A ballot proposal Traverse City commissioners considered putting to voters this November – to use Brown Bridge Trust Fund dollars for city park improvements for another five years – will instead likely be delayed until 2025 to give more time for residents to share feedback. In other city park news, ongoing repair issues at the Clinch Park splash pad could eventually require a full reconstruction, while a new trailhead and parking area for the Hickory Forest Natural Area will be celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony today (Friday).

Brown Bridge Ballot Proposal
A ballot proposal to approve another five-year cycle of using Brown Bridge Trust Fund dollars for city park projects will likely appear on the 2025 instead of 2024 ballot.

An ad hoc committee of commissioners appointed to consider the issue – including Commissioners Tim Werner, Heather Shaw, and Mitch Treadwell – expressed concerns at their first meeting on June 19 about the tight timeline for putting a ballot proposal to voters in November. City commissioners would need to approve the ballot language, send it to the state attorney general and governor for review, and make any tweaks required by state leaders by an August 13 deadline. That leaves a little over a month to complete the process, with commissioners also wanting to develop a list of funding priorities for parks that is “rooted in public input and feedback,” according to City Clerk Benjamin Marentette.

While commissioners were originally slated to discuss the ballot proposal at their July 1 meeting, staff decided to pull the topic off Monday’s agenda based on the timing concerns raised by the ad hoc committee. The goal is to have the ad hoc committee meet again and then bring a report to the city commission, after which commissioners will have ample time before next year’s ballot deadline to approve the ballot language and develop a list of park projects to be covered by the renewed funding.

In 2014, voters approved capping the city’s Brown Bridge Trust Fund – funded by revenues from oil and gas exploration rights and royalties at the Brown Bridge Quiet Area – at $12 million, directing any additional dollars that came in over the next five years to a dedicated account for park projects. Over the next five years, nearly $2 million in funding went to projects including Hickory Hills Ski Area, Wags West Dog Park, Lay Park, Clancy Park, and the Brown Bridge Quiet Area.

In 2019, nearly 76 percent of voters agreed to once again cap the fund at $12 million and use the excess for park projects for another five years. That time around, commissioners also changed the rules for how the funds could be spent, limiting allocations to $250,000 for a single project and dropping a match requirement for projects – both moves intended to benefit smaller neighborhood parks and spread dollars across more projects. Funding has been allocated to improvements at Boon Street Park, F&M Park, Arbutus Court, Ashton Park, Highland Park, Indian Woods Park, and Jupiter Gardens.

For 2025, the city could consider again changing the rules to offer more flexibility, with Parks and Recreation Superintendent Michelle Hunt pointing to adding “non-motorized access to parks” as a new eligible expense for funding along with parks capital improvements and acquisitions. Commissioners and staff have already identified some potential priorities, including resurfacing the Slabtown tennis and pickleball courts, making ADA accessibility improvements at parks and beaches, repairing boardwalks along the Boardman River downtown, and developing trailhead for the new property expansion at Brown Bridge Quiet Area, which includes Spring Lake. Residents can share their own suggestions by attending ad hoc committee or city commission meetings or emailing tcparks@traversecitymi.gov.

Splash Pad
Problems that have plagued the Clinch Park splash pad since its inception due to a flawed design – which resulted in the city receiving a settlement from its contractor in 2016 – could eventually require a full reconstruction.

City commissioners this spring approved spending up to $101,126 for pipe repairs. Breaks in the piping below the pad had been recently discovered, and repairing those breaks is necessary to “achieve the goals of automatic operations, reduced water use, weather sensor gauge accuracy, and for minimal staff intervention,” Hunt said in March. However, as contractors prepared to make repairs, they ran into issues with the concrete depth. They also discovered more extensive pipe damage than was originally known. “In short, the project is a much larger scope than anticipated,” Hunt told Parks and Recreation commissioners earlier this month. “The company has suggested we begin considering a total reconstruction.”

Hunt tells The Ticker the city will likely work with contractors later this year on a more comprehensive evaluation to determine next steps. In the meantime, the city has cancelled the contract for the planned repairs this season. A full reconstruct will likely be significantly more expensive than the initial repair, but could offer the opportunity to “do it once and do it right,” Hunt says. In the meantime, splash pad visitors should be prepared for intermittent closures during times when equipment isn’t functioning properly. “Intermittent closures are a reality now, but when they happen, we try our hardest to have it back up and running as soon as possible,” Hunt says.

Hickory Forest
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place today (Friday) at 2pm at 4976 Barney Road to celebrate the opening of a trailhead and parking area for the new Hickory Forest Natural Area. The 76-acre property next to Hickory Hills was acquired last year by the City of Traverse City and Garfield Township Joint Recreational Authority thanks in large part to a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant. Funding and support were also provided by the Rec Authority and the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC). Following the death of local conservationist Clarence Kroupa, who long owned the property, his children agreed to preserve the site and worked with GTRLC to line up interim buyers to hold it until the Rec Authority could secure funds to purchase it.

The completion of the new parking area and trailhead follows the construction of hiking trails on the property last fall. Permanent wayfinding signage is expected to be installed later this summer. Hickory Forest Natural Area “boasts one of the few remaining high-quality northern forests near the core of Traverse City and Garfield Township,” according to the Rec Authority. 

Hickory Forest Natural Area, Hickory Meadows, and Hickory Hills now represent more than 330 acres of contiguous land available for public use across the three sites.

Pictured: Left, Hickory Forest Natural Area (photo credit: City of TC). Top right, Clinch Park splash pad. Bottom right, Spring Lake at the new expansion property for the Brown Bridge Quiet Area (photo credit: GTRLC).