By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
Drivers heading down Byron Center Avenue just south of Gezon Parkway may have noticed some large red balls on the utility lines.
Those balls are there to help mark the new helipad site at the City of Wyoming’s Fire Station and Training Center, located at 2300 Gezon Parkway. The Wyoming City Council approved an agreement with Metro Health – University of Michigan Health for the helipad at its Monday night meeting.
“I went out there and saw it all painted up, and it’s pretty impressive,” said Mayor Pro Ten Sam Bolt just before the vote which was unanimously in favor of the agreement.
The helipad is about 100 feet by 100 feet located behind the Fire Station and is visible from the Family Fare located next door. The helipad includes lighting, signage and wind cones.
The agreement is for one year with possible extensions. The agreement allows for ambulances, emergency vehicles and personal access through the Fire Station and Fire Training Center driveways to the helipad site. Metro Health — University of Metro Health contractors, employees, maintenance providers as well as patients would have access to the site as needed, according to the agreement. The hospital is located just a half mile south of the helipad at 5900 Byron Center Ave. SW. The hospital is required to carry liability and property damage insurance.
Councilmember Kent Vanderwood said he has been talking to friends who work at the hospital about the partnership between Metro Health and University of Health, which is just a year old in January.
“I’m talking to everyday employees who work there and they feel really, really good about it,” he said “So I think this is another step in that direction making it even better, stronger.”
City Manager Curtis Holt indicated there is a need for the helipad as he said he received a request from the hospital to use it for an emergency on Saturday before the agreement had been approved. Holt said he did give the go ahead with Wyoming Public Safety Director James Carmody indicating during the meeting that, to his knowledge, the helipad was not used over the weekend.
