“People sometimes forget that a big chunk of Novi is north of (Interstate) 96, but up at 13 Mile and Meadowbrook there was a long-standing project, which could have gone either way, and we actually took that project over last year and got it done,” Fischer said. “I’m sure all the residents in that area are very appreciative of that.”
Fischer spoke of the redevelopment and revitalization of several areas throughout the city, such as the Novi Chamber of Commerce relocated to mainstreet, and the shopping center at 10 Mile and Meadowbrook was redone, Feldman Kia will move into the area where Glenda’s Garden Center was at 41875 Carousel St., and perhaps most notably the city will be the home to a Sheetz, which will open this fall in the area where the BP Gas Station is located off of 12 Mile and Haggerty roads.
“The addition of Sheetz to our community is exciting and brings new energy, convenience, and quality options for our residents and visitors to the 12 Mile and Haggerty roads area,” Fischer told the Novi Note. “This investment not only enhances the site but also reflects the continued growth and vitality of Novi. We look forward to welcoming Sheetz and the positive impact it will have on our city.”
The city’s Police Department has fully recovered from a staffing shortage it suffered as a result of the pandemic. According to Fischer, at one point NPD was short nine or 10 officers. Today, it is fully staffed. He said the Fire Department was also in a similar position.
“Through the great efforts of our commanders and our administrative staff, it is great to say that Novi police is fully staffed and the full-time fire is fully staffed,” Fischer said.
Fischer and Walsh-Molloy announced that the city is doing well financially and will be one of the few cities to be able to say it has zero debt after the library bond is completed this year.
Because of that they also announced that the council had voted to seek a 1 mill bond to replace and relocate the police administration building as well as fire stations 1, 2 and 3. They said the buildings are all more than 40 years old and don’t provide adequate space for the public safety department workers to adequately serve the city’s population, which has tripled in size.
The city’s long range strategic plan is currently in development. Fischer, the City Council and staff met with a futurist to see what the city could look like in 2050.
He said the city is trying to take all its various plans for different things and merge them together to figure out “what (the city) wants to be when it grows up in 2050.”
He said they are looking at ways to maintain all the city’s successes and see what they might be overlooking.
He said the futurist helped them to come up with 26 different things that look at what is going on now and what will be going on in the future. He said they are looking at what they need to plan and budget for the future. Fischer estimated that it will take 12 to 18 months to do that and said the city will be getting the community involved.
“So, good things to come,” Fischer said.
“I think Novi is definitely on the right trajectory,” Walsh-Molloy said.
