More funding and regional coordination on the horizon for Southeast Michigan’s parks

Last month, we heard exciting news when the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) Board announced their grant awards. Southeast Michigan communities were awarded more than $1.5 million to acquire new park land, and more than $3 million to continue developing the region’s parks and trails.

The newly acquired properties will add more than 60 acres of public recreation land to the region, connecting trail networks, preserving natural areas, and increasing access to our waterways. The development projects will further enhance the parks we already know and love, providing much-needed rehabilitation for existing facilities, adding new equipment and infrastructure, and generally making the outdoors more accessible to residents and visitors.

To continue building momentum for new projects like these and supporting the great work going on in local parks, SEMCOG has convened a Parks and Recreation Task Force, which also had its kickoff meeting last month. Over the course of the coming year, this group will guide a holistic analysis of the region’s recreation system, establish benchmarks and metrics for our current resources and develop regional policies that can be implemented at the local level.

The first meeting was a great opportunity to hear from Task Force members about the role that parks play in important regional issues like quality of life, public health, environmental conservation, placemaking, tourism, and community development. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with a few Task Force members that had been awarded MNRTF grants just the week before. Within a regional context, their projects exemplify the vision, partnerships, and coordinated efforts that the Task Force aims to support.

In Port Huron, the St. Clair riverfront continues to see revival. “The Blue Water River Walk is a perfect example of a community partnering to produce results that exceed everyone’s expectations,” said Mark Brochu, Director of the St. Clair County Parks Commission. Their proposal to develop two acres of vacant land along the Blue Water River Walk as a new county park was just awarded $300,000 from MNRTF. “The St. Clair County Community Foundation’s leadership in visioning the project brought private, local, county, regional, state, and federal partners to the table with expertise and funding,” Mark said. “This project is the latest example of how that synergy is creating an outstanding community recreation facility.”

St. Clair County Parks Director Mark Brochu leads a tour of Wetlands County Park along the Blue Water Riverwalk for the MNRTF Board and staff on August 2016. The property had been fully acquired with MNRTF funding by 2014, and coastal wetlands were restored at the southern end. The northern end will be developed with MNRTF Funds announced recently, and will include a picnic plaza, a turf play area, walkways, bridges, bike racks, and signage.

Over in Orion Township, building and maintaining a robust network of regional trails has been a priority. “We’re extremely excited about the projects going on in Orion Township,” said Parks Director Aaron Whatley. “We just completed a large section of new Trailway last year along Clarkston Road with MNRTF funding, and this new project to rehabilitate the existing trail along Joslyn Road has been long overdue.” With $267,600 from MNRTF, the rehabilitation project will not only bring this section of trail into compliance with current standards for bicycle facilities, but it will enhance a critical link between the Paint Creek and Polly Ann Trails, which are also part of the statewide Iron Belle Trail.

Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett and members of the Township’s Safety Path Advisory Committee cross the new trail connection at Clarkston Road after a ribbon-cutting ceremony last October. The project was developed with MNRTF funding awarded in 2016, and provides the first phase of a regional connection between the Paint Creek and Polly Ann Trails, adding more than 1,500 feet of boardwalk pathway along Elkhorn Lake.

Congratulations to the many others that received funding this year! SEMCOG is happy to be a partner on several of these projects, which will work to implement the policies and recommendations in the Green Infrastructure Vision for Southeast Michigan, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Travel Plan for Southeast Michigan, the Water Resources Plan for Southeast Michigan, and Access to Core Services in Southeast Michigan report.