Update on Parks and Recreation Activities  April 14, 2023

I respectfully submit this summary of activities while I await minutes and notes from members.  I was not able to attend all the meetings since Nov 2022.  I did attend the Special meeting in December so we could get grant applications approval in front of the Board of Trustees before the DNR SPARKS grant deadline.

In December a grant opportunity was offered by the DNR. 

The Parks & Rec committee has been looking for grants to address the erosion at the Ball Diamond, to improve the area so it could offer use for picnic and sunset view for those needing ADA compliance, improve the ingress-egress for this site, improve parking and beach area, address issues with the bleachers and ball diamond area, and possible expand use of the south side that is currently not being used.    This is a major project even if we only address the erosion.  This grant opportunity seemed to be worth going for to help with costs.

We also discussed submitting a grant application to address Tennis Court Park.  We have been discussing expanding the pavilion area and redoing the tennis courts.  We approached this as completely replacing the current courts.  There was no discussion of adding courts.  Again, this grant opportunity was available and municipalities could submit more than one application.  Each application had to be location specific.

The Parks and Rec committee voted to make the recommendation to submit grant applications at the Board of Trustees meeting on December 8, 2022.

NOTE:  In the week between the P & R meeting and the BOT meeting Steve Dell spoken with Gordie- Frasier, who would be assisting with engineering plans for both projects.  He found we could have them submit the grants for us at a cost of $3000.  Considering that both are large projects with ‘ideas’ on what we wanted it was determined by the BOT to have them submit the grants on behalf of the township.   We were able to meet the first round deadline, however, we did not receive either grant during the January awards.  We will be in the loop for the second round later this year.

Lone Tree Point

The Parks and Rec have been working on the plan for Lone Tree Point improvements.  Kyle Williams from AC Soil Erosion has been speaking with Butch Peeples and discussing storm water run-off.  Peeples has approached this from a viewpoint of going beyond the requirements of the Soil Erosion Permit.  The township will install a catch basin for run-off and help prevent that from reaching the lake unabated.  Peeples has been actively working with Parks and Rec to complete the process established for improvements to our township parks.  The P & R submitted recommendation to the BOT at the March 9, 2023 meeting to approve manufactured stone steps be used to provide the stairway and a metal handrail be fabricated once the steps have been place, a stormwater basin (possibly a rain garden) be part of the improvements, and eventually the large rocks will be moved along the top of the cliff to prevent people driving off the bank.  All work is to be done through donations to cover all costs.  Funds must be in escrow with the township before projects are started.  Escrow funds must cover all costs to complete the project.  We know we have the stairway and handrail cost covered and the basin.  Moving the rocks will require additional fund raising but should not prevent use of the park this summer.

The BOT approved moving forward with this project at the April 13, 2023 meeting.

Ongoing projects:

Work to identify structures, amenities, etc. at our parks and accesses is on-going.  The plan is to have an inventory and an estimated life expectancy of tables, benches, grills, etc. so the BOT can establish a rotating schedule to keep items maintained and replaced on a regular basis and provide the budget to achieve this goal.

The committee will begin work on updating the 5- year plan.   A review is required every 5 years.

I hope this will help you catch up a little and will post any corrections or the minutes when I receive them.

Bonnie Robbins, Board rep on P&R committee, and Deputy Clerk.