Let’s grow the city around its historic roots.
Protecting our city’s older buildings is important to maintaining Farmington’s identity as a historic community. Once we lose our historic places, or turn over space to a parking structure or a trendy new complex, there’s no going back.
As Farmington grows upward and outward, I’ll stay focused on leveraging our city’s historic character, its parks and green spaces, its small-town feel — and redeveloping around our roots to let the city’s character shine through.
As your representative, I won’t blindly approve rezonings and redevelopments without first considering how those affect you and your neighborhood. I will insist that new development be compatible with existing neighborhoods, avoid destroying historic places and natural areas, and minimize the amount of new traffic.
And I walk the walk. When it came to picking between high-density apartments or medium-density condos for the Maxfield Training Center redevelopment, I voted for brownstone-style townhouses.
The townhome proposal fits into the area without overshadowing the hundred-year-old neighborhood next door. It avoids creating a huge asphalt “sea” of parking, and it’s also what people in the area overwhelmingly said they want.
I’m also a huge champion of adaptive reuse, a type of historic preservation that renovates old buildings for cool new uses. I am proud to say I have approved two adaptive reuse projects in Farmington: the Masonic Temple, upcycled into Blue Hat Coffee, and Farmington State Savings Bank, our iconic 1920s bank building that was transformed into glass-walled offices by new owner GLP Financial.
I’d love to see something similar done with the Winery at Grand River/Orchard Lake. Now that it’s under new ownership, I’d like to see the City work with property owners to redevelop some of the vacant buildings and strip malls into a cool “Farmington East” area with new housing and stores and the Winery as the hub, walkable from neighborhoods like Floral Park.
MARIA TAYLOR 